Hyprland (ML4W) Dotfiles On Arch Linux For Cutting Edge Configuration
archlinux Guide Hyprland Linux
Hi all, welcome to MusaBase!. In this article, I'll guide you through installing Hyprland on Arch Linux and take your desktop experience to the next level. Sure installing Hyprland and Arch can be tricky but by the end of this guide we would have achieved:
- Core dependencies and packages installed on Arch Linux system
- Overcoming Hyprland required packages
- Install Hyprland ML4W dotfiles hassle-free with single command
- And finally boot into our freshly installed ML4W Hyprland
We'll use the ML4W dotfiles repository and the official for this setup. Without further ado, let's get started.
Prerequisites
We only need base or minimal Arch Linux installed for Hyprland ML4W to work. However, I won't be covering the installation of Arch Linux in this article. To install Arch Linux, please go to my Minimal Arch Linux Installation Guide, in this guide i have covered all the details to install Arch Linux with script. After installing Arch Linux come back to this tutorial and continue. Thank you.
What is Hyprland?
Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor and window manager for Linux, known for its smooth animations, customizable features, and clean codebase. It's written in C++ and focuses on providing a visually appealing and efficient way to manage windows and desktops.
Step 1: Prepare the Base Arch Linux System
First we need to do some configuration and install necessary packages to perform a error-free Hyprland installation.
1.1: Adding User to Wheel Group for SUDO Privileges (If not done already)
1.1.1: Switch to Super-User (root)
- Run this command to switch user to the super-user or root.
su- When prompted, enter the root password you set during installation.
1.2.2: Install the Nano Text Editor
- Next, runt the following command to install nano, a command line text editor:
pacman -S nano
1.2.3: Enable sudo for the Wheel Group
- Now, we need to edit the sudoers file (visudo) to edit permissions for members of the wheel group.
- Run:
EDITOR=nano visudo
- It will open up sudoers file in nano:
- Press the Down Key () to navigate to downward in the file.
- Navigate all the way to bottom and look for lines contatining:
## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
# %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL- Uncomment the second line by deleting # from the start of the line.
- Next, press Ctrl + O to save the changes, then press Enter to apply the changes, then press Ctrl + X to exit the file.
1.2.4: Add User to the Wheel Group
- Run the following command:
usermod -aG wheel musabase
1.2.5: Change back to Local User
Now, that our user has sudo privileges, switch back from the super-user to your local user. It's best practice to perform administrative tasks as a normal user with sudo rather than as root.
- Run the following command:
su username
1.2: System Update
- Now that our user has sudo privileges, lets run a system update using sudo.
- Run the following command (you will be prompted for your user's password):
sudo pacman -Syu
Step 2: Installing Required Dependencies & Packages
In this step, we need to install packages like git, wget, curl and nano etc. And also we are going to install yay. The direct link of ML4W dotfile will install yay and all other required dependencies for it to work but covering these hurdles beforehand will make the installation even more smother.
2.1: Install Additional Packages
- Run the following commad:
sudo pacman -S kitty firefox kate hyprland sddm curl wget git
2.2: Install Yay
- Run the following commands consecutively:
cd ~
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
Step 3: Configuring Services
Next, we need to enable and configure services for display, network and Hyprland.
3.1: Enable the SDDM Display Manager
- First we need to enable and start SDDM, so we can log into Hyprland
- Run the following command:
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm
3.2: Login into Your Hyprland
At the login screen, enter your user's password and press Enter. After a few seconds, you will see the Hyprland desktop:
- Close any welcome dialog, then press SUPER + Q or Meta + Q or WindowsKey + Q to open kitty terminal emulator.
3.3: Configure the DNS Server (Optional)
Perform this step only if you encounter network issues while downloading or installing packages (e.g., package downloads aborting).
- Press SUPER + Q or WINDOW-KEY + Q to open kitty terminal emulator.
- In the terminal, run the following command:
sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf- It will open /etc/resolv.conf file in nano:
- In the /etc/resolv.conf file, add the following line:
nameserver 8.8.8.8 # Google's
# OR
1.1.1.1 # Cloudflare's
- Next, press Ctrl + O to save chagnes then press Enter to apply the saves and then press Ctrl + X to exit the file.
Step 4: Install the ML4W (My Linux for Work) Dotfiles
- Now that everything is set up, let's install the ML4W Dotfile.
- In the kitty terminal, run this command:
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mylinuxforwork/dotfiles/main/setup-arch.sh)- This will clone the ML4W repository and execute the installation script to set up its dotfiles.
- This process can take 10-15 minutes, depending on your internet connection and CPU speed.
- During execution, the script will prompt you to choose options. I'm accepting the defaults, but you can customize them as needed.
Afterwards
Now that Arch Linux and a fully Configured Hyprland are installed, you're ready to go. To adjust keybindings (e.g., terminal, browser, file manager) and other settings, edit ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf just remember to reload the configuration after editing by running hyprctl reload in terminal or by pressing (SUPER + Shift + R ) or go to ML4W Github page for advanced configurations. I'll cover further customization in another article, this is it for now.
🎉 Congratulations! your Arch Linux system with Hyprland dotfiles is now up and running!
If you hit any snags, drop a comment below, I'm here to help.
If this guide helped you, subscribe to our newsletter for more step-by-step tutorials.
1O1 out, I'll see you in the next one!