Kde - import user - all files erased

English Install/Boot/Login
1

First, I lost the admin password. I tried searching the net to recover the password for 2 hrs, no method would change it, rebooted 20 times. installer - rescue system, grub menu method, nothing.

It was getting late. So, I gave up and booted the opensuse installer. I setup a full install as the only way to change the password. I used the import user function to keep all my user files. Instead, I find all my user files disappeared.

Where are they?? Import user, means import user files, not import user name only. I had to recover from a recent backup, loosing 40-50 gigs of downloads and apparently all my bookmarks, since I forgot to back them up.

Itā€™s a very slow DL source, each one took 2hrs to download 4gb. The bookmarks I can recover given months or years It took to get them.

Where is the imported user? all the file folders are empty in my home folder. ??

2

Not when you do a full install. You erased all your user data when you did a fresh install.

Importing user for sure needs same GID, UID, name and so onā€¦

3

And the official documentation gives indeed clear hints that only the name and passwords are imported:

If you install openSUSE Leap on a machine with one or more existing Linux installations, YaST allows you to import user data such as user names and passwords. Select Import User Data from a Previous Installation and then Choose Users for import.

That is the reason to always have data on a seperate mounted partition/disk. ALWAYS keep data seperated from the base installation. So you can always reinstall the system without loosing any data as you only need to mount the extra partition/disk after reinstallation againā€¦

1 Like
4

yeah i know it is lateā€¦ but for next timeā€¦:wink: well lets hope there isnt a next time!
Not just for debian systems, any system using grub, iā€™ve dont this on my openSUSE system

5

During the normal installation, there is an option to configure the partitions using the existing arrangement. If you select that, you can identify the partitions you want to keep like /home, /swap and possibly /boot/efi and tell the installer only to reformat /. The option to import users happens after that; if you have not said you want to keep the /home partition, it will be reformatted and so the user data will already have gone.

6

Does this also work with the standard btrfs partitioning of openSUSE?

7

And you can only say so when you have one. Which will not be the case in a nowadays default openSUSE installation.

8

Import user, implies you import EVERYTHING. Maybe the installer should changed to do this. HINT HINTā€¦

FYI, usually I backup everything when I upgrade to the next opensuse. Then, restore from backups.

It was 2am local time. I was too tired to read anything more. Not knowing, import user didnā€™t work like it should work. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, I got lucky and my desktop has a near recent copy of bookmarks. :slight_smile:

Total loss 100 gigs of downloads that I can DL again. Data loss, nothing of any value. Thank you for my new 2gb backup drive.

BTW, donā€™t do something this stupid. ā€œThis backup of the downloads will take too much time, 80 gigs that took over a week to download. Iā€™ll do it later and later and later.ā€ (banging head on wall)

9

Well, remember that 2hrs? I did that.

paraphrasing, ā€œpassword file in use, unable to change.ā€

10

I selected ā€˜donā€™t alter linux or non-linuxā€™ partitions. I vaguely recall what I did.

Iā€™ve never seen that in the installer. How do get to that level? Step by Step. Please.

11

Well, I didnā€™t have separate partition. Last time, the XFS file system got corrupted and the data was unrecoverable. So, I skipped it. Next time, Iā€™ll try a separate partition with EXT4 as the home folder file system.

BTRFS has failed 4 times and the data unrecoverable. With EXT4, I was able to recover files. For another topic, I post on this.

1 Like
12

And where do you think the installer would save those potentially several GBs of data (even if it would be able to find out which files to rescue? When you would have used your own fantasy you would have understood that that can not be implemented at all. And yes, you should not do any important work, let alone post on the forums, when too tired. A recipe for disaster.

13

Well, yes, I could have waited till morning. Too late nowā€¦ oh well.

Considering what Iā€™ve managed to achieve with scanvirus and scanvirus-gui bash application. A very professional quality app, IMHO. Still, I cant put it down after many yearsā€¦

Also, my other various projects over the years. How many times have a heard the words ā€œthatā€™s not possibleā€ then proved them wrong, often showing ā€œyou mean thisā€? 500+ extra credit points and the Bank of America computer science award in high school. And many classes after that. Answer, many timesā€¦ :slight_smile:

Quote, from long-time ago, ā€œThis thing is light-years ahead.ā€ Atari 8-bit app Donā€™t tempt meā€¦ heh heh (smirk) May I point out libree office is superior mega app. And many the other opensource apps.

The only limit is the speed and memory space, the rest is creative thinkingā€¦ Well, maybe not even those. AI well thatā€™s another topic.

That is the reason to always have data on a separate mounted partition/disk. ALWAYS keep data separated from the base installation. So you can always reinstall the system without loosing any data as you only need to mount the extra partition/disk after reinstallation againā€¦

I was locked out of any admin functions. I see now. If the home folder is in a separate partition, I can do a full reinstall without affecting the user data.

Me, I usually just use unison to backup everything. Then, just copy it all back again after I reinstall the system for an upgrade to next opensuse. Upgrade installs rarely work, just my experience. This is slower, but it gets the job done. Two, it forces me to back up everything before I start.

I need to study the installer instructions, see if avoid that mistake again.

I have another topic to start, so iā€™ll end this one. Thanks to all for the help.