Installing iwctl (iwd) and Enabling Wi-Fi on Minimal Arch Linux Without Internet

I recently installed minimal Arch Linux in my homelab system, but I had a big problem: no internet connection. My Wi-Fi device was detected, but I couldn’t connect. After some testing, I found I needed to install extra packages manually and also use the rfkill unblock command to enable Wi-Fi. Here are the steps I followed to fix it.

1. Required Packages

To make Wi-Fi work, these packages are needed:

• ell → dependency for iwd
• iwd → provides iwctl for Wi-Fi management
• dhcpcd → needed to get an IP address

2. Download from an Arch Mirror

Since I had no internet on Arch, I used another system to download the packages from an Arch Linux mirror.

Example files (versions may change):

• ell 0.80-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
• iwd 3.10-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
• dhcpcd 10.2.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

If versions are different, just download the latest ones from the same directory.

3. Transfer to Arch

Copy the .pkg.tar.zst files to a USB stick.
On Arch, mount the USB:

sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt
cd /mnt

(Replace /dev/sdX1 with your USB device name check with lsblk.)

4. Install the Packages

Install them in the right order:

sudo pacman -U ell-*.pkg.tar.zst iwd-*.pkg.tar.zst dhcpcd-*.pkg.tar.zst

5. Enable and Start Services

Start iwd (Wi-Fi service):

sudo systemctl enable --now iwd

Start dhcpcd (IP address service):

sudo systemctl enable --now dhcpcd

6. Unblock Wi-Fi (rfkill)

Sometimes the Wi-Fi card is blocked. To unblock:

rfkill unblock all

7. Connect to Wi-Fi Using iwctl

Open iwctl shell:

iwctl

Inside:

[iwd]# device list
[iwd]# station wlan0 scan
[iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect "YourSSID"

(Replace wlan0 with your Wi-Fi device name, found from device list.)

Enter your Wi-Fi password when asked.

8. Get an IP Address

After connecting, run:

sudo dhcpcd wlan0

Check IP:

ip addr show wlan0

You should see something like inet 192.168.x.x.

Test internet:

ping -c 3 archlinux.org

Summary

• No internet at first → needed packages from mirror.
• Installed ell, iwd, and dhcpcd.
• Enabled iwd and dhcpcd services.
• Used rfkill unblock all to fix blocked Wi-Fi.
• Connected with iwctl and got IP with dhcpcd.

Now Wi-Fi works fine on minimal Arch Linux.