I can't gain access to my Ubuntu accounts after a bad attempt at moving /home out

drpeppercan · 01-16-2017, 12:06 AM

Thanks Brains.
Which back up program would you recommend to make the images?

Brains · 01-16-2017, 12:49 PM

I guess it depends on how you configure your system, size of partitions etc. Myself, I don't store any data in operating system partitions, I always have a data drive accessible to all OS formatted NTFS, this way it's easy to keep a triple backup of my data between laptop, desktop and external USB drive.

That being said, for my old desktop, I keep Windows 7 on 30GB partitions, Linux on 10GB partitions, up until a couple days ago, I had three copies of Debian testing on the desktop, two with Nvidia drivers from Nvidia using the .run installer, one without proprietary graphics waiting till the 340.101 nvidia drivers to be available in Debian repositories. Finally those drivers were available in wheezy-backports and I installed them but when I went to update, apt wanted to replace all Nvidia packages with the 375 version available in testing repositories, so I got rid of that one and sticking with the others with the drivers installed via Nvidia .run installer. Since I'm happy with the current setup, I am down to one Debian installation but have an image so if I go to do something sketchy, or apply updates, I create another partition and load the latest image and test the sketchy configuration there, if all goes well, I implement it on the other copy and make an image.

For the newer laptop, I have two copies of Debian testing each on a 20GB partition, Windows 10 takes the rest of the 250GB SSD. One Debian has Nvidia 375 drivers from repositories, the other does not have Nvidia for use when in battery saving mode using on-board Intel graphics. My MSI laptop does not use optimus, it has a hardware switch to switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics which requires a reboot, it's a gaming laptop so it's one or the other, optimus is not ideal for a gaming laptop.

So....
Imaging....

I use dcfldd and Bootit Bare Metal, but am now using strictly Bootit BM as the images are smaller. Dcfldd is just as fast or faster but the image is the same size as the partition, which is currently not an issue but... still. Bootit BM defaults to not including free space in the images, so the images of Linux are currently around 2GB versus 10GB with dcfldd, 9GB for Windows 7 versus 30GB with dcfldd for the desktop, 25GB versus 180GB for Windows 10 on the laptop.

You can use dd or dcfldd to do the same and not copy free space, just a lot more involved on your end and one would have to search LQ archives to find out how. As far as I'm concerned, the member here that figured out how to do what BootitNG and BootitBM does using dd had dug into those proprietary apps to figure it out, although I have never dug into these apps, as far as I'm concerned, they probably use dd. The LQ member that posted the use of dd and tar to create/restore images without free space included, to the best of my memory is "Jshiwal", not sure if I got that user name correct, as it was many years ago.

I have lots of spare space in my data drives, so imaging my OSs is a no-brainer, makes for stress free endeavours and no need to spend countless hours re-installing. My old desktop was a power house when I purchased it in mid 2005 and is still a nice unit today, I have an image of: Windows XP 32 and 64 bit, Windows 7 32 and 64 bit, Mac OSX 10.6, and Debian testing. Many I don't use anymore, but typically always have two running copies of the ones I do use, one for trying risky moves, one that is safe and running great all the time.

I have not used Anti-virus protection in at least 8 years in Windows since it only takes a few minutes to get rid of an unstable OS and load an image of a fully updated new installation. My Windows OSs run fast and hard due to no anti-virus applications using up processes and internet bandwidth, and optimizations.

All Windows applications are stored on the data drives as ISO images for software that comes on CD and mounted on a virtual optical drive for fast installations after restoring an image. I do not include third party software in my installation images of Windows, software gets reinstalled after an image is re-loaded on an as needed basis keeping the OS lean and fast, and not having to un-install old versions of software when newer versions exist. Linux images include all applications added after initial installation, since Linux is not as bloated as Windows.

Brains · 01-16-2017, 01:24 PM

Also:
A lot of folks out there will recommend using a virtual machine for playing with sketchy endeavours. I have tried this method many years ago and ditched this angle. Although I have not used virtual applications in Linux, in Windows, as many can attest, the more third party software the slower Windows gets, not only does Windows take longer to boot up, it's speed when up and running VM is literally cut in half because ram memory is shared between the host and the virtual machine, and most of the memory left for the host is used up by the virtual application.

drpeppercan · 01-18-2017, 08:21 PM

Wow, this is great info, thanks a bunch for sharing Brains

DPC

BW-userx · 01-18-2017, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drpeppercan

Hi all.
The main objective is to reduce the space used in my SSD (120Gb). Reason why it was recommended that I moved my home directory/ies elsewhere.
Unfortunately I clearly underestimated the procedure, and now, although Ubuntu does load, and it does load enough to show our 3 accounts, that's as far as I can go

The password seems to be recognized, but it sort of flashes and brings me back to the same place where you are to enter your password

Basically I went to this post, where I'm advised to enter this command lines:

Code:

cd /
sudo mv home oldhome
sudo mkdir home
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 home

did you forget

Code:

sudo mount -a

sudo mkdir /home/USERNAME

sudo chown USERNAME:USERNAME /home/USERNAME -R

or

sudo chown -R USERNAME:USERNAME /home/USERNAME

can't get in if you do not have a home to get into and do not own it.

steps to get a new home/user
Me I log in as root because I have a split system so that keeps me off of home partition.
all done with root or root permissions depending on circumstances.

Code:

mv /home /homeold
mkdir -vp /home/userName

edit or check fstab for changes in UUID or /dev/sdxx make needed changes if needed.

UUID=erergwergwergwergwer /home ext4 defaults 0 2

save file

mount -a

chown username:groupname /home/username -R

log out root
log in user

I think i have them all

for most username is first ass groupname cat /etc/group to see

if this is solved already before I wrote what I did. then pls mark same.

drpeppercan · 01-18-2017, 10:14 PM

Thank you so much for your help BW-userx

I will try to implement it asap and get back to report.

DPC

fatmac · 01-19-2017, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drpeppercan

fatmac,
Ok.
And from this:

Code:

"sudo chown person1:groupname /home/person1/*"

Should I choose any group in particular? Or it doesn't matter?
--------------------------------------------------------

Update:
I am using the same person's name for the group actually.

I am typing this from the Live USB drive.
But things are not working.
I added the mounting line:

Code:

#mountpoint for sda2 315gb added 04Jan2017 
UUID=90e8492c-c40d-44ea-a370-941cc17a6d2d /mnt/315gb            ext4    defaults        0       2

Then I open the directory where I copied the 3 account folders, right-clicked inside it and chose Open in Terminal
Then I tried this:

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media/ubuntu/315gb/home/angelique$ sudo chown angelique:angelique /home/angelique/*
chown: invalid user: ‘angelique:angelique’

But the folder is there.

If you are in the /home folder, just use

Code:

sudo chown angelique:angelique angelique/*

If you are in the / filesystem, use

Code:

sudo chown angelique:angelique /home/angelique/*