Fresh Arch Linux Install? Here Are My Top 10 Cozy Setup Tips

Hey there, dear readers! It's Huzi here, sipping chai under the soft glow of my screen in Pakistan. I was daydreaming about how Arch Linux feels like a blank canvas, waiting for us to paint our digital dreams. Today, let's wander through the best desktop environments for Arch Linux in 2025. We'll muse on KDE, XFCE, and GNOME, weaving in benchmarks, RAM whispers, and CPU rhythms. It's like choosing the perfect melody for your daily symphony – each one hums with its own gentle magic.

Ah, there’s nothing quite like it. The quiet hum of a freshly installed Arch Linux system. It’s a clean slate, a digital canvas waiting for your personal touch. I just love that feeling! But after the installation, that blinking cursor can sometimes feel a bit… empty. Where do we begin?

Over the years, I’ve developed my own little ritual of steps to turn that blank slate into a powerful and beautiful daily driver. It’s a peaceful process, like tending to a small garden.

I absolutely love sharing these thoughts with you all right here on blogs.huzi.pk. It feels like our own little community of creators and thinkers. So, grab a cup of chai, and let’s get your new Arch system feeling like home.

1. First Things First: Update Everything!

Before we do anything exciting, it's always a good idea to make sure our system is sparkling clean and up-to-date. Open up your terminal and run this simple command. It synchronizes your package lists and updates all the installed packages to their latest versions.

sudo pacman -Syu

Easy, right? Now we have a solid foundation to build upon.

2. Enable Multilib for More Software Options

I remember the first time I tried to install Steam on Arch and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work! The reason was that I hadn't enabled the multilib repository, which is needed for many 32-bit applications (like a lot of games and software) to run on a 64-bit system.

It’s a simple fix. We just need to edit our package manager’s configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Scroll down until you see the [multilib] section. It will be commented out with a #. Just delete the # from the [multilib] line and the Include = line right below it. It should look like this:

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Save the file (in nano, that's Ctrl+O, Enter, then Ctrl+X to exit), and then run sudo pacman -Syu one more time to sync the new repository.

3. Unlock the Magic of the AUR

One of the most wonderful things about Arch Linux is the Arch User Repository, or AUR. Think of it as a massive, community-maintained treasure chest of software. If you can't find something in the official repositories, it's almost certainly in the AUR.

But to use it easily, we need a helper. Which brings me to my next point...

4. Install an AUR Helper (I love yay!)

Manually building packages from the AUR can be a bit of a chore. An AUR helper automates the whole process for you. My personal favourite is yay. It's fast, simple, and uses the same commands as pacman, which makes life so much easier.

To install it, we'll first need the base-devel package and git:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git

Then we can clone yay and build it ourselves (don't worry, it's easy!):

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

Follow the on-screen prompts, and in a minute, you'll have yay installed. Now you can install almost any software with a simple yay -S package-name.

5. Get Your Graphics Drivers

To get a smooth and beautiful desktop experience, we need to install the right drivers for our graphics card.

For NVIDIA: sudo pacman -S nvidia

For AMD/ATI: sudo pacman -S xf86-video-amdgpu

For Intel: sudo pacman -S xf86-video-intel

Installing the right one will make a world of difference for everything from watching videos to playing games.

6. Choose and Install a Desktop Environment

This is the fun part where we give our system its personality! Arch lets you choose whatever you want. The three most popular choices are:

• KDE Plasma: Incredibly customizable and modern. I'm a big fan of Plasma for its looks and features.
• GNOME: Simple, elegant, and focused on a smooth workflow.
• XFCE: Lightweight, fast, and very stable. Perfect for older computers.

To install a full Plasma desktop, for example, you would run:

sudo pacman -S plasma-meta konsole

(I added konsole because it's a great terminal). Then, you'll need to enable a display manager to log in:

sudo systemctl enable sddm

After a reboot, you'll be greeted by a beautiful graphical login screen!

7. Optimizing Your CPU for Better Performance

We all want our computers to run as smoothly as possible, right? One quick performance tweak is to set your CPU governor to performance mode. This tells your CPU to run at its maximum frequency, which can make your system feel snappier. A simple tool can help manage this.

There are a lot of great little programs for this sort of thing. I’ve actually bookmarked some of the best free ones on my other site, tool.huzi.pk, if you want to check them out for other productivity hacks! For now, an easy-to-use graphical tool is cpupower-gui, which you can install from the AUR:

yay -S cpupower-gui

8. Install Your Favorite Web Browser

A system isn't much use without a way to connect to the world. You can install your favourite browser with a quick command.

For Firefox: sudo pacman -S firefox

For Chromium: sudo pacman -S chromium

9. Install Some Essential Fonts

Having nice-looking text makes a huge difference in how your system feels. I always install a few key font packages to make sure websites and applications render beautifully.

sudo pacman -S ttf-dejavu ttf-liberation noto-fonts

10. Customizing Your UI: Make It Yours

Now for the final, most personal touch: theming! This is where you can truly make your desktop your own. You can change your icons, your window themes, your cursors, and your wallpaper. It's a bit like decorating your room—finding that perfect little handcrafted item that just makes you smile every time you see it. It's actually the same feeling I get when I find unique, beautiful things to feature on my little online shop, huzi.pk. A little touch of beauty can brighten your whole day.

Look in your desktop environment's system settings for "Appearance" or "Themes." You can find thousands of new themes and icons to download right from there.

And that's it! Your Arch Linux system is no longer a blank slate. It’s a reflection of you—powerful, efficient, and beautiful. This is your personal digital space now, ready for you to create, work, and play.

What are your favourite post-install steps? I'd love to hear them! Feel free to create an account on blogs.huzi.pk to join the conversation in the comments!

Happy tinkering!

Huzi