Install Arch Linux via SSH
This article is intended to show users how to install Arch remotely via an SSH connection. Consider this approach when the host is located remotely or you wish to use the copy/paste ability of an SSH client to do the Arch install.
On the remote (target) machine
Boot the target machine into a live Arch environment via the Live CD/USB image: this will log the user in as root.
At this point, setup the network on the target machine as for example suggested in Installation guide#Connect to the internet.
Secondly, setup a root password which is needed for an SSH connection, since the default Arch password for root is empty:
# passwd
Now check that PermitRootLogin yes
is present (and uncommented) in /etc/ssh/sshd_config
. This setting allows root login with password authentication on the SSH server.
Finally, start the openssh daemon with sshd.service
, which is included by default on the live CD.
PermitRootLogin yes
from /etc/ssh/sshd_config
.On the local machine
On the local machine, connect to the target machine via SSH with the following command:
$ ssh root@ip.address.of.target
From here one is presented with the live environment's welcome message and is able to administer the target machine as if sitting at the physical keyboard. At this point, if the intent is to simply install Arch from the live media, follow the guide at Installation guide. If the intent is to edit an existing Linux install that got broken, follow the Install from existing Linux wiki article.
Installation on a headless server
This section describes installation of Arch Linux on a headless server without a keyboard, mouse or display. It uses an additional drive with cloud-init NoCloud configuration to automatically configure OpenSSH authorized keys and optionally iwd connection(s).
There are two required cloud-init configuration files: meta-data
and user-data
.
The meta-data
file can be empty:
$ printf "" > meta-data
user-data
will contain the relevant configuration:
user-data
#cloud-config users: - name: root ssh_authorized_keys: - ssh-ed25519 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - ssh-ed25519 YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY write_files: - content: | [Security] PreSharedKey=aafb192ce2da24d8c7805c956136f45dd612103f086034c402ed266355297295 path: /var/lib/iwd/spaceship.psk
Replace ssh-ed25519 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
with your public SSH key. To add multiple keys, simply repeat the statement as shown above.
write_files:
can be used to create iwd network configuration files if needed. Refer to iwd#Network configuration for details about them.
Once both files are created they need to be placed on a drive with an ISO 9660 or FAT volume labeled CIDATA
:
- Use a FAT formatted drive. Copy
meta-data
anduser-data
to the drive and change the file system's LABEL toCIDATA
. - Create a
cloud-init.iso
file using xorriso from libisoburn:$ xorrisofs -output cloud-init.iso -volid CIDATA -joliet -rational-rock meta-data user-data
- If the installation image is written to a disk (e.g. a USB flash drive), provided there is enough space on the drive, the partition table can be expanded to the real end of the disk and an additional partition can be added. A FAT file system with label
CIDATA
can then be created on it.
Alternatively, create a custom ISO using Archiso and place the cloud-init configuration files in airootfs/var/lib/cloud/seed/nocloud/
. This allows using only one drive.
Once finished, deploy the ISO(s) to the headless machine using a USB flash installation medium, optical disc, PXE or any other available means. Power up the headless machine and boot into a live Arch environment from the installation medium.
Wait for a minute or so to allow the headless machine time to boot up and connect to the network. From your existing machine (with keyboard and display) SSH into the live Arch environment on the headless server and complete the installation as described in the Installation guide.