Overview
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+ Vanilla install in VMWare, using the 11.01.2013 x86_x64 media.
+ All disks are 1MB aligned by gdisk.
+ Bootloader is initialized by BIOS, not UEFI.
+ The boot partition is created with 2MB of preceding space to leave necessary space for embedding grub's core.img.
+ I have not added a swap partition, since this is a VM and I don't need suspend-to-disk support.
+ I have not added any disk encryption, since this is a VM installed on a system that already has full disk encryption.

VM Specifications
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Kernel:     Other Linux 3.X 64 Bit Kernel
Memory:     4096
Processors: 2x2
Disk Size:  20GB

Disk Layout
-----------

| Partition | START | END    | SIZE  | FLAGS | TYPE | FS   | MOUNT |
| --------- | ----- | ------ | ----- | ----- | ---- | ---- | ----- |
| /dev/sda1 | +2M   | +1024M | 1024M | BOOT  | EF02 | EXT2 | /boot |
| /dev/sda2 | *     | *      |   19G | N/A   | 8300 | EXT4 | /     |

    # load the keymap
    loadkeys us

    # update the installation media & install gdisk
    pacman -Syu
    pacman -S gdisk

    # partition the disks per the layout above
    gdisk /dev/sda

    # create and mount file systems
    mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sda1
    mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda2
    mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
    mkdir -p /mnt/boot
    mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

    # install the base system with pacstrap
    pacstrap /mnt base base-devel grub

    # generate fstab
    genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

    # chroot into new environment
    arch-chroot /mnt

    # set hostname
    echo "elysium" > /etc/hostname

    # set root password
    passwd

    # provide sudo group with sudo privileges
    visudo

    # create the sudo group
    groupadd sudo

    # create new user
    useradd -m -g users -G sudo -s /bin/bash oxsyn
    passwd oxsyn

    # set the timezone
    ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Mountain /etc/localtime

    # configure locales
    sed '/#en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/s' /etc/locale.gen > /tmp/locale.gen && cat /tmp/locale.gen > /etc/locale.gen
    locale-gen
    locale >> /etc/locale.conf

    # set the system time to utc
    hwclock --systohc --utc

    # build ramdisk image
    mkinitcpio -p linux

    # build & install bootloader
    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
    grub-install /dev/sda

    # exit the new environment
    exit

    # unmount systems & reboot environment
    umount /mnt/boot
    umount /mnt
    reboot