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lofus

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Hi,

So I have been thinking about this for a while, I have not been able to find the answer online so am just going to ask here. Is there anyway to reinstall Linux by that i mean factory reset, where everything gets wiped and you get a clean version of Linux?

Sorry if this question is stupid or obvious but i haven't been able to find the answer to this and am still fairly new to Linux

Thank you

edit: i know ubuntu OS has this but i have not been aware of any other linux distro having this option
 
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Check out the immutable distro's.


The other thing people do frequently is create VMs (virtual machines) and save off "gold images"
that you can re-install anytime you blow everything up.

I know a few people that just run "Live" USB versions.
They can't write to the USB, but they store files on the hard drives.
 
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yes you can do that.

Fairly straightforward in Linux.

When you click 'Install Linux" on the desktop of the 'live' linux mint. you will soon see a choice to either select to keep your current data/apps etc.....or to install by wiping the drive completely which will absolutely wipe whatever is on the hard drive......and it will then install a pristine copy of Linux Mint.

If there is any data etc on that drive that you may want later you would do well to save that data to another drive before you proceed.
 
yeah, but you would need a flash stick for that to boot a fresh iso, i was thinking of more of an option within the setting, close to how windows dose it, where you can factory reset from within the os it self.

guessing thats not an option within linux?
 
Most distro's have a grub menu with 2 or 3 previous versions of software.
You can "roll back" to the previous install if something breaks. This doesn't do a factory reset,
but it's close enough to get you going.

There is an app called TimeShift some people here use.
 
Timeshift is a good choice....if you have it set up.(It should have been set up to be on a separate hard drive.

Windows keeps a recovery partition on your hard drive (which takes up extra space)

There is no such partition made on your hard drive by Linux.

Yes, you would need a flash stick/usb stick to do this.....approx 8gb is a good size.

How did Linux get installed in the first place if you don't have a usb stick?
 
How did Linux get installed in the first place if you don't have a usb stick?

I do use USB installs frequently. But for Fedora/Redhat, I usually use kickstart/PXE Boot to do fresh installs. :)
 
Timeshift is a good choice....if you have it set up.(It should have been set up to be on a separate hard drive.

Windows keeps a recovery partition on your hard drive (which takes up extra space)

There is no such partition made on your hard drive by Linux.

Yes, you would need a flash stick/usb stick to do this.....approx 8gb is a good size.

How did Linux get installed in the first place if you don't have a usb stick?
it was just a question i had on my mind i do have a flash stick, but i just wanted to know if there was anyway to do a factory reset from within the OS it self.

i broke my machine a lot of times, and had to boot from a flash a lot of times so it was just on my mind and i could not find relenevent information online so I just asked here sorry
 
Don't apologise.......I am more than certain that there will be many people who will read this thread with great interest.

If you have broken your machine many times (as I have also done Many times !!!)......the easiest thing to set up is Timeshift.....but it is better if Timeshift saves itself to an external hard drive......

I am glad you asked this question.......the thousands of guests we see every day at this site will be overjoyed to find the answer to that question.
 
it was just a question i had on my mind i do have a flash stick, but i just wanted to know if there was anyway to do a factory reset from within the OS it self.

i broke my machine a lot of times, and had to boot from a flash a lot of times so it was just on my mind and i could not find relenevent information online so I just asked here sorry
I also think it's a good and interesting question to ask. Because Windows, Android and iOS all have the feature, so why not Linux?

The issues with "factory reset" may be in the difficulty to properly execute without leaving artifacts. Also, in the early days of Windows factory reset, some malware could hide in the hidden partition containing the restore files, and would persist across resets.

Think how easy it could be to reset if all /etc changes were stored in some space that holds modified versions, and when a /etc config file was accessed by an app, it would actually access the modified file in the other space, if it existed. Then, a reset could simply delete all home directories, the modified config space, uninstall all non-default applications, clear /var, and whatever other things. But how do you also revert all of the applications that have been updated since initial install?

So, in Linux I think a "factory reset" would be much more complicated and problematic than just reinstalling clean.
 
^^^^.....what he said ^^^^

Accent on the word 'Clean' .......then there are no problems
 
I also think it's a good and interesting question to ask. Because Windows, Android and iOS all have the feature, so why not Linux?

The issues with "factory reset" may be in the difficulty to properly execute without leaving artifacts. Also, in the early days of Windows factory reset, some malware could hide in the hidden partition containing the restore files, and would persist across resets.

Think how easy it could be to reset if all /etc changes were stored in some space that holds modified versions, and when a /etc config file was accessed by an app, it would actually access the modified file in the other space, if it existed. Then, a reset could simply delete all home directories, the modified config space, uninstall all non-default applications, clear /var, and whatever other things. But how do you also revert all of the applications that have been updated since initial install?

So, in Linux I think a "factory reset" would be much more complicated and problematic than just reinstalling clean.
Thank you for this answer, really explained a lot. Now i understand why Linux dose not have that feature
 
Why doesn't Linux have "factory reset" because Linux doesn't need it....it's not windwoes and thank God for that.
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Over time say 3 to 6 mths windwoes becomes very slow...fills with crap...acts abnormally or just doesn't work...which has been happening since windwoes XP.
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So instead of fixing the problem...microsuck came up with "factory reset" but it was better to do a clean install because if you had a virus..."factory reset" did nothing...just like windwoes system restore.
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Linux doesn't slow down...fill with crap or become broken
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and the only time I now do a clean install is going from Mint 19.1 to 20.1.
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Question couldn't you have used a more descriptive topic title than "Question"? ;)
 
EasyOS has that option. It's perfect for web surfing and playing music, so I have to dual boot with MX for a full fledged system.
 


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