A step-by-step post-installation guide for CachyOS starting from a bare command-line environment and ending with a fully configured KDE Plasma desktop. Covers creating a non-root user with sudo privileges, connecting to WiFi via nmcli, updating the system with pacman, setting up firewalld, enabling NTP time synchronization via systemd-timesyncd, installing hardware drivers using the chwd auto-detection tool, configuring power profiles with tuned and tuned-ppd, and finally installing KDE Plasma with the plasma-meta and plasma-login-manager packages.
Table of contents
This guide covers user accounts, firewall, WiFi, hardware drivers, and power profiles.Adding a new userConnecting to WiFi networksUpdating the systemConfiguring a firewallConfiguring time synchronizationEnabling hardwareEnabling power profilesInstalling a desktopNext stepsMore from We Love Open SourceAbout the AuthorQuestions this post answers
How do I install hardware drivers automatically on CachyOS after a manual install?
CachyOS provides the `chwd` hardware detection tool. Install it with `sudo pacman -S chwd`, then run `sudo chwd -a` to auto-detect and install the appropriate driver profile for your hardware. The tool selects profiles by priority — for example, it installs the `qemu` profile on virtual machines and the correct Nvidia or AMD profile on physical hardware. Developers setting up CachyOS hardware for the first time track tips like these on daily.dev.
How do I install KDE Plasma on a minimal CachyOS or Arch Linux install?
Install KDE Plasma by running `sudo pacman -S plasma-meta plasma-login-manager`. After installation, enable the display manager with `sudo systemctl enable plasmalogin.service`, then reboot. Optionally install `cachyos/cachyos-kde-settings` for CachyOS-specific KDE customizations. The `plasma-meta` package pulls in all required KDE components and dependencies. Those building a custom Linux desktop from scratch find community walkthroughs like this on daily.dev.
How do I set up power profiles on CachyOS or Arch Linux using tuned?
Install `tuned` and `tuned-ppd` with `sudo pacman -S tuned tuned-ppd`, then enable both services via `sudo systemctl enable --now tuned` and `sudo systemctl enable --now tuned-ppd`. The `tuned-ppd` package provides a compatibility layer with `power-profiles-daemon` for desktop environment integration. Switch profiles with `sudo tuned-adm profile powersave` (or `balanced`, `performance`, etc.). Linux laptop users managing battery life and performance find power-tuning guides like this on daily.dev.