MX 23 install ruined by copying bkup user/home/dirs and fileslll [Solved]

[MikeComm]

Replaced MX21.3 with latest MX 23 new install. All was wonderful until I copied /home/user files and dirs to new install.
Last thing that happened is the system told me it could not save my system changes I had made mostly to the display.
My password is also gone and that pretty much kills everything.
So is there a way to copy files from the live USB to the new install to recover or do I need to start over?
Thank you

[BitterTruth]

First things first. Did you backup all your files? If not try and do that first using the live usb.
Next, we need some more information. What did you choose to do with your /home during install?
So did the install complete or fail? Does the new system boot at all? If so, how far?
can
Also, before somebody else asks, please post your QSI if you are able. In the same program, you will find a tab for the install log. If you can, attach that as well.

[MikeComm]

Everything was backed up and I have just gone ahead and reinstalled. It is quick to do with MX.
My /home and other important items were backed up on a separate drive.
I first noticed the issue in the midst of making appearance changes to the desktop - the system told me the settings could not be saved - and I can't say
what those last changes were since I was doing so many. I had already copied all my files and directories from the backup into the new /home.
When the settings would not save I shutdown and restarted, but the logon screen would not accept my password, screen blanked as if it was waiting
for the system to load but then jumped back to the logon screen - like it just lost the password info.
I did not think to try getting a QSI before shutting it down, honestly had no idea I would not be able to get back in.

System: (Just for info I took this from the reinstalled system QSI)
Desktop System: Dell XPS8940 I7-11700
Kernel 6.4.0-1 mx-ahs-amd64 [6.4.4-1 mx23+1] 64bit
SSD hd nvme0n1, 198 gb partition, dual boot with win-10

I should have taken a more organized approach to the install - didn't really think it could be a system issue and not something I caused.

Thanks for the reply......

[Gioelli]

I'm just sharing a few ideas, hoping it can help solve the issue.

… the system told me the settings could not be saved - and I can't say what those last changes were since I was doing so many. I had already copied all my files and directories from the backup into the new /home.

To me that sounds like an issues with file/directory permissions.
Sometimes they can get messed up when copying back and forth to and from backup directories, depending on how you ran your backup.

When the settings would not save I shutdown and restarted, but the logon screen would not accept my password, screen blanked as if it was waiting for the system to load but then jumped back to the logon screen - like it just lost the password info.

You could try and boot from the live USB again, and then check on the files and dirs in your installation home directory. Check the dotfiles in your user's /home, especially ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile or ~/.xsessionrc and so on (whatever applies).
If you have set environment variables containing paths, make sure those paths contain no typos and refer to the correct user. Especially if you should have changed user name and copied said files from a user's /home with a different name, absolute paths (to a non-existing target) can result in what you describe. You could either try to fix those files, or just delete them, and then try to to boot your install normally and see if you can get back into your user.

How did you backup your files? Did you use luckyBackup, command line rsync or any other tools, and how did you copy the backed-up files into your /home?
What appearance changes did you make to your desktop? (I suppose, you are using XFCE, right?) Any scripts you run at login?

[Charlie Brown]

If you set a different username and/or pw. when installing 23 that's normal.

[Charlie Brown]

... You can also do this if you like:

Boot with live usb, (no matter MX 19, 21, 23 ):

"Chroot Rescue Scan" from menu.. proceed, when you see the prompt as

chroot>

issue:

Code: Select all

mx-user

then change username and/or pw. of "that" user ..

...reboot the installed MX

[MikeComm]

Thanks for the replies.
I now think Gioelli has probably hit on what I did, and I probably could have recovered with Charlie Brown's suggestions.
I used Thunar and just copied everything in /home to an external drive. I am not all that knowledgeable re Linux and individual files.
What I am about to say doesn't make much sense to me because if I copied /home to the external, then I should not have needed root thunar
to copy back into the new system. But I had some files refuse to copy back so I just opened a root Thunar and copied away. I think
I must have copied dot files as well as others and didn't think much of having to use root because I build GnuCash all the time and
a few other programs as well. And that all would indicate I probably used root to backup to the external.
I also thought there were not files in the /home that would "break' the system. Thank you Gioelli, I will endeavor to learn more about dot files.
I reinstalled MX23, most changes so it looks like I want, and set the system up to my requirements all without issues.
Thanks again, I will mark this "Solved"