Installation Config

Config & After

The final installer step (Step 25) turns everything you chose into the actual archinstall configuration. Then the real installation happens, followed by two post-install stages. This page covers all of it.

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Step 25 · Write configuration

The last step takes everything you chose and generates the archinstall configuration files (user_configuration.json and user_credentials.json). It also does a final check that the disk is still available and big enough (minimum 2 GB).

Under the hood it computes the disk layout:

• A small FAT32 boot/ESP partition (~2 GiB, mounted at /boot)
• A BTRFS data partition containing the @, @home, @log, and @pkg subvolumes, with zstd compression
• If you chose LUKS, the data partition is wrapped in an encrypted container with your chosen iteration time

The generated configs also pin down:

• The desktop profile: Hyprland + SDDM greeter
• PipeWire audio
• The nm_iwd network stack
• Your mirror region or custom URL
• Timezone, keyboard, locale, hostname, kernel
• Bluetooth and printing services
• Whether your user gets sudo

Tip

Run the installer with retroinstall dry to print these two JSON files and exit without installing, handy for inspecting exactly what will be built.

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Review & confirm

Once all 25 steps are done, the installer shows a summary table of everything you chose, install type, release branch, username, passwords (masked as dots), hostname, display, sudo access, keyboard, language, mirrors, timezone, disk, LUKS encryption, kernel, bootloader, Bluetooth, printing, SSH, AUR helper, editor, file manager, browser, and network.

Review it carefully. You can either:

• Install now — proceed to the real installation.
• Go back — re-run the installer to change anything (your answers are kept).

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What happens next: archinstall

Once you confirm, the installer runs archinstall silently in the background with the configuration it generated. This is where the actual system is built:

• BTRFS filesystem with zstd compression
• Subvolumes: @, @home, @log, @pkg
• GRUB bootloader with your chosen theme, resolution, and options
• Hyprland desktop + SDDM greeter
• PipeWire audio
• nftables firewall
• Timeshift snapshots configured

This stage takes a while (package downloads dominate). If anything fails, the installer shows an error with a QR code you can scan to report the issue, plus the last lines of the log.

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Stage 2: Chroot post-install

Immediately after archinstall completes, RetroLinux runs a post-install pass inside the freshly-installed system (from the live environment, chrooted in). It configures, in order:

1. Packages — essential tools (git, jq, gum, neovim, networkmanager, fprintd, fonts, and your chosen kernel's headers, and more).
2. Network — enables NetworkManager and connects your Ethernet or Wi-Fi inside the new system.
3. AUR helper — installs your chosen yay or paru and prepares AUR access.
4. RetroLinux repo — deploys the framework to /opt/retrolinux (copied from the ISO if present, otherwise cloned from GitHub).
5. State — saves all your installer choices to ~/.retro_install so the first-boot stage knows how to configure things.

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Stage 3: First boot

The installer reboots and tells you to remove the USB drive. On your first login, retro --setup runs automatically and applies everything your choices selected:

• Network — finishes connecting
• Modules — installs the RetroLinux modules (Hyprland, Kitty, themes, and more)
• Ricing mode — applies the symlinked or copied configs you chose
• Drivers — installs the matching GPU/firmware drivers for your hardware
• Wallpaper & theme — sets the default wallpaper and dark theme
• Keyring — sets up the login keyring
• Apps — installs your chosen editor, browser, and file manager
• XDG — sets your default applications
• GRUB — writes your chosen theme, resolution, timeout, and snapshots
• Power, fonts, input, audio, polkit, firewall, fans — sensible defaults
• Timeshift — snapshots configured from your disk
• RetroShell — the desktop shell starts

The process is resilient: if it is interrupted or the system loses power, the next boot rolls back and restarts the post-install cleanly, no data loss or corruption.

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After installation

You now have a fully installed RetroLinux. Good next steps:

• First Boot — what to do right after login
• Updates & Rollbacks — keeping it current and safe
• Theming — making it yours
• Wallpapers — the collection system

For more background, the Arch Wiki installation guide, BTRFS, and GRUB pages are excellent references.

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Continue the walkthrough

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