EndeavourOS: Arch Linux Made Accessible

Last tested: EndeavourOS Gemini (2024.09.22) — June 2026

EndeavourOS is an Arch-based Linux distribution that makes Arch Linux accessible without sacrificing the Arch way. It uses a graphical installer, ships with a minimal XFCE desktop by default, and gives you a near-vanilla Arch experience without the hours-long manual installation process. If you want the rolling-release model, the AUR, and full Arch compatibility — but would rather not go through the Arch installation guide — EndeavourOS is built for you.

Why Choose EndeavourOS Over Vanilla Arch?

The key advantage of EndeavourOS over Manjaro is that it uses the actual Arch repositories without delay. Manjaro applies a two-week hold on packages before pushing them to users — EndeavourOS doesn't. You get packages at the same time as vanilla Arch users.

System Requirements

• CPU: x86_64 (64-bit)
• RAM: 2 GB minimum (4 GB recommended)
• Disk: 15 GB minimum (25+ GB recommended)
• Internet: Online install requires a connection; offline install available

Download and Create Bootable USB

Download the ISO from endeavouros.com. Create a bootable USB:

# Find your USB device
lsblk

# Write the ISO
sudo dd if=endeavouros-gemini-2024.09.22-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

Installation with Calamares

EndeavourOS boots into a live XFCE desktop. Double-click the Install EndeavourOS icon. The Calamares installer guides you through:

Online vs Offline Install

The installer offers two modes:

• Online install — downloads latest packages during installation. Lets you choose your desktop environment (XFCE, KDE, GNOME, i3, Sway, Cinnamon, MATE, Budgie, or no DE).
• Offline install — installs from the live ISO, faster but installs XFCE only.

Partition Setup

For most users, the Erase disk option with a swap file works well. For a manual setup:

• /boot/efi — 512 MB, FAT32 (EFI system partition)
• / — remaining space, ext4 or btrfs
• swap — use a swapfile instead (EndeavourOS default)

EndeavourOS defaults to btrfs as the filesystem with automatic subvolumes for / and /home. This enables timeshift snapshots out of the box.

Bootloader

The default bootloader is systemd-boot (on EFI systems) or GRUB. Systemd-boot is faster and simpler than GRUB for most setups.

First Boot: Package Updates

After installation, immediately update the system:

sudo pacman -Syu

Installing Packages

Official Arch Repositories (pacman)

# Search for a package
pacman -Ss firefox

# Install a package
sudo pacman -S firefox

# Remove a package
sudo pacman -Rs firefox

# Update all packages
sudo pacman -Syu

# List installed packages
pacman -Q

# Find which package owns a file
pacman -Qo /usr/bin/python

AUR (Arch User Repository) with yay

EndeavourOS ships with yay, an AUR helper that works exactly like pacman:

# Search the AUR
yay -Ss visual-studio-code

# Install from AUR
yay -S visual-studio-code-bin

# Install from official repos or AUR (yay searches both)
yay -S spotify

# Update everything (official repos + AUR)
yay -Syu

# Remove an AUR package
yay -Rs spotify

Essential Software to Install

# Development tools
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git curl wget

# Text editors
sudo pacman -S vim neovim

# System monitoring
sudo pacman -S htop btop

# File manager (CLI)
sudo pacman -S ranger

# Multimedia
sudo pacman -S vlc

# Archive tools
sudo pacman -S unzip p7zip

# Fonts (important for terminal and coding)
sudo pacman -S ttf-jetbrains-mono nerd-fonts

Setting Up the AUR Manually (if yay breaks)

# Install base-devel if not present
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git

# Clone yay from AUR and build
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

# Clean up
cd ..
rm -rf yay

Enabling Multilib (32-bit Support)

Required for Steam and some games/tools:

sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf
# Uncomment these two lines:
# [multilib]
# Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

sudo pacman -Syu

Gaming on EndeavourOS

# Enable multilib first, then:
sudo pacman -S steam

# Proton-GE for better game compatibility
yay -S proton-ge-custom-bin

# Lutris for non-Steam games
sudo pacman -S lutris

# MangoHud for FPS overlay
sudo pacman -S mangohud

System Snapshots with Timeshift

If you installed with btrfs (the default), Timeshift lets you restore to a previous state instantly:

# Install Timeshift
yay -S timeshift

# Create a manual snapshot before major changes
sudo timeshift --create --comments "Before system update"

# List snapshots
sudo timeshift --list

# Restore a snapshot
sudo timeshift --restore

Troubleshooting

pacman key error: "invalid or corrupted package"

sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux endeavouros
sudo pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring
sudo pacman -Syu

Black screen after boot

Usually a GPU driver issue. Boot to TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F2) and:

# For NVIDIA
sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils

# For AMD (usually works out of the box, but:)
sudo pacman -S mesa lib32-mesa xf86-video-amdgpu

Partial upgrade issues ("dependency not satisfied")

Never do partial upgrades on Arch-based systems. Always run a full update:

sudo pacman -Syu
# Always upgrade before installing new packages

Is EndeavourOS Worth It?

EndeavourOS hits a sweet spot: you get the full Arch experience — rolling releases, the AUR, pacman, the Arch wiki — without the barrier of a manual installation. It's significantly closer to vanilla Arch than Manjaro while being much easier to install than pure Arch.

The community is active and the forum is one of the best Linux communities for troubleshooting. If you're comfortable with Linux and want a fast, rolling system you control completely, EndeavourOS is an excellent choice.