Download the last iso

We need the official iso to start, download the last on archlinux.

Create a virtual Hard disk drive

We create a HDD of 8G here:

$ qemu-img create -f raw ArchLinux.raw 8G

Create a little script for QEMU

With our favorite text editor, create a script bellow:

$ vim archvm

#!/bin/sh
exec qemu-system-x86_64 \
    -enable-kvm \
    -cpu host \
    -display sdl \
    -drive file=ArchLinux.raw,format=raw,if=virtio \
    -netdev bridge,id=vmnic,br=br0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vmnic \
    -m 512M \
    -monitor stdio \
    -name "Arch VM" \
    $@

And set it executable.

$ chmod +x archvm

Boot on archlinux

Now that we have a script, we simply add two arguments to change the boot order:

$ archvm -boot d -cdrom archlinux.iso

Archlinux install

If you don’t understand somes command line, please look to the official wiki.

Change keyboard layout for non-english

# loadkeys fr
# timedatectl set-ntp true

Partition ArchLinux.raw, the name on qemu is vda bellow sda.
I just following the archlinux of the guide for BIOS system.
Partition 1 = boot, 2 = system, 3 = swap.

# gdisk /dev/vda
    n # partition 1 [enter], from beginning [enter], [+1M], code [EF02]
    n # partition 2 [enter], from beginning [enter], [-256M], code [enter]
    n # partition 3 [enter], from beginning [enter], [enter], code [enter]
    w

Format with ext4, not need a better filesystem.

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vda2

And the swap.

# mkswap /dev/vda3   
# swapon /dev/vda3

Set mountpoint.

# mount /dev/vda2 /mnt

Install base system, fstab and chroot on.

# pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware
# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# arch-chroot /mnt

Base configuration:

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
# hwclock --systohc
# echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > /etc/locale.gen
# locale-gen
# echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
# echo "KEYMAP=fr" > /etc/vconsole.conf
# echo "archvm" > /etc/hostname

Install grub as bootloader with few tools:

# pacman -S grub vim
# grub-install /dev/vda
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Set your new password before turning off the vm.

# passwd

And shutdown.

# exit
# systemctl poweroff

Restart with our script

$ archvm

Configure the network

With systemd, create a file for the DHCP:

# cat > /etc/systemd/network/50-dhcp.network
[Match]
Name=en*

[Network]
DHCP=yes
^D

And another file for DNS query:

# cat >> /etc/systemd/resolved.conf
[Resolve]
DNS = 1.1.1.1
^D

Start them:

# systemctl start systemd-networkd
# systemctl start systemd-resolved