MX Linux Forum

Perhaps the text "for distribution to others" in the GUI could be improved by adding something like "this will not preserve any custom settings" or maybe "any changes you've made will be reset back to default" or similar wording?
Similar with the the tooltip maybe?
Then it would be quite clear and shouldn't result in confusion.



No matter how thorough a help manual is there'll always be people who don't read them.

JmaCWQ wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 3:22 am Perhaps the text "for distribution to others" in the GUI could be improved by adding something like "this will not preserve any custom settings" ...

Then it would be quite clear and shouldn't result in confusion.

thnx JmaCWQ for your kind respons!
Indeed we were too much focused on 'distributing' so choose that option.
Then made another snap based on the 1st option 'for personal bu' and added some folders in the exclusion file list.
This works fine accept the wifi settings didn't come through plus the selected background only pops up and is replaced by the b&w one.
Should this be the case?

Pretty Vacant wrote: Fri Jun 20, 2025 5:32 pm We've made a 'resetting accounts' snapshot iso in MX-23.6_x64. After installing the snapshot all custom made settings like in the browsers FF and Brave plus all panel launchers, splash, background, tweaks etcetera were gone.
There is an option 'edit exclusion file' but we have no clue what to select to keep all our settings in the snapshot.
How can one do so?

It depends on what it is for, and how public it is going to go, but I guess I would aim for a personal snapshot without any personal information.
That could sound like the same contradiction the other way around but I would make it work by making a complete new install with just what is needed for target users, and keeping in mind all the way during the configuration not to use name, mail or anything else personal.
And when everything looks good, then make the personal snapshot of the installation that has no personal content.

Pretty Vacant wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:58 am thnx JmaCWQ for your kind respons!
Indeed we were too much focused on 'distributing' so choose that option.
Then made another snap based on the 1st option 'for personal bu' and added some folders in the exclusion file list.
This works fine accept the wifi settings didn't come through plus the selected background only pops up and is replaced by the b&w one.
Should this be the case?

Possibly it will depend on what folders you added to the exclusion file as to why you get a different background, and possibly also why your wifi settings didn't carry over to the snapshot.
If there's another reason for why that's happened I don't know what it might be.

My basic understanding of it is this:
If "Preserving Accounts (for personal backup)" is used, and you leave all options unchecked where you have the option to select different directories to exclude, and you also don't edit the exclusion file itself, then the snapshot should be as your current system is, and should work ok on your current machine.
This snapshot may or may not work on different computers with different hardware etc..

If "Resetting accounts (for distribution to others)" is used and you don't uncheck any options where you have the option to choose any directories (which are all auto checked when selecting this option) and the exclusion file is not edited manually, the resulting snapshot will be basically the same as downloading an MX ISO and booting from it, everything is at default settings.
This snapshot should work on different computers.

I can't remember for sure, but I think with the "resetting accounts" type of snapshot, any extra software installed that didn't come with the original install ISO appears to be added to this type of snapshot, but as with anything else for this type of snapshot the settings etc. for the extra software are also at default.

And then there's the different combinations of both those snapshot types that can be achieved by checking and unchecking different directories etc., or editing manually the exclusion file, or a combination of both.

In short:
"Preserving Accounts (for personal backup)" will work on same hardware machines and possible some others, just try.
All custom settings are kept!

"Resetting accounts (for distribution to others)" will probably work on all hardware but all settings of all apps will be reset to default.

JmaCWQ wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:54 am This snapshot may or may not work on different computers with different hardware etc..

Pretty Vacant wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 8:44 am In short:
"Preserving Accounts (for personal backup)" will work on same hardware machines and possible some others, just try.

An important design principle in MX Snapshot, and one of the central principles that makes it so beautiful, is that also the personal snapshot works on dissimilar hardware. So the case is not that a personal snapshot is somehow more tied to a specific system on the hardware level, unless you are already using some special stuff that would logically be tied to specific hardware in any case (e.g. running some software that is targeted and tailored for a certain device, like in my case RME HDSPe mixer software - it's a given that this part of the software environment will not work if you don't have a HDSPe device on the system you boot it on, and so on). But in general, also the personal snapshot will live boot and install, and isn't tied to a specific machine, as long as the CPU architecture is correct. By default, it will not have a machine-specific fstab for instance, or configurations for a specific display adapter. So if you wish to make it more machine specific, then you can edit the exclusion file to keep the specific configuration files you wish.

A personal shapshot is actually very versatile for installing a tailored MX system onto delightfully different systems; personally, I've installed from the same snapshot on different generations of desktop computers and laptops, for example. They all just work. Your mileage may vary, of course, as there can be compatibility issues even on the kernel level, not related to MX Snapshot or MX itself, and so on. But this live/snapshot system is really... extremely versatile, and the best of its kind, imo.

Hey @CharlesV do you have access to Wiki to update the documentation?
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/hel ... -snapshot/

Isn't wiki stuff @Jerry3904's terrain?

Eadwine Rose wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 3:57 pm Isn't wiki stuff @Jerry3904's terrain?

Hopefully not only his...

I don't know about "terrain" but I do much of the work on it. @adr1an If you would like me to handle that let me know.