Introduction

I've spent a lot of time with various Linux distributions and for now Arch Linux has become my favorite, because it is:

• fully configurable - lets you choose which graphical environment you want to use, among other things
• has a strong community around it
• has the Pacman package manager, which works great
• comes in x64 version

I've (re)setup Arch Linux so many times that I've practically got the steps memorized to getting it working as a guest in VirtualBox with the XFCE graphical desktop environment.  As great as the documentation for it is, some key pieces are missing, which I had to scour around the internet to find.  They might be obvious to others but weren't to me, being relatively new to Linux as I am.  Once you figure out the steps, though, the process of setting up is fairly simple.  My goal here is to collect and present all the required steps in one place so you can get up and running quickly with your new Arch Linux operating environment.

 

Here is what we'll be installing (in 6 parts)

1. Arch Linux x64 as a guest in Oracle VirtualBox
2. XFCE graphical desktop environment
3. VirtualBox Guest Additions
4. SRWare Iron web browser from the AUR (Arch User Repository)
5. smbnetfs for sharing files from Windows, and
6. Samba server for sharing files with Windows

Let's get started.

 

Install Arch Linux

I chose the net installer option because it ensures you get the latest packages, and it's a smaller initial download.  It's a textual installer that's still pretty easy to navigate, and I'll leave it to the user to make their way through the steps, that is:

1. Select the networking option for the installer (or the CD if you downloaded the complete package)
2. Select a mirror to download from
3. Adjust the date and time
4. Partition the hard drive (see note below)
5. Select packages - I went with the default selection since it's easy to add packages later
6. Install packages
7. Check configuration
8. Install bootloader
9. Reboot

The one step you need to be careful at is the hard disk partitioning.  Make sure you adjust the size of the "/" directory so there is enough free space left over for the "/home" directory, otherwise you'll start seeing "Device is out of space" messages later on when you add users and install software and try to use it.

 

My virtual disk is 20 GB in size, and I decreased the "/" partion from 7500 to 5000 MB, and used the remaining space for the "/home" partition.

 

Arch is fairly easy and quick to install, so I'm not going into details here.  It's the additions to it that end up being tricky, so let's move on to installing XFCE.