# Artix Linux with Full Disk Encryption installation guide
This is a cheatsheet I made for myself to use it everytime I want to install Arch/Artix, or maybe even other distros like Gentoo or Slackware, the steps are very similar. You can PR suggestions or fixes if you want!
## 0. Backup your data
Every time you are going to mess around with partitions and hard drives, SSD's, etc. Always make sure to make a backup and test that backup to make sure that you are not losing your important data.
## 1. Make sure that you have an internet connection
If you want to avoid issues just plug in an ethernet cable and 99% times Internet will just work.
If for some reason you need to use Wi-fi, for Arch, you can type this command to connect to your wifi:
```
# wifi-menu
```
but for Artix it's a little bit more tricky. You have to:
```
# connmanctl enable wifi
# connmanctl scan wifi
# connmanctl services
# connmanctl connect [enter the code starting in "wifi_" that is assigned to the desired ssid here]
```
And then you can `ping` a website to make sure that you have an Internet connection.
```
# ping francoacg.com
```
## 2. Switch to the root user
If you are not `root` already, switch to the root user:
```
$ su -
```
On Artix, it will prompt for a password, which is `artix`
## 3. Check wether you are using UEFI or not
This will change just a couple of steps later
```
# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
```
If you see a bunch of stuff comming out, you are using UEFI. If you see something like "No such file or directory", you are using BIOS.
Keep that in mind for the next steps.
## 4. Identify your drive
Run
```
# fdisk -l
```
to list your devices. The one with the most capacity is likely the one where you want to install your OS. If you have a SATA drive, it will probably be `/dev/sda` or `/dev/sdb`. If you have an nVME drive, it will probably be `/dev/nvme0n1`. Be careful with this to make sure that you are going to use the right drive.
## 5. Drive format and partitioning
WARNING: If you want to dualboot (probably with Windows), you have to skip this step and do other steps instead, but we will not cover that in this guide for now.
Again, make sure to chose the right drive. In my case, I will be using `/dev/vda` because I'm testing this on a virtual machine, but in your case it will probably be `/dev/sda` or `/dev/nvme0n1`.
NOTE: If you don't have UEFI, just skip the EFI partitions steps
Start formatting the drive
```
# fdisk /dev/vda
```
Create a GPT partition. This is required if you have UEFI. On BIOS it doesn't really matter
```
Command (m for help): g
```
512M EFI partition
```
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (...):
Last sector (...): +512M
Command (...): t
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 1
```
512M BOOT partition
```
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (...):
Last sector (...): +512M
```
LVM partition
```
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (3-128, default 3):
First sector (...):
Last sector (...):
Command (...): t
Partition number (1-3, default 3):
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 30
```
Write changes
```
Command (...): w
```
Format the EFI partition
```
# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/vda1
```
Format the BOOT partition
```
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vda2
```
## 6. Setup encryption
Create the encrypted partition with a passphrase, then the LVM volume and partitions
```
# cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/vda3
# cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/vda3 lvm
# pvcreate --dataalignment 1m /dev/mapper/lvm
# vgcreate volgr0 /dev/mapper/lvm
# lvcreate -l 100%free volgr0 -n lv_root
# modprobe dm_mod
# vgscan
# vgchange -ay
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgr0/lv_root
# mount /dev/volgr0/lv_root /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/vda2 /mnt/boot
```
Generate the fstab with UUID
Note: in Artix its `fstabgen` and in Arch its `genfstab`
```
# mkdir /mnt/etc
# fstabgen -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```
## 7. Actually installing the system
Note: `pacstrap` for Arch and `basestrap` for Artix
Note: Replace `<init>` by your init system of choice or don't put any if you are on Arch (Systemd)
Note: Don't put `linux-firmware` if you don't want proprietary drivers
We can install all we need at once:
```
basestrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware <init> elogind-<init> cryptsetup networkmanager networkmanager-<init> wpa_supplicant wireless_tools lvm2 sudo grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools vim
```
Chroot to the installation. `arch-chroot` for Arch and `artix-chroot` for Artix
Enable encryption for GRUB by uncommenting `GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y` and adding `cryptdevice=UUID=<uuid-of-/dev/vda3>:volgr0:allow-discards` to the kernel parameters
Probably you won't need this if you use `xbacklight` (install the `xorg-xbacklight` package), but if for some reason xbacklight doesn't work, you can use intel_baclkight:
