Here’s a guide to ensure your install of Arch Linux with NVIDIA drivers goes as planned. I’ve added the DaVinci Resolve portion as it seems there are many questions surrounding how to get it working. Since YouTube cuts off text in the description, it’s better if you use this post as a guide vs. the description.

This is the command list from the original workstation video: a full Arch install with working NVIDIA, then the same creative/gaming stack I later documented on Mint 21.3 and Rocky. Package versions in the video were current at the time. The order of operations is what still matters — especially multilib, OpenCL, and VMware modules after reboot.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOZT9NiMn2o

If you are on Omarchy today rather than a from-scratch Arch install, skip the Arch ISO section and jump to the app list. Resolve on Omarchy has its own zip-in-cache workaround: How to Install DaVinci Resolve on Omarchy.

Outline and commands used

  • Install
  • Enable Multilib
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • OBS
  • VMware Workstation
  • Inkscape
  • GIMP
  • LocalSend
  • Setup Steam and Proton-GE

Base install (what I assume you already did)

This post is not a replacement for the Arch Installation Guide. You should already have:

  • A bootable Arch ISO, wired or working Wi-Fi (iwctl if needed).
  • GPT + EFI (or BIOS if that is truly what the machine is), mounted filesystems, pacstrap with base linux linux-firmware, arch-chroot, users, sudo, network, and a desktop or at least a display manager you can log into.
  • NVIDIA proprietary drivers installed during or immediately after the first graphical session. On a desktop GPU that usually means nvidia + nvidia-utils (and nvidia-settings if you want the panel). On a laptop with switching, read the ArchWiki NVIDIA page before you copy desktop packages blindly.

Confirm the driver before you touch Resolve:

nvidia-smi

Expected output: driver version, GPU name, memory. If this command is missing, you do not have nvidia-utils. If it errors about a kernel mismatch, you booted an old kernel or the module did not load (journalctl -k | grep -i nvidia). Fix that before any AUR builds. A black screen on an Arch-based ISO is a different problem — Omarchy users see nomodeset / Safe Graphics.

Enable multilib (if you skipped it in the installer)

Steam, many 32-bit game libraries, and a surprising number of vendor helpers need [multilib]. In case you didn’t enable multilib during the install:

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Uncomment:

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Save, then:

sudo pacman -Syu

Why this is not optional later: enabling multilib after you have already tried to install Steam produces confusing dependency errors that look like a broken mirror. Do it now. pacman -Syu should pull a batch of lib32-* packages when you install Steam; that is success, not bloat.

AUR helper (yay) and Resolve dependencies

DaVinci Resolve on Arch is an AUR package plus NVIDIA OpenCL. First, yay:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
# check to make sure yay installed
yay --version

Expected output: yay v… with a version number. base-devel is the toolchain makepkg needs; without it you get make: command not found and a useless AUR experience.

Check to see if NVIDIA drivers are working:

nvidia-smi

To avoid the unsupported GPU message in Resolve, install NVIDIA’s OpenCL ICD:

sudo pacman -S opencl-nvidia

Why OpenCL? Linux Resolve talks to the GPU through OpenCL (and CUDA on NVIDIA). A display driver without OpenCL is enough to move windows and not enough to run the Fusion/page engines. After opencl-nvidia:

pacman -Q opencl-nvidia

Need a media player that actually handles odd files while you wait on transcodes:

sudo pacman -S mpv

Install DaVinci Resolve

yay -S davinci-resolve

If yay fails looking for Blackmagic’s zip, that is the current AUR behavior. Put the official Linux zip next to the PKGBUILD and rerun — step-by-step in Install DaVinci Resolve on Omarchy / Arch. On the original video date the helper could still fetch what it needed; treat the zip copy as the 2026-proof method.

Since the Linux free version cannot read the default H.264 format, we need to run our video files through the transcoder. Install ffmpeg if it is not already there (sudo pacman -S ffmpeg).

Transcode

ffmpeg -i "/home/chris/Desktop/test-video.mp4" -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le OUTPUT_FILE.mov

Batch transcode

for f in *.mov; do
    ffmpeg -i "$f" -y -c:v dnxhd -profile:v dnxhr_hq -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le "${f%.mov}_conv.mov"
done

Expected output: a _conv.mov (or OUTPUT_FILE.mov) that Resolve’s media pool accepts. If ffmpeg errors on dnxhd, your ffmpeg build lacks that encoder — use the official extra/community package, not a random static binary.

AMD GPUs on Arch follow the ROCm + HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION notes in the Omarchy Resolve post, not opencl-nvidia.

Install OBS

sudo pacman -S obs-studio

On Wayland compositors, use PipeWire capture. If OBS shows no screens, you launched it before the portal service was alive — log out and in, or start OBS from a terminal and read the error. NVIDIA users should pick the NVENC encoder in OBS settings once nvidia-smi is healthy; if NVENC is missing, the driver install is incomplete (nvidia-utils / codec packages).

Install VMware Workstation (for creating VMs)

yay -S vmware-workstation
sudo pacman -S linux-headers

Restart before trying to spin up VMs. Headers must match uname -r. After a reboot, I had two issues:

  • “Could not open /dev/vmmon:” To correct: sudo modprobe -v vmmon
  • NIC wasn’t working. To correct: sudo systemctl enable --now vmware-networks.service

Why linux-headers? VMware’s vmmon and vmnet modules compile against the running kernel. No headers, no module, no VMs. After every kernel update, either let VMware rebuild on first launch or reinstall the AUR package. If modprobe vmmon prints a key rejection, Secure Boot is blocking the unsigned module — disable Secure Boot on this workstation or sign the module. I disable it on the video box.

Verify:

ls /dev/vmmon /dev/vmnet0
systemctl is-active vmware-networks.service

vmnet0 may not exist until the networks service has started; that is a clue, not a random rm.

If you only need occasional VMs and you are on Fedora Silverblue instead of Arch, layering QEMU/KVM is cleaner than fighting VMware modules: Setting Up Virtualization on Fedora Silverblue.

Inkscape, GIMP, LocalSend

sudo pacman -S inkscape
sudo pacman -S gimp
yay -S localsend-bin

LocalSend’s -bin package avoids compiling a Flutter stack from source. Allow local network access if a firewall prompt appears. Same app, same use case as on Mint: push files across the LAN without emailing yourself.

Steam and Proton-GE

Update and install Steam:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S steam

First launch bootstraps the Steam runtime. Enable Steam Play globally. Install Proton-GE via ProtonUp-Qt:

yay -S protonup-qt

Run ProtonUp-Qt, install a current GE build, restart Steam, set a game’s compatibility tool to that build. Why GE on NVIDIA Arch? Same as Mint: a long tail of titles. NVIDIA + up-to-date nvidia + GE is the combination I actually game with on this workstation.

Install neofetch (the video used it for screenshots; fastfetch is the spiritual successor if neofetch is gone from the repos):

sudo pacman -S neofetch

If neofetch is no longer packaged, sudo pacman -S fastfetch is the drop-in for the same “show my GPU in a terminal” shot.

Troubleshooting recap

  • Resolve “unsupported GPU”: opencl-nvidia missing, or nvidia-smi already failing. Fix the driver, then OpenCL, then Resolve.
  • Steam 32-bit errors: [multilib] still commented.
  • VMware after pacman -Syu: new kernel, old modules. Headers + rebuild + reboot.
  • Black screen after NVIDIA install: you are booting nomodeset leftovers or the wrong kernel package (linux-lts vs linux). Check /proc/cmdline and mkinitcpio hooks (nvidia / kms as appropriate for your setup).

Wrap-up

That is the Arch + NVIDIA workstation from the video: multilib, yay, OpenCL for Resolve, DNxHR transcodes, OBS, VMware modules that you reload after kernel updates, and Steam with Proton-GE. The commands stay copy-pasteable; the download versions will not.

Thanks for following along and I hope this was helpful and informative.

Best regards,

The Linux IT Guy