As stated in this announcement VSIDO has a new method for installing. (https://vsido.org/index.php?topic=1463.0) This will be a How To on getting it installed on a system
I will be using SpaceFM and the tools installed in VSIDO and on the last VSIDO Live CD to show how this is done
ADDENDUM : For those die hard hackers who don't use anything but terminal a second method was added for terminal installations that was suggested and tested by PackRat
ADDENDUM 2: A third method has been added a Install to clean partitioned drive with a legacy BIOS system method that was suggested and tested by PackRat
Method 1: Terminal installation:
For those of you who do not use or have spacefm, this is the terminal command to install the fsa version of VSIDO. This should be run from wherever your file is located or supply the path before the actual fsa file. Also make sure you select the correct device/partition you are restoring to. This partition can be blank
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
Once done proceed to Step 7
Method 2: SpaceFM Installation:
1: The first thing needed is a blank partition, it will be created as an ext4 with this process. In SpaceFM right click on that partition and select Root/Restore/From
(https://i.postimg.cc/2VtJT5QZ/fsa-1.png) (https://postimg.cc/2VtJT5QZ)
2: Select the fsarchive you have downloaded
(https://i.postimg.cc/TLQNb22h/fsa-2.png) (https://postimg.cc/TLQNb22h)
3: Accept the default fsarchive options
(https://i.postimg.cc/kD6WKXgZ/fsa-3.png) (https://postimg.cc/kD6WKXgZ)
4: Enter your root/sudo password
(https://i.postimg.cc/r0dR1QMW/fsa-4.png) (https://postimg.cc/r0dR1QMW)
5: You will have to type in yes and hit enter
(https://i.postimg.cc/tZhpGxzw/fsa-5.png) (https://postimg.cc/tZhpGxzw)
6: You will then see the finished message
(https://i.postimg.cc/cK3r66mM/fsa-6.png) (https://postimg.cc/cK3r66mM)
You can click on the partition you installed it to and see the new installation
(https://i.postimg.cc/dLS1BGNj/fsa-7.png) (https://postimg.cc/dLS1BGNj)
7: Finally you will need to update grub from terminal so that the new install of VSIDO will show in your grub menu
$ sudo update-grub
Method 3 - Install to clean partitioned drive with a legacy BIOS system:
Needed -
1. Live system with fsarchiver included. I used SystemRescue (https://www.system-rescue.org/) for this exercise. The VSIDO iso should also work.
2. The VSIDO fsarchive file on an accessible drive/partition.
Step 1 - Back up any data on the target drive
Step 2 - Boot the live session and use it to create a target partition for the install. For this install, I deleted all the existing partitions on the drive and created a new partition (sda1) for the install of VSIDO. Also created an additional partition to hold the VSIDO fsarchive file. Partitions were formatted to ext4
Step 3 - Log into an xsession and download the VSIDO fsarchive file (https://vsido.org/iso/.index.php). In this example I downloaded the file to one of the partitions I created in Step 2. I assume the fsarchive file could also be restored from an external drive or removable media.
Step 4 - Unpack the fsarchive to the target partition. Use Method 1 or Method 2 depending on tools available.
Before updating grub, the user needs to chroot into the system.
Mount the partition and file systems -
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot into the system
sudo chroot /mnt
update and reinstall grub
update-grub
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
exit chroot and unmount file systems and partition
# exit chroot
exit
# unmount
sudo umount /mnt/sys &&
sudo umount /mnt/proc &&
sudo umount /mnt/dev &&
sudo umount /mnt
Shutdown the system, remove the thumbdrive, and reboot into a VSIDO system.
Post Installation
These things should be done once you boot and are logged into the new install the first time
8: Create your own user and /home
sudo adduser yourusername
9: Give sudo rights to your new user
sudo usermod -aG sudo yourusername
If you want to setup a different home location, a swap drive or any other location, now is when you should edit your fstab and setup your system how you want it
10: Update grub on your new setup
$ sudo update-grub
10a: Change your timezone, because the timezone is US Central Time (Chicago) that's because fsarchiver preserves that information, and it's simply restored. You can use this link - Set/Change timezone Debian 10 (https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-set-or-change-timezone-on-debian-10/). The Debian Wiki also has the info, but it's in this really, really verbose wiki page
11: Possible UUID issues. If you have or want to have multiple VSIDO installs on the same machine, you may run into an issue with UUID's conflicting. To correct this there is a How To - Correct UUID When Installing to Same Machine. (https://vsido.org/index.php?topic=217.msg2773#msg2773) You only need worry about this if you are installing a second VSIDO instance using the fsarchive method.
12: Log out and then log back in to your user name. When you are setup and user that everything is as you want it run this command to delete and purge the vsido user that you originally logged in with
WARNING : ONLY DO THIS AFTER YOU HAVE LOGGED IN WITH YOUR NEW USER
sudo userdel -r vsido
On the same page where you downloaded the fsa file there are VSIDO ISO files that can still be burned to a thumb drive or CD/DVD. That USB would then have everything and every tool needed to boot to a live setting and install if you wanted to do it that way. In part two of this How To I will show how to install on a system that does not have grub using those tools
8) Very nice indeed! Worked perfect for me! ;D Outstanding work VastOne!!! :)
I don't have hardware available to test/tinker with this. However, can this installation method work on a uEFI system where the user will need a /boot/efi partition formated vfat?
Indeed it will!!! Worked wonderfully easy on a HP cheapy laptop that I had several distros installed on. Just created the partition I wanted and followed the instructions, though I may have had a bit of an advantage there...
I just restored the archive, updated grub, rebooted into the goto distro on the lappy at the time, did another update grub and voila. Booted right into VSIDO first time!
Quote from: PackRat on August 29, 2022, 08:46:09 PM
I don't have hardware available to test/tinker with this. However, can this installation method work on a uEFI system where the user will need a /boot/efi partition formated vfat?
So long as there is a current grub, and update-grub can be run from any installed instance of linux, yes
There are other ways via mounting the system and then chroot and installing grub to sda to get it on a system that doesn't have linux but that procedure has NOT been tested on a uEFI sustem with a vfat /boot/efi system by me, and I don't have the bandwidth or hardware to do that either
Now, to be honest and solely IMHO, I would want to have a working version of linux with grub working installed before I did this only because I know there is background and a working knowledge of all of this to begin with
Quote from: VastOneNow, to be honest and solely IMO, I would want to have a working version of linux with grub working installed before I did this only because I know there is background and a working knowledge of all of this to begin with
This is probably the only way right now that it will work. Unless, like VastOne said, one were to use chroot. That is also discussed elsewhere already on the site.
Because already existing partitions and multiple distro's were installed, it was absolutely and totally painless starting out with just an .fsa file. I believe there is even an older set of howto's around here on fsarchiver and doing this sometime over the last decade...
Ceni worked VastOne. Network Manager Settings was in the Fluxbox menu on the file I used to begin. It was the first archive we started with. The menu item did not work so I looked and it was not installed. I was hooked up via ethernet. So I used apt and grabbed 'network-manager' & 'wireless-regdb'. This simply allowed me to activate wlan0 using the Fluxbox menu. I would have had to take several different painful steps in order to accomplish everything this did for me versus using Ceni. Hope that makes things a little easier to understand...
Other than that one little tidbit, I just used medit to edit the config files more to my personal eclectic style.
Great information Jedi... So if I install network-manager and wireless-regdb and you send me the menu commands you use would that be the adequate and best replacement for ceni?
Installed from the command line (see the fsarchiver home page for more info) since I don't have spacefm installed. Pretty painless since the command is in the screenshots.
@vastone - do you have a fsarchiver plugin for spacefm?
I didn't check - and not sure if it matters - but should the partition be mounted for the example you give? I performed the install from the command line on an unmounted partition. Installed no problem, Arch grub updated and added VSIDO to the grub menu no problem.
Aye, it really does not need spacefm installed and can be done with the command line.. I will add that step to the How To.. Also it does not need to be a formatted or mounted partition.. In SpaceFM there is a command menu entry for backup and restore using fsarchiver
Thanks for this feedback RatMan, it will make the How To better
Also, your HowTo creates a user, but doesn't give the poor bloke a password.
Edit - never mind, it's part of the adduser process in Debian. So much to re-learn after not using a Debian system in years.
Quote from: PackRat on September 06, 2022, 12:30:20 AM
Installed from the command line (see the fsarchiver home page for more info) since I don't have spacefm installed. Pretty painless since the command is in the screenshots.
Hey RatMan,
I added a 7a: section above that details the terminal method of installing the VSIDO fsa, would you mind giving it a once over to make sure it is what you did and that I didn't miss anything
Thanks
change:
sudo -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
to
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
and that command needs to be done before updating grub. So it would be better to have it ahead of step 7. More like Method 1 - use SpaceFm and Method 2 - use command line. Once fsarchive extracted, proceed to updating grub.
Remembering that kind of helps.. ???
Thankee Sai
Quote from: PackRat on September 07, 2022, 12:24:39 AM
and that command needs to be done before updating grub. So it would be better to have it ahead of step 7. More like Method 1 - use SpaceFm and Method 2 - use command line. Once fsarchive extracted, proceed to updating grub.
Please reread the instructions again and fact check error check it.. It is now a 2 method install process
Thanks again
Looks good.
Old eyes.
Command in terminal should be:
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa.fsa id=0, dest=/dev/sdxx
like the command in image #3 but without the variable substitution SpaceFM is using.
From the Quick Start section of fsarchiver home page. (https://www.fsarchiver.org/quickstart/)
fsarchiver restfs /mnt/backup/gentoo-rootfs.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sda1
add -v for verbose messaging, change sdxx to target partition; sda7 in your example.
Performed another install this morning. I guess it would be Method 3.
Method 3 - Install to clean, partitioned drive. Legacy BIOS system
Needed -
1. Live system with fsarchiver included. I used SystemRescue (https://www.system-rescue.org/) for this exercise. The VSIDO iso should also work.
2. The VSIDO fsarchive file on an accessible drive/partition.
Step 1 - Back up any data on the target drive
Step 2 - Boot the live session and use it to create a target partition for the install. For this install, I deleted all the existing partitions on the drive and created a new partition (sda1) for the install of VSIDO. Also created an additional partition to hold the VSIDO fsarchive file. Partitions were formatted to ext4
Step 3 - Log into an xsession and download the VSIDO fsarchive file (https://vsido.org/iso/.index.php). In this example I downloaded the file to one of the partitions I created in Step 2. I assume the fsarchive file could also be restored from an external drive or removable media.
Step 4 - Unpack the fsarchive to the target partition. Use Method 1 or Method 2 depending on tools available.
Before updating grub, the user needs to chroot into the system.
Mount the partition and file systems -
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot into the system
sudo chroot /mnt
update and reinstall grub
update-grub
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
exit chroot and unmount file systems and partition
# exit chroot
exit
# unmount
sudo umount /mnt/sys &&
sudo umount /mnt/proc &&
sudo umount /mnt/dev &&
sudo umount /mnt
Shutdown the system, remove the thumbdrive, and reboot into a VSIDO system.
I performed this install on a legacy BIOS system. I assume the procedure would be similar for a uEFI system, but more complicated to migrate the existing /boot and grub over to uEFI directory tree - /boot/efi.
Great stuff RatMan...
Gotta run for a while but I will update all of this when I return
Thank you!
Quote from: PackRat on September 07, 2022, 02:38:23 PM
Performed another install this morning. I guess it would be Method 3.
Added this content to the How To
Please look, vet and advise
Thanks
For Method 1
Change:
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
to
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
So it matches up with the SpaceFM command in image #3 but without the variable substitutions.
Take this line ahead of Step 8:
These things should be done once you boot and are logged into the new install the first time
and increase the font size or something so that the break between installing and post-install customizations sticks out.
Add change of timezone to the post install actions. I don't know about jed's install, but both times I installed the timezone was US Central Time (Chicago). I assume that's because fsarchiver preserves that information, and it's simply restored. I used this link - Set/Change timezone Debian 10 (https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-set-or-change-timezone-on-debian-10/). The Debian Wiki also has the info, but it's in this really, really verbose wiki page. Basically need to change a symlink.
Quote from: PackRat on September 08, 2022, 11:31:09 PMFor Method 1
Change:
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
to
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
So it matches up with the SpaceFM command in image #3 but without the variable substitutions.
Take this line ahead of Step 8:
These things should be done once you boot and are logged into the new install the first time
and increase the font size or something so that the break between installing and post-install customizations sticks out.
Done ... See if it now matches your thoughts
Your quick. The fixes look good.
I added a blurb about pointing out that US Central Tiimezone is preserved in the fsarchive, so users outside that zone will need to make a change manually.
Quote from: PackRat on September 08, 2022, 11:44:38 PM
Your quick. The fixes look good.
I added a blurb about pointing out that US Central Tiimezone is preserved in the fsarchive, so users outside that zone will need to make a change manually.
I added step 10a: Change your timezone, because the timezone is US Central Time (Chicago) that's because fsarchiver preserves that information, and it's simply restored. You can use this link - Set/Change timezone Debian 10. The Debian Wiki also has the info, but it's in this really, really verbose wiki page
Thank you!
@vastone
In Method 1
change:
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0, dest=/dev/sdxx
to
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
can't have that space between "id=0" and "dest=/dev/sdxx"
It failed on me first two attempts, then I removed the space and it went to completion.
Quote from: PackRat on September 10, 2022, 07:29:47 PM
@vastone
can't have that space between "id=0" and "dest=/dev/sdxx"
Done
Thanks RatMan
Thanks
I have successfully installed twice to a clean drive and chroot in to update and install grub. So the How To for Method 3 is good.
Be careful of the same UUID on the same machine if you have multiple installs. That is a natural issue with fsarchive like the time zone because it keeps it.. I think I will add how to change the UUID in the After you install section and HIGHLY recommend it be done
What say you? It most likely won't ever hit anyone but peeps like you and I and jedi, who are constantly in testing mode, I think I will add it just to make sure that people can see it could be an issue
Quote from: VastOne on September 11, 2022, 12:44:34 AM
Be careful of the same UUID on the same machine if you have multiple installs. That is a natural issue with fsarchive like the time zone because it keeps it.. I think I will add how to change the UUID in the After you install section and HIGHLY recommend it be done
Might want to also be aware that SWAP may also need tinkering if you have/use one. I do on this lappy so it can go into hibernate easily. I think I had a couple of /etc/fstab edits to make before that all settled itself as well. I'm thinking anyone using a sid is probably pretty versatile using things like blkid and mkswap and swapon stuff on the fly... 8)
Quote from: jedi on September 11, 2022, 01:25:42 AM
Might want to also be aware that SWAP may also need tinkering if you have/use one. I do on this lappy so it can go into hibernate easily. I think I had a couple of /etc/fstab edits to make before that all settled itself as well. I'm thinking anyone using a sid is probably pretty versatile using things like blkid and mkswap and swapon stuff on the fly... 8)
True that.. Luckily I already had a how to on how to change the UUID to avoid conflicts and just pointed to that. I don't think it will be an issue but bases are now covered..
Thanks Jedi
Are you enjoying GMB and Pithos again?
QuoteWhat say you? It most likely won't ever hit anyone but peeps like you and I and jedi, who are constantly in testing mode, I think I will add it just to make sure that people can see it could be an issue
Yes, this and the potential swapfile/partition issues should be pointed out.
I didn't run into the UUID issue since it was clean install on fully formatted drive each time.
I actually created a swapfile manually (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Swap#Swap_file) instead of a partition. Appears to be working.
Quote from: VastOne on September 11, 2022, 01:34:59 AM
True that.. Luckily I already had a how to on how to change the UUID to avoid conflicts and just pointed to that. I don't think it will be an issue but bases are now covered..
Thanks Jedi
Are you enjoying GMB and Pithos again?
I can't believe that I went so long without. There's been a lot of late nights playing with the machines again since the end of August!!! ???
So, after many installs using this latest .fsa method (METHOD to be clear, not the currently available download) I daresay it's about perfect! I'd have saved myself a lot of grief had I simply read the very beginning of PackRat's post "...tioned drive. Legacy BIOS system"
That said, I've given some effort on the UEFI only way, but to no avail. So far the only successful way for me has been by installing another distro first (Official Debian Sid/bookworm) in order to get the UEFI signed bios key that comes with that particular distro's installer. I'm aware of other distros having a signing key as well for UEFI I just haven't looked that deep. My 3 reasons work for me...
#1. It's to easy to do using the 3 available methods!
#2. There is so much disk space available these days that another distro I hardly see in order to have a UEFI system is worth it. A pain to have to update-grub twice but hey small price. Part of the 'worth' being 3 or 4 second boot times! 8)
#3. There are still a tremendous amount of things about Linux I don't know or understand. It works. I don't have to know or understand. When incredible people like VastOne and PackRat continue to watch over our community/forum and GIVE us their wisdom/knowledge for nothing in return I'm awed. Thanks to both of you for saving my mind and ALWAYS being there for Linux...
Quote from: jedi on October 28, 2022, 09:19:43 PM
#2. There is so much disk space available these days that another distro I hardly see in order to have a UEFI system is worth it. A pain to have to update-grub twice but hey small price. Part of the 'worth' being 3 or 4 second boot times! 8)
Hey Jedi.. Excellent feedback and thank you for all the efforts in testing these 8) Also thank you for the kind words..
Once you have it installed, from your vsido installation you should be able to then just run the following and only have to worry about one grub to update if the vsido install is all you care about
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
Hey RatMan.. I am parking this here because it makes sense since there is so much How To discussion on using fsarchiver.. In using btrfs exclusively I ran into an issue where I could not get fsarchiver to restore my main root partition that I do all my work on. Since I use nVidia, occasionally I get a broken system due to a nVidia upgrade where I need to wait a day or more for nVidia to fix and release the code.. So I keep a near weekly backup of my current system and restore it to a secondary disk on the same machine.. In all my work with ext4, it never had any issues with uuid's, in fact it gives no shits about how you want to restore to, btrfs on the other hand does. Fsarchiver will not restore a btrfs file system to the machine if it detects the same uuid already on that machine, it spits out an error and life goes on.
Still have the issue though and needed a solution other than creating snapshots (story for another day) and began a search that led me straight to the fsarchiver manpages and a solution which made fsarchiver that much more an incredible tool IMO.. there is a uuid option to change the uuid on the restore! Below is the fsarchive command to generate it and also a cool site that generates random uuid's
Get a random uuid here: Random UUID (v4) generator (https://www.uuidtools.com/v4)
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_btrfs_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdXX,uuid=ea33a312-71f8-4172-b3c9-027ca7f4264a
The uuid in that example is one I pulled for that site DO NOT USE IT, get your own!
Nice find.
Quote from: PackRat on August 12, 2023, 11:21:32 PMNice find.
Thanks, I would put fsarchiver up there with any of the greatest foss apps ever catagory
Thanks for this and wasn't aware of this new way to install VSIDO. Would been cool if there was a way to set this up on a UEFI system perhaps with a script to run to then mount the EFI partition after the fsarchive has been successfully restored and then install the grub EFI packages and set it up to boot.
Quote from: DeepDayze on December 23, 2023, 11:36:05 PMThanks for this and wasn't aware of this new way to install VSIDO. Would been cool if there was a way to set this up on a UEFI system perhaps with a script to run to then mount the EFI partition after the fsarchive has been successfully restored and then install the grub EFI packages and set it up to boot.
Hey Dayze, good to see you.. I believe PackRat and Jedi have talked about that and possibly have come up with a solution.
In your scenario does the UEFI system already have grub on it? If the answer is yes then wouldn't a update-grub on that system then find the VSIDO install and then you could manipulate grub from there whatever way you wanted to, right?
Quote from: VastOne on December 23, 2023, 11:42:10 PMQuote from: DeepDayze on December 23, 2023, 11:36:05 PMThanks for this and wasn't aware of this new way to install VSIDO. Would been cool if there was a way to set this up on a UEFI system perhaps with a script to run to then mount the EFI partition after the fsarchive has been successfully restored and then install the grub EFI packages and set it up to boot.
Hey Dayze, good to see you.. I believe PackRat and Jedi have talked about that and possibly have come up with a solution.
In your scenario does the UEFI system already have grub on it? If the answer is yes then wouldn't a update-grub on that system then find the VSIDO install and then you could manipulate grub from there whatever way you wanted to, right?
Long time no see, VastOne and hope all's well with you.
In my case I was assuming a fresh new install and setting up the ESP partition, root partition (where I'd restore the FSA to), and another partition for home folders. If I already had the partitions set up and maybe there's a Windows partition, would it just be necessary to add to the fstab the entry for the EFI ESP and mount it to /boot/efi after restoring and then run update-grub?
Quote from: VastOne on August 12, 2023, 08:04:51 PMHey RatMan.. I am parking this here because it makes sense since there is so much How To discussion on using fsarchiver.. In using btrfs exclusively I ran into an issue where I could not get fsarchiver to restore my main root partition that I do all my work on. Since I use nVidia, occasionally I get a broken system due to a nVidia upgrade where I need to wait a day or more for nVidia to fix and release the code.. So I keep a near weekly backup of my current system and restore it to a secondary disk on the same machine.. In all my work with ext4, it never had any issues with uuid's, in fact it gives no shits about how you want to restore to, btrfs on the other hand does. Fsarchiver will not restore a btrfs file system to the machine if it detects the same uuid already on that machine, it spits out an error and life goes on.
Still have the issue though and needed a solution other than creating snapshots (story for another day) and began a search that led me straight to the fsarchiver manpages and a solution which made fsarchiver that much more an incredible tool IMO.. there is a uuid option to change the uuid on the restore! Below is the fsarchive command to generate it and also a cool site that generates random uuid's
Get a random uuid here: Random UUID (v4) generator (https://www.uuidtools.com/v4)
sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_btrfs_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdXX,uuid=ea33a312-71f8-4172-b3c9-027ca7f4264a
The uuid in that example is one I pulled for that site DO NOT USE IT, get your own!
Bummer. Fsarchiver as a backup/restore tool for BTRFS then is no bueno. There should be some sort of override so that you can restore a BTRFS .fsa with its original UUID.
Quote from: DeepDayze on April 18, 2024, 01:41:59 PMBummer. Fsarchiver as a backup/restore tool for BTRFS then is no bueno. There should be some sort of override so that you can restore a BTRFS .fsa with its original UUID.
It's really a security feature to make sure that you don't have multiple instances of the same UUID booting.. IMO, the ext4 part should do the same but does now.
You could try this format above using the uuid you want to see if it would work, I never tried to restore with the exact same uuid, it may be possible. I'll test this as well