Clean Personal Info and Logs When Creating Snapshot

[Madison]

Hi. I have created many KDE snapshots using VirtualBox and shared some with my non technical and new to Linux friends with many changes to make things easier such as installing certain software and placing them on desktop for easy access.

However, I want to know when I create a snapshot what logs, personal and sensitive info is stored and passed on as well?

According to me, all such info gets removed. But can anyone confirm if any personal and sensitive info remains?


Such as:

1. IP ADDRESS
2. PC Hardware Info & Device Identifiers
3. WIFI Name and Password
4. Any other identifiers which are personal and unique

And where can I find them and remove them in MX Linux before creating the snapshot?

[CharlesV]

If you are checking the "Resetting accounts for distribution to others" .. then no I do not believe any information is kept. ( From your skel areas only, and how that is setup )

If your choosing "Preserving accounts ( for personal backup)" - then yes, quite a bit of information will be carried over.
- if you have set a static IP address - mine carried over.
- PC hardware info and device identifiers - No, all changed when installed.
- Wifi Name and Password - Some did not, but other snapshots did (I believe it was version updates, but I do not remember which ones.)
- Any other identifiers... - yes. I hasve carried printer, mount points, permissions, and more across.

Edit: I should also say - all of my snapshots I am talking about xfce.

[siamhie]

When you open MX Snapshot and click on Help (bottom left), it describes the differences between personal and system snapshots.

HELP: MX Save system to ISO (Snapshot)
Overview
MX Snapshot takes care of two main situations:

A “personal snapshot” and saves pretty much everything, used if you want to backup your current system including home. Excluded are only some cache and log folders that are listed in the exception file (that file can be examined from the program by clicking on the appropriate button). The program also tries to “generalize” the ISO, in a sense that it removes files that are machine specific like /etc/fstab (you might use the ISO on a machine that has different harddrive partitions), also Xorg config file is not saved (for example if you have Nvidia or ATI/AMD driver installed the snapshot won’t preserve that setting because you might use the ISO on a different machine that doesn’t have an Nvidia or ATI card). If you intend to use it as a backup on the same machine then comment out the appropriate xorg.conf line in the exclusion file. The user also has a number of checkboxes to help exclude some big folders, like Downloads, Desktop, Documents, Movies, Photos, etc.

A “system snapshot” with all the apps you installed and without all the apps you removed, but without stuff from /home. That’s what we call “reset accounts” snapshot because in addition to generalizing the ISO it also resets root password to “root” and creates a demo username with a “demo” password. /home/demo is generated at boot time and populated with files from /etc/skel. This option is meant to create a kind of respin ISO that can be used, for instance, to distribute to other people or to use as a base for a custom lab install.

[Madison]

If you are checking the "Resetting accounts for distribution to others" .. then no I do not believe any information is kept. ( From your skel areas only, and how that is setup )

If your choosing "Preserving accounts ( for personal backup)" - then yes, quite a bit of information will be carried over.
- if you have set a static IP address - mine carried over.
- PC hardware info and device identifiers - No, all changed when installed.
- Wifi Name and Password - Some did not, but other snapshots did (I believe it was version updates, but I do not remember which ones.)
- Any other identifiers... - yes. I hasve carried printer, mount points, permissions, and more across.

Edit: I should also say - all of my snapshots I am talking about xfce.

@CharlesV thank you for answer. I use personal backup as it works best for me. I usually do a fresh install, download software packages and place often used software like chromium on desktop. So, I think I don't have to worry about printer, mount points etc for now. That's a relief.

But I will change my Wi-Fi password. But can you kindly tell me how a static IP is set? And how I can remove it just before creating my personal snapshot.

[CharlesV]

when using personal backup, you are copying across the keyring I believe, so your passwords WOULD be included in that.

Most people will set static in the Network Manager for that connection. ( Right click on your network icon in the tray and choose Edit connections .. or launch from the menu Advanced Network Connections which brings up network manager. Go to the IPv4 tab and set it there. (ip, mask and DNS server(s))

How I do static IP's eliminates this issue. I "pin" my mac address to a specific IP address in my router. And then there is zero issue when that snapshot fires up on a different machine. If you have the ability to do this in your router.. I highly suggest doing it.

And regardless where you set it.. if you do static IP's.. keep a document that SHOWS what Mac /machine is tied to what IP !! This document WILL save you if things go south and you have more than one machine / printer / device set to static!!

[MXRobo]

@Madison

Hi. I have created many KDE snapshots using VirtualBox and shared some with my non technical and new to Linux friends

I saw your post soon after posted, but I didn't reply because I didn't know what type of MX-Snapshot you were using – that and I didn't know if a VM might affect/change any issue and I couldn't answer your question specifically, but regarding your comment from above:

I too did this using both a personal snapshot (PS), and a system snapshot (SS) and I botched my system when I tried the later and altering /etc/skel – but I don't know linux.

Although I did give PS's to very close relatives whom I trust would do no harm even if they found any personal info and I felt confident that their computer knowledge was much less than mine, so discovering it would be difficult too.

I couldn't find the post, but, knowledgeable forum members and devs stated that a PS could easily contain personal info that one generally wouldn't want on an ISO that was to be distributed to others – noted in your comment:
"4. Any other identifiers which are personal and unique".

I assume that you'd like to be able to customize your install and then MX-Snapshot it for others, not so easy to do while not possibly revealing some personal info – at least for me. There are forum posts on how to do a custom respin, but a little too involved and over my head for me.

Good luck

[Madison]

@CharlesV Thank you for your super detailed answer. Really appreciate all the effort you took into writing this answer.

Also a thought came across, since I try to create these personal snapshots in Virtualbox when I want to share it with other people. And the network connection is copied/shared from the host machine. Maybe no static IP nor a Wi-Fi password can be set. So, perhaps it is clear in this regard. But I will check the VM to explore it further.

@MXRobo I assume the same for my friends who use my snapshot version of MX that they won't find out. Also, I was trying to find out on forum what info could be passed on personal snapshot. I couldn't find any in detail as of now. If you come across anything at anytime. Do let me know. That would be a great help. Also I feel that using a VM might not share so much info as compared to doing on my personal bare metal computer.

But still some gets passed on. It would be a treat to know what it really is in detail.

[CharlesV]

Your very welcome. Yes, I write two types of snapshots - 1 for me as a backup and then 1 for use from VM's (Either for new loads for me, or loads for friends / clients)

On the one for friends / clients, I build it in a VM FOR them, so I setup a profile that person, or a generic one and then have them either create their own and copy or just use that one.

[MXRobo]

Madison wrote:

Do let me know.

I will IF I don't forget your post by the time I find it, but I already searched - couldn't find it, I found other related posts of my inquiring about this - this being what you, and I want/wanted to do.

I do remember after botching the /etc/skel, that one of the forum helpers advised me to do something like this: - create a new user in MX-User-Manager, then Copy/Sync my settings to theirs (maybe entire home) , then probably give them some special privileges - I probably gave them the same Group Memberships as I had. Test, play - see if it works, then delete my user. Obviously gave them a password in MX-User-Manager, don't recall how, but probably user and root passwords.

I can provide the links that are similar or relevant, including the respins links if you like.

Good Luck - and please let me know if you figure a way to do this that's not too difficult.

Cheers!

[Madison]

Thank you all for your help.

@MXRobo Thank you for sharing this great tip. I will follow it next time when I create a personal snapshot. It sounds like if this should complete almost all requirements.

And sure I would like to see the links. If they are easily available at your disposal. Would love to learn more about MX. But your tip on creating a new user I feel is currently is the best option I know so far.

Thanks.