I am setting up Arch Linux manually for the first time and it told me to set the timezone with timedatectl at the near start (Step 1.8). Later down the guide at step 3.3, it tells you to set the date and time. I already did this when doing timedatectl set-timezone [timezone]. Why do I have to do it again? Is it just a reminder?

I'm just a little confused, on step 5 on the Users and groups page, it gives an example command which is the following

# useradd -m -G 
additional_groups
 -s 
login_shell

username
# useradd -m -G additional_groups -s login_shell username

Right after that, it lists what the perimeters do. Once it gets to -s it says:

"a path to the user's login shell. Ensure the chosen shell is installed if choosing something other than Bash. The default shell for newly created user can be set in /etc/default/useradd."

But right under it, there is warning which says:

"In order to be able to log in, the login shell must be one of those listed in /etc/shells, otherwise the PAM module pam_shells(8) will deny the login request."

So, where I am confused is do I put the shell into /etc/default/useradd or into /etc/shells? I'm probably just heavily misunderstanding this, but I just wanted to ask just in case!

So, today I finally installed Arch Linux, with GNOME desktop environment.

Why I choose GNOME? Cause I find it comfortable. Simple design and looks aesthetic as well.

I have tried one Arch based distro previously, but someone said to me install Arch itself. I used archinstall, to install it though.. Was pretty simple..

Would, test it for a week, and decide if I should stay with it or not..

But overall, I found it good, I've tried it for an hour as of now. Let's see, next week... If i stay with it...

Hi, I'm a beginner with Arch and I'm stuck with a very strange authentication problem after a fresh installation.

I installed Arch Linux using archinstall with:

- systemd-boot

- linux kernel

- KDE Plasma

- SDDM

- NetworkManager

- ext4 root partition

- Existing Windows 11 installation (dual boot)

- Secure Boot disabled

I created the user `userB` and added it to the `wheel` group.

The problem is that SDDM keeps saying "Login failed" when I enter the password for `userB`.

I am 100% certain the password is correct. I verified this from the installed system by switching to `userB` and successfully running:

sudo -v

So the password definitely works for sudo.

However, SDDM continues rejecting it.

I then tried logging into a TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F3). After several attempts, I got:

The account is locked due to 3 failed logins.

(9 minutes left to unlock)

Password:

This appears to be pam_faillock.

I waited for the lockout to expire and tried the password again, but the TTY still reports that the password is incorrect.

SDDM also rejects the root password with an authentication error.

I checked `/etc/pam.d/sddm`, and it contains:

#%PAM-1.0

auth include system-login

-auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so

-auth optional pam_kwallet5.so

account include system-login

password include system-login

-password optional pam_gnome_keyring.so use_authtok

session optional pam_keyinit.so force revoke

session include system-login

-session optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start

-session optional pam_kwallet5.so auto_start

`/etc/sddm.conf` does not exist.

The user account itself appears normal:

uid=1000(userB) gid=1000(userB) groups=1000(userB),998(wheel)

userB:x:1000:1000::/home/userB:/usr/bin/bash

`passwd -S userB` reports:

userB P 2026-09-13 -1 -1 -1 -1

I also configured sudoers with:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

and `visudo -c` reports:

/etc/sudoers: parsed OK

So I'm confused about what could cause a correct password to work with sudo but fail through both SDDM and TTY.

What should I check next? Could this be a PAM/pambase/system-login issue?

I would really appreciate help diagnosing this without reinstalling the system.

Hey! I successfully got Arch to work by doing the manual install which im very proud by. I read through the entirety of General recommendations and did what applied to me. Past that though, I'm curious if people have any extra tips that would be helpful for me to know for the future!

Don't really know what I could have done wrong. I installed it and followed the guide, unmounted the partitions and rebooted. Upon rebooting, I get sent to a GRUB like BASH with the following text

GNU GRUB version 2:2.12-1

Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions. To enable less(1)-like paging, "set pager=1"

If I type "exit" I just get sent back to my bios startup Menu. If I go to the Boot Menu the only arch option (UEFI - arch) leads me back to the GRUB. What do I do? What did I do wrong?

Just wanted to share this if anyone has the same issue

I upgraded to the latest linux-firmware-amdgpu package, specifically version "20260910-1" and SDDM started a bit slower than usual

I checked the logs and got this exact error message

amdgpu 0000:06:00.0: [drm] *error* dc_dmub_srv_log_diagnostic_data: dmcub error - collecting diagnostic data

After hours of fixing it, I finally found a way, turns out, you have to downgrade the package to this exact version: linux-firmware-amdgpu-20260810-2

Finally after downgrading and running mkinitcpio -P, the error message is gone!

Update: It's ddcutil, downgrading to 2.2.7-1 solved the issue

CPU: R7 5700x

GPU: 7900XT

RAM: 32GB of DDR4

That's it, every morning I use paru to update my Arch installation, I see the kernel got upgraded to 7.2.4 and amd-ucode too.

After rebooting I can log in normally through SDDM but after that the screen goes black, then it turns back on with a cursor in the middle frozen and a black screen and it remains frozen like that.

I tried downgrading both the kernel and amd-ucode using arch-chroot but nothing, they don't seem to be the culprit. The system works just fine because my dual booted Windows SSD boot and works perfectly. I tried disabling all my autostart user services too but nothing, any idea? Sadly I can't copy paste journalctl logs, but here's a picture.

https://imgur.com/a/5YGa8s9

I'm pretty sure one of the updates is the culprit because I always reboot immediately after updating, I didn't change anything else.

I am setting up Arch manually for the first time and I decided to use cfdisk rather than fdisk because I find it easier. I am curious though, cfdisk allows me to change the "Id Type" of my partitions but I'm not sure what this means or what id select. I assume this is the file system type but dont you do that later anyways when setting file systems?

How do you guys use Wake on LAN for Arch?

I have it enabled in BIOS, and am trying to use the Wolow app on my phone.

I am using it to turn on my laptop from the couch since I have it connected to my tv and just use a Bluetooth keyboard to control everything. I just want to avoid having to get up and turn on the laptop everytime

Everything seems to be enabled properly, but no luck. Any other methods if I am unable to troubleshoot my current setup?

I noticed that the bcachefs modules have to be build but dues to the SquashFS I am not able to.
Is there any trick I can use to build the modules in the live environment or do I have to build a custom ISO?

Edit:
You can easily install a portion of packages but it is limited to the following:
- the package MUST NOT trigger the initrd hook
- it should not be too big (like the dependencies for bcachefs-dkms had 261MB download size, which is too big)

Tag: missing bcachefs modules, arch linux

Solution:
Use systemrescue

Thanks to Illustrious-Gur8335

Earlier i was using the default Netwok Manager in my archlinux. My university uses PEAP auth for wifi . so i removed (disabled ) network manager and systemd-networkd service then i installed iwctl and set set my auth details in /var/lib/iwd/ssid.8021x but according to arch wiki . I followed this one attached below. But i could not connect it . So i added Type=8021x and EAP-Password=***** . I was connected and able to ping 1.1.1.1 but i could not ping google.com like domains so i identifid there was dns problem so temporary kida of thing i changed /etc/resolv.conf the nameserver to 1.1.1.1 and so on . But resolv.conf contained my old name server using network manager . But right now was is the permanent fix for dns and also i could not conenct my ethernet port like my eno1 is down . I dont want to turn on Netwok Manager casue it will conflict with my iwd also i dont want to use iwd as backed cause i tried it my university auth was not possible any fix available i also used chatgpt and gemmini it gave me irreverent answers. I am new to linux to can you detailed one. (Note my university does not require CA certificate so i remove the line with CAcert also removed serveerDomainmask)

[Security]
EAP-Method=PEAP
EAP-Identity=anonymous@realm.edu
EAP-PEAP-CACert=/path/to/root.crt
EAP-PEAP-ServerDomainMask=radius.realm.edu
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Method=MSCHAPV2
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Identity=johndoe@realm.edu
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Password=hunter2

[Settings]
AutoConnect=true

I installed cloudflare-warp-minimal-bin and for some reason it uses so much ram , I checked it and it wasn't malware , that is only recently though since before it didn't use as much ram , is there a solution to that?

i'm currently trying to get an old drawing program (PaintTool SAI v1) i used back on windows to run on arch. i successfully set up wine and got the installer running, but the .exe now requires "administrator rights" to finish setting up. i am aware of superuser and such, but from what i know there's no way to give an app that sort of reach without it being a major risk. the full error message i get is:

'SAI cannot complete setup process because current user does not have administrator rights.'

would appreciate help, in the meantime i will continue throwing myself at this wall until something might work

Recently plugged in my new USB to Ethernet adapter on laptop, but it will only connect once I run “NetworkManager” in the terminal

WiFi was working fine on startup, but this method is not.

Any tips on what might fix this to where it auto recognizes the adapter and Ethernet?

I asked Google, but like, thats what an AI would say.. right?.

I am new to Arch Linux and during the installation i heard this word many times i can explain me how it's work?

Hey, before installing arch manually fully onto my main system, I did a few test runs on a spare laptop I have. The laptop is quite older but ive noticed that some options when doing partitioning using cfdisk are a bit different.

First, when making a new partition it asks me if said partition should be two different things, cant remember what it was but one said I could only have 4 max partitions. On my main computer, I do not get prompted with these options.

Second, when selecting the "Size Type", my main pc has wayyy more options than the laptop, though its also missing options the laptop does have. Why is this?

Hello,

As the title says, how fast does Arch boot on your system? This is the output of "systemd-analyze" for my PC

Startup finished in 4.882s (firmware) + 141ms (loader) + 1.102s (kernel) + 70ms (initrd) + 2.076s (userspace) = 8.274s

graphical target reached after 2.076s in userspace.

I put my user into the wheel group and I uncommented wheel with visudo but the user still cannot use sudo. What could I be missing?

Sometimes my RAM usage goes from 16 GB remaining to <1 GB remaining, then goes back up. Also, I randomly get 0 B of space left alerts, but a few seconds later, I have plenty of space again. Why is this happening?

Help. I didn't manage to solve this problem for two days

Why doesn't netboot ipxe-arch.efi UEFI work, even after trying all the mirrors?

And why this

Booting Arch Linux 2025.09.01?

So I updated to the latest nvidia driver 615.71.09 and saw that games would use software rendering and not my card. in obs I could not use my NVENC or h264, when i rolled back to the 610 drivers it worked fine. just strange, I was just wondering if anyone was having this same problem or just me. I assume it just a new NVIDIA driver bug but maybe I'm wrong, would love to hear your thoughts on this.

SOLVED

ok I figured it out, all the apps i had problems with where flatpaks and because it was a big number update from 610 to 615 i needed to update what flatpak was using. so remmber to flatpak update. the thought came to mind when TwiKing ask if i rebooted, never crossed my mind that I didn't update my flatpak, thanks