Arch Getting Started & Essentials

Essentials

Messaging

Signal

Encrypted messages, one of the best as of 2025

sudo pacman -S signal-desktop

Telegram

Unencrypted message app, use for public stuff only

sudo pacman -S telegram-desktop

System Utils

Ark

Unzipping utility, used across file browsers such as, thunar

sudo pacman -S ark

Remote & Gaming Clients

Moonlight

Good To Have Or Change

Setting Default Browser

Install xdg-utils
Run the following to get the current default browser xdg-settings get default-browser TLDR Commands

    #Print the default web browser:
    xdg-settings get default-web-browser

    #Set the default web browser to Firefox:
    xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop

    #Set the default mail URL scheme handler to Evolution:
    xdg-settings set default-url-scheme-handler mailto evolution.desktop

    #Set the default PDF document viewer:
    xdg-settings set pdf-viewer.desktop

    #Display help:
    xdg-settings --help

Encryption

[Cryptomator]
Veracrypt - Encryiption utility
- sudo pacman -S veracrypt
Cryptomator - Encryption tool
- yay cryptomator pick the non bin version

Remote Tools

Remmina - VNC remote connection utility
- sudo pacman -S remmina freerdp freerdp is needed to be able to connect to windows server
Moonlight - Open source game/desktop streaming client
- Install its appimage using gear-lever

final 2021 english

Drive Encryption (Adding Extra Drive)

If an extra drive needs to be added to your machine post installation follow the following steps

Partition Creation

Run lsblk to get the drive
Create a new partition using fdisk, if the drive is higher than 2TB change the GUID to GPT
1. sudo fdisk /dev/<drive>
2. press o
3. press w and hit enter
Create a new partition using fdisk
1. sudo fdisk /dev/<drive>
2. press n 3 times

Drive Encryption and Formatting

Encrypt the new partition you just created, the partition will look something like this sda1 if you using a SSD nvme01np1 if you are using a NVME/M.2 SSD
sudo cryptsetup luksFormat --use-random -S 1 -s 512 -h sha512 -i 5000 /dev/<drive>
1. Enter a strong password 123456789strong
Open the encrypted drive sudo crypsetup open /dev/<drive> luks
1. luks is just the label, this can be whatever you want
2. Enter the previously used password
3. A drive should be under /dev/<drive>/luks
Format drive sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/luks

Fstab Entries

sudo nvim /etc/fstab
add the following entry at the bottom of the fstab
1. /dev/mapper/extra /mnt/extra ext4 defaults 0 0
2. Note: make sure to change all values to match your drive, "extra" mount point and "partition type" needs to be change
You can now, reboot and if the drive is detected, you should be asked to enter the drive encryption password

Encryption Key and crypttab

Navigate to sudo nvim /etc/crypttab
There will be 2 entries that will need to be added to at the bottom of this file
1. First, extra /dev/<drive> /root/luks.key
  1. extra = the name of the drive mount point folder
  2. /dev/drive = drive label location
  3. /root/luks.key = encryption key location
2. Second, extra /dev/<drive> /none
  1. extra = the name of the drive mount point folder
  2. /dev/drive = drive label location
  3. none = tell linux to ask for the drive encryption password on boot
After both options have been added, see image below proceed to creating a encryption key
Generate LUKS key using OpenSSL
1. openssl rand -out /path/to/your/keyfile 4096
Change permission to read only by root
1. sudo chmod 0400 /path/to/your/keyfile
2. sudo chown root:root /path/to/your/keyfile
Add the created key to your LUKS drive
1. cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/DEVICE /path/to/your/keyfile
2. You will be prompted to enter the encrypted drive passphrase
Reboot, if all went well. Your drive should be open at boot
Lastly, make sure that your user is able to rw to the drive
1. sudo chown -R user: location_of_drive_mount_point
2. NOTE: make sure you run the command on step 8 after rebooting your machine!!!