On 4/22/24 06:00, Stephen P. Molnar wrote:
I am running Bookworm and cleaned up a couple of files too many
resulting in a messed up Xfce Desktop. I decided that this would be a
good time to reinstall the Bullseye.
I made a backup of my /home/comp directory using Deja-dup.
I downloaded and ran the 512 check sum on a copy of
Debian-12.5.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso and ran the Graphical Install mode on
the 1.0 TD SSD on my Computer. The installation went smoothly without
any warning or error messages.
I logged in as root to set up the Desktop and, much to my surprise,
found that my previous Desktop configuration was still there!!???
This was also the case when I logged in user!!!???
I have been using computers in my work since the 1960, the era of the
Hollerith Card and tape drives and Linux since early days of
Slackware and the Red Hat Mother's Day Edition. Now I am not a
computer expert but a Research Chemist. I have installed Linux OS's
many times and consider Linux my primary computational platform. I
have never encountered the situation and have no ideas as to what is
going on.
I have been runnind Debian since Etch.
I would appreciate some insight into what might be going on.
Thanks in advance.
Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. https://insilicochemistry.net (614)312-7528
(c) Skype: smolnar1
On 4/22/24 09:34, Stephen P. Molnar wrote:
I did not want to revert to Bullseye, but to reinstall to Bookworm.
I suggest that you buy a good 16 GB USB flash drive and install Debian
12 with Xfce onto it. Having a working live USB stick is very useful
for low-level disk drive chores such as examining, backing up, testing,
repairing, restoring, wiping, etc.. Use it to:
1. Ensure that you have a good backup of your 1 TB SSD.
2. Make additional backups or archives of all or part of your 1 TB SSD.
Note the mantra: "Data does not exist unless it exists in three places".
3. Wipe the SSD so that the Debian installer will see a blank disk and
respond accordingly when you later install Debian onto the SSD.
Regarding copying a home directory from one OS installation to another
OS installation, please see my comments on another thread:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2024/04/msg00336.html
Once you have logged in to your new account on your fresh install, I
suggest that you restore your /home/comp backup to a subdirectory and
manually copy/ move/ edit/ merge files and directories from the restore
subdirectory into your fresh home directory. Be very careful not to
damage or delete anything needed by your fresh desktop or applications.
David
