Now that you have entered the Arch live ISO, you’ll need to connect to the internet.
You’ll need to connect to the internet in order to download essential programs, such as the kernel.
There are two main ways to connect to the internet, and one is a lot more common than the other.
The first method is a fixed broadband, which is where your modem is connected to the wider-area network using a cable.
The second method is a mobile broadband modem, where your modem is connected to the wider-area network using a cellular network (like the one your phone uses, 4G and 5G).
If you are unsure, you likely have a fixed broadband.
If you normally connect via an ethernet cable, you may skip this section after plugging it in.
Connecting to a fixed broadband network
Firstly, enter the below command:
# iwctl
This will change your shell prompt from:
root@archiso ~ #
to:
[iwd]#
In this new prompt, the following command will show a list of your network devices (interface that provides some network functionality, e.g. connecting to the internet using Wi-Fi) and their adapters (the actual network hardware):
[iwd]# device list
Find your network device (and its adapter, if applicable) from the list given, and turn them on using the commands below:
[iwd]# device <network device> set-property Powered on
[iwd]# device <network adapter> set-property Powered on
Once you have done that, scan for networks using the command below:
[iwd]# station <network device> scan
Take note that the above command will not output anything. To actually output a list of all the networks around your computer, run the following command:
[iwd]# station <network device> get-networks
Then, to connect to the network of your choice, use the below command:
[iwd]# station <network device> connect <network SSID>
If the network is hidden (i.e. it doesn’t show up in the list of networks, but you want to connect to it anyway), use the below command:
[iwd]# station <network device> connect-hidden <network SSID>
Enter your network password when prompted and hit enter.
Once finished, simply enter:
[iwd]# exit
Connecting to a mobile broadband modem
Enable the modemmanager service, as shown below:
# systemctl enable modemmanager.service --now
modemmanager is the software that allows you to connect to your mobile broadband modem.
To get a list of all the mobile broadband modems around you, run the below command:
# mmcli -L
Look for /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/[modem index] (where your modem index is the unique number representing your modem)
Connect to your modem by running:
# mmcli -m <modem index> --simple-connect="apn=<your modem's APN>"
Your APN is your modem’s Access Point Name and will have been given to you by your ISP.
If your modem requires a username and password, you can specify them like so:\
mmcli -m <modem index> --simple-connect="apn=<your modem's APN>,user=<username>,password=<password>"
Test that your internet connection actually works, as shown below:
ping -c 4 archlinux.org