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Getting the Image ​

This section is 1.1-1.3 of the Arch Linux Installation Guide.

Download the ISO ​

Download the ISO from one of the mirrors at https://archlinux.org/download/.

TIP

Choosing a mirror closer to your geographic location will greatly improve download speed.

Once selected a mirror, set the variable for scripts:

WARNING

On PowerShell, it's assumed you have GNU Coreutils installed with dotbin installation

  • PowerShell
    powershell
    $MIRROR="https://mirrors.mit.edu/archlinux/iso/2024.10.01/"
$VERSION=$MIRROR -replace "/+$" -split "/" | select-object -last 1
  • Bash
    bash
    MIRROR="https://mirrors.mit.edu/archlinux/iso/2024.10.01/"
VERSION=$(basename $(echo $MIRROR | sed 's/\/\+$//'))

Next, use the script below to download

  • The archlinux-yyyy.mm.dd-x86_64.iso
  • The archlinux-yyyy.mm.dd-x86_64.iso.sig signature file
  • The sha256sums.txt file
  • The b2sums.txt file
bash
mkdir archlinux
curl -o archlinux/sha256sums.txt "$MIRROR/sha256sums.txt"
curl -o archlinux/b2sums.txt "$MIRROR/b2sums.txt"
curl -o "archlinux/archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso" "$MIRROR/archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso"
curl -o "archlinux/archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso.sig" "$MIRROR/archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso.sig"

Verify the ISO ​

Checksums ​

WARNING

If you have close the shell session, re-execute the scripts for variables above

DANGER

There are currently some bugs in uutils/coreutils with hashsum, manual verification is recommended on Windows

powershell
cd archlinux
b2sum archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso
cat b2sums.txt | rg "archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso"
sha256sum archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso
cat sha256sums.txt | rg "archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso"

Verify the SHA256 and BLAKE2 checksums of the ISO file to ensure the integrity of the downloaded file.

bash
cd archlinux
sha256sum -c sha256sums.txt --ignore-missing
b2sum -c b2sums.txt --ignore-missing

GPG Signature ​

TIP

Install GnuPG on Windows with these instructions

WARNING

If you have close the shell session, re-execute the scripts for variables above

Verify the GPG signature to ensure the authenticity of the ISO file.

Run the command below

bash
cd archlinux
gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-$VERSION-x86_64.iso.sig

You should see Good signature in the output.

Making the Bootable USB ​

If you are installing Arch Linux on a VM, you are all set! However, a bootable drive is needed for a physical machine.

On Linux, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_flash_installation_medium

On Windows: Use https://sourceforge.net/p/usbwriter/wiki/Documentation/