mkinitcpio Command Examples

Generates initial ramdisk environments for booting the Linux kernel based on the specified preset(s). More information: https://man.archlinux.org/man/mkinitcpio.8.

• Perform a dry run (print what would be done without actually doing it):

mkinitcpio

• Generate a ramdisk environment based on the linux preset:

mkinitcpio --preset {{linux}}

• Generate a ramdisk environment based on the linux-lts preset:

mkinitcpio --preset {{linux-lts}}

• Generate ramdisk environments based on all existing presets (used to regenerate all the initramfs images after a change in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf):

mkinitcpio --allpresets

• Generate an initramfs image using an alternative configuration file:

mkinitcpio --config {{path/to/mkinitcpio.conf}} --generate {{path/to/initramfs.img}}

• Generate an initramfs image for a kernel other than the one currently running (the installed kernel releases can be found in /usr/lib/modules/):

mkinitcpio --kernel {{kernel_version}} --generate {{path/to/initramfs.img}}

• List all available hooks:

mkinitcpio --listhooks

• Display help for a specific hook:

mkinitcpio --hookhelp {{hook_name}}