PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] Installing over using Live CD



BuntuFreak
August 10th, 2008, 07:10 PM
My Ubuntu is hosed. Upgrade from Gutsy to Hardy got worse day be day and now the system is totally unusable. It boots, I log on, and that's it, can't do anything else. All I see is a glitchy disply of the task bar that does not do anything when I click. Even logging out is a problem.

I wanted to get either the Gutsy or Hardy Live CD and install over my current drive partition - I have XP / Ubuntu dual boot. So I wanted to ask what happens if I pop-in a live CD and ask to install over the Ubuntu partition. Will it format the partition? Because I wouldn't want that. I'm thinking it will simply update the OS directories and fix my machine.

Just to be clear, I have nothing special running like Compiz or any applications like Firefox. My box is simply unusable and I have 80 GB of data I am not in a position to backup right now. So I was thinking of "installing over".

Thanks in advance for any help and clarifications.

Pumalite
August 10th, 2008, 07:16 PM
Install, go Manual and use the old partitions. If you have separate /home; do not format. You can ignore /swap

lukjad
August 10th, 2008, 07:34 PM
Copy over your /home folder to a USB drive or burn it to a CD and then wipe this Gutsy/Hardy mishmash from your computer. Installing a new system is better than upgrading, every time. Then just dump your home folder back into your new system, and Hey presto! everything should work.

One thing though that may cause problems is that when you copy your /home folder, you will also be copying it as root, why will change the permissions. Somehow you will have to change them back. Anyone have any ideas?

SkonesMickLoud
August 10th, 2008, 09:13 PM
You should create a separate /home partition:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/separatehome

You can, and need to do this all from the LiveCD, so you don't need a bootable system.

Installing over WILL delete all of your system files and personal files unless you have said personal files in a separate /home.

If you do lukjad's method:

Ownership problems will be encountered when you try to log in. So simply press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to a virtual terminal, then enter:



cd
chmod -R 755 .
chmod 644 .dmrc


Don't forget the period after 755. This changes all permissions back to their defaults.

You may also need to do:



chown username:username /home/username


These commands may need to be run with sudo.

lukjad
August 10th, 2008, 11:36 PM
Thanks for finishing it off for me. I knew there had to be a way but I never did get along with the chmod command.

BuntuFreak
August 10th, 2008, 11:47 PM
Thanks for responding so quickly folks.

Just needed some clarifications. Will my home directory be wiped out clean or simply overwritten?

The problem is that not only am I not able to boot in XP anymore (i never did it since I got compiz working and its been months :-(). And as I already said, I cannot do anything once I log in to Ubuntu. So backing up to usb drive is not an option.

What happens to "Documents", "Video" etc. folders under my home directory? Will they get wiped out? I have iTunes stuff there don't want to lose.

Thanks much.

Pumalite
August 10th, 2008, 11:58 PM
Use a Live CD and save all your data
Post:
sudo fdisk -lu

SkonesMickLoud
August 11th, 2008, 12:15 AM
Thanks for responding so quickly folks.

Just needed some clarifications. Will my home directory be wiped out clean or simply overwritten?

The problem is that not only am I not able to boot in XP anymore (i never did it since I got compiz working and its been months :-(). And as I already said, I cannot do anything once I log in to Ubuntu. So backing up to usb drive is not an option.

What happens to "Documents", "Video" etc. folders under my home directory? Will they get wiped out? I have iTunes stuff there don't want to lose.

Thanks much.

If you create a separate /home partition it will not be over written. If you do not, it will.

BuntuFreak
August 11th, 2008, 01:10 PM
Thanks guys.

And I believe I can use the boot loader options to boot in "command" node. If so, I'll list the partitions using the command fdisk -lu and hopefully it will also list any usb drives connected. That way I don't even need boot cd for the backup and it might even be faster. Assuming I can do it of course.

I'll try borrow usb drive from a friend today.

Thanks again.