The Silpa Linux Guide
for real-world use

Install Silpa Linux from USB

This article covers everything from preparing the USB to rebooting into the installed system.

Before you start

• Back up data from the target disk and disconnect any unrelated drives
• Prepare a USB drive of at least 8 GB and connect to the internet for pacstrap
• Boot the ISO, then check the disk name with the command below

lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS,MODEL

Installation steps

1. Select Silpa Live from the boot menu
2. Open the Silpa Installer from the desktop
3. Choose the disk, filesystem, user, timezone, and desktop
4. Check the review page to make sure it's the correct disk, then confirm
5. Wait for pacstrap, fstab, chroot, and the bootloader to finish

Minimum specs and machine preparation

Silpa is a Linux operating system for x86_64 machines that uses KDE Plasma as its main desktop.

For virtual machines

• Allocate at least 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs to test KDE
• Enable EFI to match the mode you want to test, and enable 3D acceleration if the guest supports it
• If Wayland has issues, choose X11 from the SDDM session screen

Verify the ISO before writing to USB

Checking the SHA-256 confirms the ISO downloaded completely and matches the published file.

Linux

sha256sum silpa-2026.08.09-x86_64.iso

Compare with the manifest

Open the Downloads page and compare the SHA-256 values character by character. If they don't match, do not write the file to USB — download it again from mirror.societics.xyz

KDE Plasma: Wayland or X11?

Wayland is the primary choice for newer physical machines, while X11 tends to work better in VMs, on older GPUs, or with applications that still depend on X11.

How to choose a session

1. Log out to the SDDM screen
2. Select the Session menu in the bottom corner
3. Choose Plasma (Wayland) or Plasma (X11), then log in

If the screen goes black

Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to access a TTY and check the GPU and SDDM logs.

journalctl -b -u sddm --no-pager

Customize the theme, icons, and wallpaper

Silpa uses a dark tone and Papirus icons by default to keep the system's look consistent.

Configure through KDE

1. Open System Settings → Appearance → Global Theme to choose a color scheme
2. Go to Icons and choose Papirus, Papirus-Dark, or Papirus-Light
3. Right-click the desktop and select Configure Desktop and Wallpaper

System file locations

/usr/share/backgrounds/silpa/
/usr/share/icons/
/usr/share/fonts/

If editing files in the Live ISO, edit them under airootfs/usr/share/, then rebuild the ISO.

Firefox and system fonts

Firefox is Silpa's default browser. If menus or websites show missing fonts, check the packages and rebuild the font cache.

Check

firefox --version
fc-match sans
fc-list | grep -i kanit

Add fonts for the current user

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cp ~/Downloads/*.ttf ~/.local/share/fonts/
fc-cache -f

System-wide fonts should go in /usr/share/fonts/ and only be installed from trusted sources.

Set up network and Wi‑Fi

Silpa uses NetworkManager and the KDE Network applet to manage Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, and automatic connections.

Via KDE

Click the Network icon on the bottom bar, select Wi‑Fi, enter the password, and wait for the status to show Connected.

Via terminal

nmcli device status
nmcli device wifi list
nmcli device wifi connect "network-name" password "your-password"

Avoid putting real passwords into shell history on machines shared with others.

Basic network troubleshooting

Check from the bottom layer up: device → IP → DNS → internet.

nmcli general status
rfkill list
ip address
ip route
resolvectl status
ping -c 3 1.1.1.1
ping -c 3 archlinux.org

• If the device is blocked, check rfkill and unblock it with sudo rfkill unblock wifi
• If you can ping an IP but not a domain name, check DNS
• If there's no interface, check the driver and cable/VM device

Using the Silpa CLI

The silpa command is a shortcut for common system maintenance tasks.

silpa update    # Update the system and any AUR/Flatpak packages
silpa clean     # Clear cache and orphan packages
silpa doctor    # Check disk, temperature, services, and packages

Rescue Tool

sudo silpa-chroot

Use silpa-chroot from Silpa Live to automatically scan partitions, mount Btrfs/EFI, and enter arch-chroot.

Managing packages safely

Arch Linux requires updating the whole system together — avoid updating individual packages separately.

sudo pacman -Syu
pacman -Ss package-name
sudo pacman -S package-name
sudo pacman -Rns package-name

AUR

yay -Syu
# or
paru -Syu

If pacman -Syu reports a manual intervention, read the package announcements first. Don't force --overwrite without understanding the impact.

Checking services and logs

When the system boots slowly, KDE doesn't come up, or the network drops, start by checking the current service status and boot logs.

systemctl --failed
systemctl status NetworkManager
systemctl status sddm
journalctl -b -p warning --no-pager
journalctl -b -u sddm --no-pager

Enable required services

sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager
sudo systemctl enable sddm

Don't enable more than one display manager on the same system.

Recover the system with silpa-chroot

Run it from Silpa Live with root privileges. The tool will scan for ext4, btrfs, xfs, Btrfs subvolumes, and EFI partitions for you to select.

sudo silpa-chroot

What you can do inside chroot

arch-chroot /mnt
pacman -Syu
mkinitcpio -P
bootctl install
exit

When you exit with exit, the tool will attempt to recursively unmount /mnt automatically. Don't remove the USB while mounts are still active.

Fix Plymouth not showing

Plymouth runs during boot before KDE and is unrelated to the Wayland/X11 choice. Check the kernel parameters, initramfs, and theme.

grep -E 'HOOKS|plymouth' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
cat /proc/cmdline
sudo plymouth-set-default-theme silpa
sudo mkinitcpio -P

The boot entry should include quiet splash. If a VM skips the splash or shows it very briefly, that may be a limitation of the firmware/virtual display.

Running Silpa in a virtual machine

Recommended settings

• RAM 4 GB, CPU 2 vCPUs, and at least 128 MB video memory
• Enable EFI to test UEFI boot; disable it to test BIOS
• Start with X11 if the VM has trouble with Wayland, then try Wayland

VirtualBox Guest Additions

If you encounter VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED, shut down the VM, go to Settings → Storage, and remove the Guest Additions ISO from the optical drive before starting it again.

QEMU

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 4096 -smp 2 -cdrom silpa-2026.08.09-x86_64.iso

Installer fails or /mnt is busy

A pacstrap failure with the message target is busy is usually caused by a leftover mount, or a terminal/file manager with a path open inside /mnt

Check

findmnt -R /mnt
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS
sudo fuser -vm /mnt

Clean up before restarting

sudo umount -R /mnt
findmnt -R /mnt

Close any file manager or terminal windows open in /mnt, then try again. Also check the network and time in the Live Environment.