Install Arch Linux on Windows 10 Hyper-V

8 min readJul 22, 2018

Few month back I upgraded my laptop to new Microsoft surface Book 2 that have all this nice futures like detachable screen etc.

My previous laptop and current Desktop run Arch Linux as main OS. All my work is mostly done in IDE Visual Studio Code or shell. VCS runs well on Windows 10 but shell I don’t think I want to invest too much time in Power Shell and WSL is not exactly best working environment for me.

I decided to deploy Arch Linux on Windows Hyper-V virtual mashine for my bash needs ;) as I am not yet very confident if I want to replace completly Windows as main desktop on Surface Book 2 as I still like detachable screen and Win 10 face authentication. and VR kit. Maybe in near future I will deploy Arch Linux beside Win 10.

Below guide will walk you on how to install Arch Linux on Windows 10

Requirements

download latest Archlinux ISO Image
VT-x/AMD-v virtualization must be enabled in BIOS (requires machine restart)
Enable Hyper-V go to Windows features On or Off, you will see dialog box with a list of Windows features as shown below. Navigate to the Hyper-V section and enable it (requires machine restart).

Hyper-V Installation

Hyper-V is included with Windows since Windows Server 2008 as well as Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 in the Pro versions. It can be enabled from Control Panel at “Turn Windows features on or off” under “Programs and Features”. Activate the “Hyper-V” checkbox, apply the change, and follow the directions on screen.

Network configuration

First, you must configure a new virtual switch so that your virtual machine will be able to connect to the Internet. Once Hyper-V is enabled, start the Hyper-V Manager.

Configuration can be done in GUI by opening Power Shell as Administrator and run Hyper-V Manager

mmc.exe virtmgmt.msc

Or we can use only Power Shell for the rest of the configurations.

Creating External switch

Using Power Shell (run as Administrator)

Get a list of the network adapters in the host. In a laptop you should typically see 'Ethernet' and 'Wi-Fi'

Get-NetAdapter

Create the external switch with a name of VM-External-Switch, bound to the network adapter named Wi-Fi retrieved from the previous command. You may need to change your -NetAdapterName to interface connected to internet.

New-VMSwitch -name ExternalSwitch  -NetAdapterName "Ethernet 3"  -AllowManagementOS $true

Create Virtual machine in Hyper V

Set VM Name, Switch Name, and Installation Media Path.
Define Power Shell variables

$VMName = ‘ArchLinux’
$Switch = ‘ExternalSwitch’
$InstallMedia = ‘archlinux-2018.05.01-x86_64.iso’
$VMPath = ‘C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks\’
$HOSTNAME = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem -Property Name).Name

Create New Virtual Machine

New-VM -Name $VMName -MemoryStartupBytes 4GB -Generation 2 -NewVHDPath “$VMPath\$VMName.vhdx” -NewVHDSizeBytes 128GB -Path “$VMPath” -SwitchName $Switch

Optional Disable Hyper-V checkpoint

Set-VM -Name $VMName -CheckpointType $false

Add additional CPU to created VM

Set-VMProcessor $VMName -Count 4

Disable Dynamic RAM allocation in Hyper V

Set-VMMemory $VMName -DynamicMemoryEnabled $false

Disable secure boot functionality on the virtual machine

Set-VMFirmware $VMName -EnableSecureBoot Off

Add DVD Drive to existing SCSI Controller

Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 1 -Path $HOME\Downloads\$InstallMedia

Mount Installation Media

$DVDDrive = Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName

Configure Virtual Machine to Boot from DVD

Set-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName -FirstBootDevice $DVDDrive

Start VM

Start-VM -Name $VMName

Connect to the virtual machine by using Virtual Machine Connection (VMConnect).

VMConnect $HOSTNAME $VMName

Arch Linux Installation

Hyper-V is not allowing clipboard COPY/PASTE for this we will use ssh into the VM. Latest Windows 10 Fall Creators Update includes ssh client that can be installed following guide from How-To Geek.

Once in Hyper-V Arch shell

Add root password

passwd

Allow remote ssh

systemctl start sshd

Find IP to connect from remote

ip a show dev eth0 | grep -w inet

SSH into VM from Power Shell

ssh root@IP

Arch Installation check and initial configuration

Verify if installation supports EFI

ls -la /sys/firmware/efi

Generate mirror list to improve installation speed
Visit [mirrorlist generator](https://www.archlinux.org/mirrorlist/) in the browser or another computer, generate mirrorlist
Example mirrors in Singapore

Server = http://mirror.nus.edu.sg/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.0x.sg/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://download.nus.edu.sg/mirror/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = https://sgp.mirror.pkgbuild.com/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://download.nus.edu.sg/mirror/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.0x.sg/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

Backup default mirrorlist

mv /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bk

Add mirrorlist generated to /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Optional automatically scan for best mirror NOTE: this take considerable amount of time to scan all mirrors

sed -i ‘s/^#Server/Server/’ /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bk
rankmirrors -n 6 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bk > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Example results after run

Server = http://mirror.0x.sg/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://download.nus.edu.sg/mirror/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.nus.edu.sg/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.evowise.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://f.archlinuxvn.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror2.totbb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

Partitioning

Verify the available disks

dmesg | grep sda
lsblk

Partition EFI

gdisk /dev/sda

Clear partitions

Command (? for help): o
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): Y

Create EFI partition

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1–128, default 1):
First sector (34–268435422, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (2048–268435422, default = 268435422) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +512M
Current type is ‘Linux filesystem’
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): EF00
Changed type of partition to ‘EFI System’

Create root partition

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (2–128, default 2):
First sector (34–268435422, default = 1050624) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (1050624–268435422, default = 268435422) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Current type is ‘Linux filesystem’
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
Changed type of partition to ‘Linux filesystem’

Verify partitions before writing

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 268435456 sectors, 128.0 GiB
Model: Virtual Disk
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/4096 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 7A0873FE-EA25–4CC1–8543–1559F4861C2B
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 268435422
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size       Code  Name
1      2048           1050623      512.0 MiB  EF00  EFI System
2      1050624        268435422    127.5 GiB  8300  Linux filesystem

Write to the disk changes

Command (? for help): w
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sda.
The operation has completed successfully.

Format partitions

Format EFI partition

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

Format root partition

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

Mount partition

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Start installation

Update system clock

timedatectl set-ntp true

Install base system

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel openssh

Generate fstab file

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot into newly deploy arch

arch-chroot /mnt

Install boot loader

bootctl install

Configure bootctl loader

nano /boot/loader/loader.confdefault arch
timeout 3
editor 0

Find /dev/sda2 root partition UUID

blkid -s PARTUUID -o value /dev/sda2

Note down PARTUUID nr Ex. 55523bad-38db-4e00–8cdb-d498e47f0b05
Optional copy configuration

cp /usr/share/systemd/bootctl/arch.conf /boot/loader/entries/nano /boot/loader/entries/arch.conftitle Arch Linux
linux /vmlinux-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=8444d6ba-32af-415b-b148-cf4f20a04ac9 rw

Or you can update arch.conf

echo “options root=PARTUUID=$(blkid -s PARTUUID -o value /dev/sda2) rw” >> /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

Last step is to update bootloader

bootctl update
bootctl

Arch Linux post installation configuration

Set shell locale(uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8)

nano /etc/locale.genen_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

Generate locale

locale-gen

Check locale setup

locale -a
localedef — list-archive
localectl list-locales

Edit setting for the LANG system locale

nano /etc/locale.confLANG=en_US.UTF-8

Or just run

localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Time zone

ls -la /usr/share/zoneinfo/
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Singapore /etc/localtime
hwclock — systohc

Set hostname

hostnamectl set-hostname Arch

Allow root login add the entry PermitRootLogin yes /etc/ssh/sshd_config

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_configPermitRootLogin yes

Enable sshd service

systemctl enable sshd.service

Create root login password

passwd

Create swap file:

fallocate -l 1G /swapfile 
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
echo ‘/swapfile none swap sw 0 0’ | tee -a /etc/fstab

Check swap

swapon -s

Check network config

ip a show
ip route show

use DHCP IP allocation at startup

systemctl start dhcpcd
systemctl enable dhcpcd

Or you can use network manager in case you want to use static ip or even dhcp
Use network manager with dhcp or static ip setup

nano /etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network[Match]
Name=eth0
[Network]
DHCP=ipv4systemctl enable systemd-networkd

Or with static ip Ex. your Ip can be different ip a show

nano /etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network[Match]
Name=eth0
[Network]
Address=192.168.1.21/24
Gateway=192.168.1.1
DNS=1.1.1.1
DNS=1.0.0.1systemctl enable systemd-networkd
systemctl enable systemd-resolved

Check resolver configuration

cat /etc/resolv.conf
cat /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf

Add time sync systemd service

timedatectl set-ntp true 
timedatectl status

Exit and reboot

exit
shutdown now

Post Install VM cleanup

In Power Shell as (Administrator)

Change boot order for VM

$getb2 = Get-VMFirmware $VMName
$gen2.BootOrder
$gen2file = $gen2.BootOrder[0]
echo $gen2file
Set-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName -FirstBootDevice $gen2file
Get-VMFirmware $VMName

Remove DVD from VM with same SCSI as HDD

Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 0 | Remove-VMDvdDrive

Remove DVD Scsi controler from VM

Get-VMScsiController -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 1 | Remove-VMScsiController

Final touches for Arch Linux

Let’s start our new Arch Linux and install some useful tools

Start Arch VM

$VMName = ‘ArchLinux’
Start-VM -Name $VMName

Connect to the virtual machine by using Virtual Machine Connection (VMConnect).

VMConnect $HOSTNAME $VMName

Ssh into Arch VM
link resolver to resolv.conf

ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

Add entry into hosts file

nano /etc/hosts127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
::1 localhost.localdomain localhost
127.0.0.1 arch.localdomain arch

Install useful tools

pacman -Syyupacman -S p7zip unzip pygmentize docker vim htop git jq rsync tmux bash-completion keychain mlocate

Start docker daemon

systemctl enable docker 
systemctl start docker

Create new user

useradd -m -g users -G wheel,storage,power,docker -s /bin/bash your_userpasswd your_uservisudo%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Add AUR package manager

nano /etc/pacman.conf[archlinuxfr]
SigLevel = Never
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/$archpacman -Sy

Install yaourt tool to manage AUR packages

pacman -S yaourt
su - your_user
yaourt -Syyua

Install pacaur as better AUR package manager

gpg - recv-key 1EB2638FF56C0C53 
yaourt -S pacaur 
pacaur -Syyua

Remove root ssh

sed -i ‘s/^PermitRootLogin yes/#PermitRootLogin yes/’ /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Share folders and files between VM and host OS

1st share in Windows 10 one folder and add all needed permissions
On Arch Linux install SAMBA client

pacman -S cifs-utils smbclient
mkdir /etc/samba /mnt/Hyper-V
touch /etc/samba/smb.conf

Test connectivity

ping -c 3 $(nmblookup YOUR_PC_NAME | head -n 1 | cut -d ‘ ‘ -f 1)

As root user

vim ~/.credentialsusername=your_windows_login
password=windows_passwordchmod 600 ~/.credentialsmount -t cifs //YOUR_PC_NAME/Hyper-V-Share /mnt/Hyper-V -o credentials=~/.credentials,ip=”$(nmblookup YOUR_PC_NAME | head -n 1 | cut -d ‘ ‘ -f 1)”

In some cases when you use on Windows Ethernet and WiFi your VM need to be aware.