diff --git a/archlabs-installer b/archlabs-installer
index 4db59be..0c28bf7 100755
--- a/archlabs-installer
+++ b/archlabs-installer
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2086,SC2046
 
-VER=2.1.27
+VER=2.1.28
 
 # default values {
 
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ USER_CMD=""                        # optional command(s) entered by the user to
 export DIALOGOPTS="--cr-wrap"      # dialog environment variable to hold default options, see `man dialog`
 
 # packages installed for all installation types as a baseline
-BASE_PKGS="base base-devel xorg xorg-drivers sudo git gvfs gtk3 libmad libmatroska tumbler "
-BASE_PKGS+="playerctl pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol pamixer scrot xdg-user-dirs "
+BASE_PKGS="base base-devel xorg xorg-drivers git gvfs gtk3 libmad libmatroska tumbler "
+BASE_PKGS+="playerctl pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol sudo pamixer scrot xdg-user-dirs "
 BASE_PKGS+="ffmpeg gstreamer gst-libav gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good bash-completion xterm"
 
 # packages installed specific to archlabs, installed when any session is chosen
@@ -43,6 +43,18 @@ WM_BASE_PKGS="arandr nitrogen polkit-gnome network-manager-applet "
 WM_BASE_PKGS+="volumeicon xclip exo laptop-detect xdotool picom wmctrl feh "
 WM_BASE_PKGS+="gnome-keyring dunst gsimplecal xfce4-power-manager xfce4-settings"
 
+# packages installed when choosing to use pacstrap
+ISO_PKGS="arch-install-scripts b43-firmware b43-fwcutter broadcom-wl btrfs-progs "
+ISO_PKGS+="clonezilla crda darkhttpd ddrescue dhclient dhcpcd dialog diffutils dmraid "
+ISO_PKGS+="dnsmasq dnsutils dosfstools elinks ethtool exfat-utils f2fs-tools fsarchiver "
+ISO_PKGS+="ppp pptpclient refind-efi reiserfsprogs rp-pppoe rsync sdparm sg3_utils smartmontools "
+ISO_PKGS+="linux-firmware lsscsi lvm2 man-db man-pages mc mdadm mtools nano ndisc6 netctl nfs-utils "
+ISO_PKGS+="nilfs-utils nmap ntfs-3g ntp openconnect openssh openvpn p7zip partclone parted partimage "
+ISO_PKGS+="gpm gptfdisk hdparm htop ipw2100-fw ipw2200-fw irssi iwd jfsutils lftp linux-atm gnu-netcat "
+ISO_PKGS+="tcpdump testdisk unrar usb_modeswitch usbutils vi vim vpnc wget wireless-regdb wireless_tools "
+ISO_PKGS+="wpa_supplicant wvdial xfsprogs xl2tpd alsa-firmware alsa-lib alsa-plugins geoclue2 lm_sensors "
+ISO_PKGS+="lsb-release networkmanager pacman-contrib reflector terminus-font ttf-dejavu archlabs-keyring "
+
 SYS_MEM="$(awk '/MemTotal/ {print int($2 / 1024) "M"}' /proc/meminfo)"
 LOCALES="$(awk '/\.UTF-8/ {gsub(/# .*|#/, ""); if ($1) {print $1 " - "}}' /etc/locale.gen)"
 CMAPS="$(find /usr/share/kbd/keymaps -name '*.map.gz' | awk '{gsub(/\.map\.gz|.*\//, ""); print $1 " - "}' | sort)"
@@ -1468,8 +1480,9 @@ install_packages()
 
 	# update and install crucial packages first to avoid issues
 	chrun "pacman -Syyu --noconfirm" 2> "$ERR" 2>&1
-	chrun "pacman -S ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $NEWSHELL --noconfirm --needed" 2> "$ERR" 2>&1
-	errshow 1 "chrun 'pacman -S ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $NEWSHELL --noconfirm --needed'"
+	chrun "pacman -S $BASE_PKGS $ISO_PKGS ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $NEWSHELL --noconfirm --needed" 2> "$ERR" 2>&1
+	errshow 1 "chrun 'pacman -S $BASE_PKGS $ISO_PKGS ${LOGIN_PKGS[$LOGIN_TYPE]} $NEWSHELL --noconfirm --needed'"
+
 	# reinstalling iputils fixes the network issue for non-root users
 	chrun "pacman -S iputils $UCODE $KERNEL --noconfirm"
 
@@ -1636,8 +1649,13 @@ install_mirrorlist()
 	elif hash rankmirrors > /dev/null 2>&1; then
 		echo "Sorting mirrorlist... This will take a while"
 		local key="access_key=5f29642060ab983b31fdf4c2935d8c56"
-		ip_add="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/check&?$key&fields=ip" | python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['ip'])")"
-		country="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/$ip_add?$key&fields=country_code" | python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['country_code'])")"
+
+		ip_add="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/check&?$key&fields=ip" |
+			python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['ip'])")"
+
+		country="$(curl -fsSL "http://api.ipstack.com/$ip_add?$key&fields=country_code" |
+			python -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['country_code'])")"
+
 		if [[ "$country" ]]; then
 			if [[ $country =~ (CA|US) ]]; then
 				# use both CA and US mirrors for CA or US countries
@@ -1662,7 +1680,9 @@ install_background()
 		(
 		install_mirrorlist "/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist" > /tmp/bgout 2>&1 &&
 		pacstrap /mnt $BASE_PKGS > /tmp/bgout 2>&1 &&
+		cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist "$MNT/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist"
 		al_repo "$MNT/etc/pacman.conf"
+		chrun "systemctl enable NetworkManager.service" > /tmp/bgout 2>&1
 		) &
 		BG_PID=$!
 	else