This is a guide written on how to install Arch Linux using LUKS for disk encryption, and Systemd-boot as the bootloader.

It is assumed that the reader has basic linux knowledge and understands that examples are given via output commands. The reader may always consult manpages, the Arch Wiki, or other documentation to build a better understanding of the tools and methods used.

Partitioning

Create a partition scheme using partitioner of choice (e.g. gdisk, fdisk, cgdisk).
- First partition should be EFI/boot partition at around 256MB+ (type: ef00)
- Second partition should be Linux LVM partition using rest of disk space (type: 8e00)
Make the the EFI/boot partition FAT32 via mkfs.fat -F32

Partitioning with `fdisk`

Warning

This operation will destroy any data on the device, please ensure to back up any data desired prior to this operation!

Info

Replace instances of /dev/sdN with your actual device name (e.g. /dev/sda). References specific to partitions will be stated as such (e.g. /dev/sdN1, /dev/sdN2)

Remove any existing partitions on the drive:

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/def/sdN bs=4M count=1
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
4194304 bytes (4.2 MB, 4.0 MiB) copied, 0.499143 s, 8.4 MB/s

Create a new gpt partition table with fdisk:

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdN

Command (m for help): g
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: 07D99608-7AE7-1144-8BCA-BDF9833DAFD0).

Command (m for help): p

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (2048-15155166, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-15155166, default
15155166): +512M

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 512 MiB.

Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 1
Changed type of partition 'Linux LVM' to 'EFI System'.

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (1050624-15155166, default 1050624):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (1050624-15155166, default
15155166):

Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 6.7 GiB.

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1,2, default 2):
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 30

Changed type of partition 'Linux filesystem' to 'Linux LVM'.

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

$ fdisk -l /dev/sdN
...
Disklabel type: gpt

Device       Start      End  Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdN1     2048  1050623  1048576  512M EFI System
/dev/sdN2  1050624 15155166 14104543  6.7G Linux LVM

_{The above example fdisk run was done on an 8G USB drive and is provided
for reference purposes. Ignore the sizes listed above when comparing to your
installation.}

Encryption

Format the Linux LVM partition:
```
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdN2
Enter passphrase:
```
_{Remember your passphrase! You will need this every time you boot
your computer}
Create a mapping for your Linux LVM (LUKS):
```
cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdN2 <map_name>
```
_{Use whatever name you want. Ex. lvm, volume, etc.}
Create the physical volume, volume group, and logical volumes for <map_name> specified in the previous step:
```
pvcreate /dev/mapper/<map_name>
vgcreate <volume_name> /dev/mapper/<map_name>
```
_{Use whatever volume name you want. Ex. volume, main, linux, etc.}
```
lvcreate -L2G <volume_name> -n swap
```
_{Select size for swap, if desired. Here we use 2G for 2Gb.}
```
lvcreate -L16G <volume_name> -n root
lvcreate -l 100%FREE <volume_name> -n home
```
_{Set your root partition size and home size if using separate /home
partition. Otherwise, simply create your -l 100%FREE volume.}

Specify and write the desired filesystems:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-root
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-home
mkswap /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-swap

Install Linux

Mount the boot partition and logical volumes for installation:

mount /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-root /mnt
mkdir /mnt/home
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-home /mnt/home
mount /dev/sdN1 /mnt/boot
swapon /dev/mapper/<volume_name>-swap

Install the base system (Assuming you have internet connectivity. Use wifi-menu, or other, to connect to the internet at this point.):
```
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware lvm2 dhclient
```
_{Here we are using linux kernel as an example, though you may want to use
linux-hardened}

Set-up Linux Installation

Generate `fstab`

Generate the fstab:
```
genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```
Move into the installation:
```
arch-chroot /mnt
```

Configure `initramfs`

Edit HOOKS in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf using text editor of your choice (e.g. vi, nano, etc.). Move the keyboard hook before filesystems, and add encrypt and lvm2 hooks before filesystems:
```
$ egrep '^HOOKS' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block keyboard encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)
```
_{Read the comment on HOOKS in the mkinitcpio.conf file to find out more.}
Generate initramfs:
```
mkinitcpio -p linux
```

Configure bootloader

Install a bootloader (e.g. systemd-boot, grub, syslinux, etc.) and configure it as per it’s documentation/installation steps.

Bootloader Example: `systemd-boot`

I will be using systemd-boot
```
bootctl --path=/boot/ install
```

Edit the loader configuration using a text editor of your choice:

$ cat /boot/loader/loader.conf
default arch
timeout 3
editor 0

Create the loader entry for the default arch entry specified above (You can edit this name if desired.). Use blkid /dev/sdNx to find the UUID of your crypt device, and recall the volume name you gave your device above (main in example below):
```
$ cat /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux.img
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options cryptdevice=UUID=9f1fc119-b1dc-49d8-9a5a-686ad9e2fd2e:volume root=/dev/mapper/main-root quiet rw
```

Configure finishing touches

Create a root password using passwd
Set a hostname:
```
echo "<your_hostname>" > /etc/hostname
```

Set up the time:

ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/<continent>/<city/place> /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc --utc

Set the locale (example for en_US):

sed -i 's/^\#en_US/en_US/' /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
locale > /etc/locale.conf

Exit and reboot:
```
exit
unmount -R /mnt
reboot
```