Store installed LM 18.1, Wish to replace with my original LM 18.3

whazzupdoc

whazzupdoc

Active Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
259
Reaction score
43
Credits
56
Spent months with Wiiz setting up my Toshiba with Mint 18.3 and all the 'friendlies'' . Still have everything backed up on the external as well as on the removed HDD. Replaced the HDD with an internal 1Tb SSD. Gave the factory 18.3 thumb drive to the tech(s) and instructed to install the SSD in English (Honduran store) and to use my bootable thumb drive. Got it home and they had installed an 18.1Mint from some other source and I can't do anything with it. I can't get online (wifi) to obtain TimeShift to reinstall. I tried to shutdown and restart with the thumb drive in the usb port but must have failed to do something right. I need help to get back to where I was with all of the previous help I got.
Thanks!
Doc

P.S., I did buy a portable mouse and it works after 2 bad ones.
 


I don't think your issue is 18.1 vs 18.3. They're very similar. The issue is most likely your configurations. You say you can't get online. Have you setup your wifi connection? There should be an icon for it in your system tray. Chances are you're using Gnome or some variant, I'm a KDE guy, so I don't know specifics on GNOME, but I"m sure someone else on the forum can help you find the wifi settings if you don't see it in the system tray. If it's there, then you should be able to right click on it and pick your wifi router. After that, you should be able to get on the net and download all the apps you want.
 
Hi Dick, and hi @TechnoJunky :) and thanks.

Background on Dick's journeys can be found here https://www.linux.org/threads/mint-18-3-cinnamon-dual-boot-issues-with-win7.18281/ ... but beware, it is a 10-page odyssey :D

Usual codicil, Dick - do this when bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and have time to devote to one session on the computer.

Dick has an external drive with Timeshift snapshots of his 18.3 'Sylvia' Cinnamon on it.

The LM 18.1 'Serena' that the Store Tech put on will be one of four DEs - Desktop Environments -
  • MATE
  • Cinnamon
  • Xfce or
  • KDE
You can find that out by either of

a. Go to Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-t) and typing in and entering

Code: 
echo $DESKTOP_SESSION

OR

b. Go to Menu and start to type in welcome, click the resulting entry for Welcome Screen and it will tell you.

Report back in your next post what that shows.

I believe the simplest method of restoring your comfort zone will be to use the Timeshift snaps you already have, and simply restore them over the top of the store-installed Mint.

But how to use Timeshift when you cannot install it? (no wifi) The answer lies in your USB stick with 18.3 Live on it. It has a cutdown version of Timeshift on it.

I say "cutdown" in that it cannot take a snapshot, but it can restore FROM a snapshot.

We'll first need to know the State of The Nation with the new SSD and its unwelcome visitor, LM 18.1.


PRELIMINARY PREPARATION STAGE

  1. Referring to Technojunky's input, it may be easier if we can establish wifi with your current setup. On 18.3 Cinnamon, before you establish a connection, the System Tray looks like this (your current 18.1 may be a little different)
  2. htOul6M.png

  3. It is the icon in the middle, of two plugs not connected, that you would need to right-click, and see if it detects your wifi, and if so, connect. Report back in your next post if you are able to establish a wifi presence.
So two (2) outcomes to report back - Desktop environment on the installed Linux Mint, and wifi or not.

Subject to that 2nd one, we'll go on in one direction or another.

Broadly flagging my plan, it will be to
  • Hook up the T5 where your Timeshift snapshots are stored, to the computer and have the T5 recognised. Then
  • Insert your LM 18.3 stick and reboot the computer
  • Restore your 18.3 Cinnamon over the top of, or beside, the LM 18.1
But don't get ahead of me.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Hi Wiz. It is Cinnamon 64bit...Linux Mint 18.1 Serena. The icon showing my network is in my lower right corner and it is now saying I'm at 77%.

From there, hooked up the T5 and My TimeShift appeared oon the left column. I went along pretty good but then at the reboot I ran into problems. Recall I've now got two SSD internals (1st is 1TB...the new one; 2nd is 500GB). The new one is in the primary boot position and the unused SSD is in the 2nd position. 3rd position is USB. So I selected the USB and it just sits there unresponsive and I have to close out of it to reboot. I can't seem to get to the 18.3 thumb drive, Chris.

On the Toshiba, I can't seem to find the TimeShift home screen where I can choose 'Restore'. When I click on TimeShift in the left I'm just given all the files...the last backup was April 6.

It'll be nice to get back to the starting point again. Thanks for helping!
Doc
 
You know me...I just keep digging around and here's what I've learned, Chris. The thumb drive I took in for the HDD removal/install was 18.3. It was just sent to me along with the new 1Tb internal SSD. I was about to pull out what hair I've got left and thought...you know what??? I'm just going to pop this into the desktop usb and see what's on it. You guessed it...they downloaded their Serena 18.1 onto my 18.3. It is no more. I've got another thumb drive containing Rufus which I think was used originally to download 18.3?

How can I get around this Chris? I don't dare let the new TimeShift I found and setup to backup onto the T5 with all those 18.3 backups on it. There is a Multiboot file on that thumbdrive, by the way. Ideas?
Doc.
 
Good afternoon Dick

I take it from the above that you have wifi up and running, so we may as well take advantage of Serena while that is so.

For reference, we have Serena in charge currently and we want to get Sylvia back and functional as closely as possible to what it was, if not exactly.

1. What is the capacity of your usb stick eg 4 GB, 8, 16? If not sure, see below.

We may or may not need to have a look at your current partitioning structure and that is best done by screenshots, and you could do with making the acquaintance of an .iso-burning utility called Unetbootin, which is available in the Linux Mint Repositories but is not installed by default.

I also know Shutter is your preferred screenshotting utility so we will install that, and Gparted won’t be installed but it is in the Repos so we’ll do that too.

Go to Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-t) or find it in the Menu, and type and enter

Code: 
sudo apt-get -y install gparted unetbootin shutter


When that process is complete, go to Menu and for each of them start to type in their name eg gpart, unet, shutt – one at a time! When each icon appears, right-click and Add to Panel, then proceed to the next. Now they are all easy to launch.

Take your USB stick and insert it and wait for it to be recognised, then close any popups.

Go to Menu and type in usb, you will get two choices, choose the one with Format. Before you format it, click the “down elevator” button at the end of the Format field and check that you have the USB stick selected, NOT your T5. Where it says Volume Label, you can overstrike that with eg “Sylvia-Live”. You Format it to Fat32 (likely the default) and that will erase Serena Live that the Store buggered up with.

Pop the stick out, wait a few seconds and insert it again, you will be notified that a drive has been inserted, close that.

Go to your File Manager (Nemo) and look in the left-hand pane for Sylvia-Live and click, the right-hand pane , at the bottom it may show 0 (zero) items, 8.0 GB free, where 8.0 represents the size of the stick. LET ME KNOW.

When that is completed, we can go to the next stage.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Hi...I've read this before bedtime and I'm looking forward to getting to this sometime tomorrow afternoon. But I wanted to answer you about the size of the MultiBoot thumb drive with Serena...2 1/2Mb are used and 5.5MB are free. And I did add Snapshot software. It appears the new SSD was setup Ext4 & Ext6.
Doc
 
Couldn't sleep with this on my mind. Came back and have installed everything but now no Nemo...not in the software offered? I'm having to update Firefox which takes a lot of time to try to get Nemo from there. Ideas?
Doc
 
Dont try to install Nemo from Firefox.

Where have you looked ?

Software Manager ?
Syanptic package Manager?
 
1st up. Go to Menu and type in

file

If there is an entry for Files it is Nemo, click it.

If there is no entry for Files, off to Terminal

Code: 
apt-cache policy nemo

Copy the output and paste it in your Reply.

If Nemo really has disappeared we can reinstall it, but it may be just as easy to install Unetbootin on your wife's Windows, wait for me and I'll tell you how to do it and where to get it from, or Brian also knows where.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Sorry Guys...it was in Synaptic but like you've pointed out Wiz, it's also called Files. But the guy labeled it in Spanish which is another weak card for me.

So when I click on Nemo (renamed it) I get all the different folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.). Clicking on any of them just opens folders that I don't know what to do with. Now what? And thanks to you both!
Doc
 
For now do nothing with them. Wiz will advise in his morning...approx 1 am there now....so perhaps another 7 hours approx....

I am Australian but currently in another part of the world....about to get snooze time now.

If the Language is set to Spanish all the way across the board.....simply click on menu....type in languages....hit enter......click on the language entry at the top....then click on your selection.....you can also set the region you are in by clicking on the Region entry .....I would not change anything below that.
 
Thanks CondoBloke. No things are in English but the tech (for reasons known only to him) decided I should have Spanish titles...even though I had specified English for everything connected with the job assignment. But the steps you've suggested are helpful in my learning process. Win7 is soon to be history so I'll have to have this mastered to some degree of functionality before then!

Love your pup picture!
Doc
 
Question...while checking Update Mgr., there's an option to upgrade to 18.3. Can I simply follow thru on that without screwing things up with what we're trying to do, Wiz?
Doc
 
Yes

No

How long is a piece of string?

Can't hurt to try it, and it will have Timeshift on it, which we can then use to access the T5 snapshots and restore your Sylvia over the top of the fresh upgraded one.

Apprehension I have is that if the bozos at the Store have used a Spanish version of Serena to install on the new SSD, then upgrading it may simply give you a Sylvia that has elements of Spanish in that will confuse you.

Your call.

WIZARD'S GLOSSARY

Clem - Clement Lefebvre, born in France, lives in Ireland for most of the 21st century, is founder of Linux Mint and its Project Leader.

A little under 3 years ago, Brian and I had problems with upgrading from Mint 17.3 'Rosa' to 18.0 'Sarah', but that was using a HowTo published by Clem on his site. It was hard to follow, and easy to make mistakes. Brian did a clean install up to 18.0 and I repeated the tutorial and got it right 2nd time. (only because I had Timeshift, he said, doing a "plug" :))

That being said, the process you have found is largely automated, with not a lot of human interaction, and will likely go through seamlessly. It will take some time.

Wiz
 
Just a BTW (By The Way) - thinking a little more on it, and given our timezone differences, your proposal may be the fastest way for you to get a Sylvia back on deck, involving less interaction from me at crucial times.

If the upgrade to Sylvia still has a Spanish element that trickles through to Timeshift, I can supply a couple of screenshots of Timeshift that will enable you to use it even if there is Spanish there, and the restored Sylvia from Timeshift will be what you had, no Spanish.

Still, your call.

Chris
 
Thanks for the reply. On the Toshiba, I'm currently downloading the 'linux mint 18.3-ciinnamon-64bit.iso from Clarkson University...almost 2hrs left. What do I do with it once it's downloaded?
Doc
 
OK, so you're not going for the upgrade?

1. When the download is completed, go to Downloads on Nemo and establish that it is there.

2. Open a Terminal and type and enter the following three (3) lines, one at a time, pressing Enter -

Code: 
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gezakovacs/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install unetbootin

This will install the burning solution Unetbootin, an updated version to the one you could otherwise install.

3. Type and enter exit to exit your Terminal (you should do that every time you exit Terminal).

4. Go to Menu and start to type in unetbootin, an icon will appear. Right-click it and Add to Panel.


I'll put together more of a blow-by-blow with screenshots and be back.

Wizard
 
Hi Chris. Before I go any further let me explain what I've run into. On the download of the .iso of 18.3 I've apparently run out of storage. I'm given a warning that says 7.1Gb of 7.7 is used up. I can't seem to be able to direct the download to a thumb drive with 16Gb of storage.

So the only other thing I can tell you is that on the page Devices and Locations are listed 1) richard-Satellite-C655 & is / root (where I can visually see the bar indicating 7.1 of 7.7Gb; 2) 250GB Volume /media/richard/553f7406d-ef84-4851-914d-66545539cdc97; 3) Mint 18 /media/richard/MINT 18; and 4) Home folder /home/richard.

I'll wait to hear back from you. I've spent hours on this mirror download and still don't know what I've done...or doing. I've got to try to get Linux.org up on the Toshiba so I can attach some screen shots.
D
 
Oops! #3 was the thumb drive (labeled Mint 18). I checked it using Win7 and it is 14.8 Gb free. Nothing stored.
Doc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 847 (members: 1, guests: 846)

Latest posts

Top