Arch Linux System Recovery Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to system recovery on Arch Linux, including chroot, boot repair, and recovery procedures.

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Table of Contents

1. Chroot into System
2. Boot Repair
3. Recovery Procedures
4. Data Recovery

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Chroot into System

Boot from Live USB

Boot Arch ISO:

1. Boot from Arch Linux ISO
2. Mount partitions
3. Chroot into system

Mount Partitions

Mount system:

# Mount root
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

# Mount EFI (if UEFI)
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

# Mount other partitions
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

Chroot

Enter chroot:

# Chroot
arch-chroot /mnt

# Now in installed system

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Boot Repair

Reinstall Bootloader

GRUB:

# Chroot first
arch-chroot /mnt

# Reinstall GRUB
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

# Regenerate config
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Rebuild Initramfs

Rebuild:

# Chroot
arch-chroot /mnt

# Rebuild
mkinitcpio -P

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Recovery Procedures

Fix Broken Packages

Fix packages:

# Chroot
arch-chroot /mnt

# Update
pacman -Syu

# Fix broken packages
pacman -S package-name --overwrite "*"

Restore from Backup

Restore:

# Mount backup
mount /dev/backup /mnt/backup

# Restore files
rsync -av /mnt/backup/home/ /mnt/home/

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Data Recovery

Testdisk

Install testdisk:

# Install
sudo pacman -S testdisk

# Run
sudo testdisk

PhotoRec

Recover files:

# Install
sudo pacman -S testdisk

# Run
sudo photorec

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Summary

This guide covered chroot, boot repair, recovery, and data recovery.

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Next Steps

• Arch Linux Backup and Restore - Backups
• Arch Linux Installation Guide - Installation
• ArchWiki Recovery: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Chroot

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This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.