LM 18.2: How to reset everything to factory setting.

[SETHANATH]

Hi,

I want to learn how to change LM18.2 Cinnamon and Mate to as close as a fresh installation. Let's say I have been using LM18.2 for couple months, and I want it to be as good as a fresh installation.

Thank you so much.

[ralplpcr]

That all depends on what you may have installed in those few months. To my knowledge, Mint doesn't come with any type of "hidden recovery partition" that does it all automatically for you?

Method 1:Boot up with a Live session (DVD/USB), format your drive, and install from scratch. (Probably the simplest & quickest)
Mint installs are really quite speedy compared to Windows-based operating systems, and you can perform a complete format/reinstall in under 30 minutes on most systems. You're guaranteed to have everything set up "just as per a fresh installation", since that's what it would be.

Method 2: Remove all installed packages, PPAs, & downloaded programs. Then create a new account, & delete your old account entirely.
This method may teach you more, but it could definitely end up being slower. There is also no guarantee that you won't "miss" something that you may have installed on a whim, then promptly forgot about.

To list all of your installed packages, type in the following:

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg --get-selections

You could create a script from that output to remove these packages, and then do an apt-get autoremove to clear out any remnants.
You'd then have to remove any PPAs that may have been added into Update Manager, and do another sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get autoremove to clear that stuff out.

You'd still be left with the updated files of the distribution itself....if you wanted to remove them, then you'll have to roll those all back as well.

Personally, I think if the goal is to take it back to a "fresh installation" state... why not do just that? Unless there is something you intentionally wish to leave for the next user, a reinstall is much quicker and less annoying than digging through packages & trying to find all the places where you've changed something from default?

[majpooper]

Hi,

I want to learn how to change LM18.2 Cinnamon and Mate to as close as a fresh installation. Let's say I have been using LM18.2 for couple months, and I want it to be as good as a fresh installation.

Thank you so much.

Why not just do a fresh install ? I know it's a little more work but the results for me at least are worth it. I have it down to a process. First I do a fresh install > apply Pjotr's tweaks from his outstanding website > apply my own personal tweaks that I have captured in my own mint tweaks doc (keyboard sort cuts, go through settings turning off bells and whistles ad so on) > then add the apps I use (firejail and so on). In the end I am starting all over with a new pristine system - a couple of hours well worth my time. And after doing many times with the things I like to do documented it gets easier each time.

[michael louwe]

Hi,

I want to learn how to change LM18.2 Cinnamon and Mate to as close as a fresh installation. Let's say I have been using LM18.2 for couple months, and I want it to be as good as a fresh installation.

Thank you so much.

The Factory Reset and Refresh feature is quite specific to Windows 8.x/10 and smartphones/tablets, where the greedy OEMs stopped providing free OEM Recovery DVDs to the buyers/customers from 2012 onward, and instead just provided a hidden Recovery Partition on the internal hard-drives for the buyers to do an inplace Factory Reset or Refresh.
....... Problem is, if the buyers did not immediately create a Win 8.x/10 Recovery USB Flash-drive(= create a system image of the hidden Recovery Partition) and the system later goes kaput or gets infected by a virus/malware/ransomware,(= can't do an inplace Factory Reset) they will likely end up with a brick for a computer = have to buy an OEM Recovery DVD(= costs about US$60) or a new Win 8.x/10 license or a new computer or maybe install Linux.
... Similarly, if the Android or iOS device goes kaput or gets infected = have to buy new ones.
... Of course, the Win 8.x/10 users could also create a generic Win 8.x/10 Install USB/DVD through M$'s website. Computer dummies usually do not know how to do this.

With Linux, users can always have a Live Linux USB/DVD as a system Recovery backup after doing a proper install of Linux on a computer, eg create their own Live Linux USB/DVD or buy one from an online trader for about US$5 each.
... So, there is no need for Linux users to have a hidden Recovery Partition on the internal hard-drive. That's for 'poor' Windows users. If the Linux users want something akin to a Factory Reset(in Win 8.x/10), they can create a fresh system image on a USB Flash-drive, immediately after installation, eg by using Clonezilla, which they can use later to recover to "Factory condition" or do a Factory Reset, which is not very different from a clean reinstall of Linux.

[br1anstorm]

I hesitate to join this discussion as I am still a newbie myself. But I can understand why people might want to "refresh" or reinstall an operating system.

I had always understood that among the techniques for easing that process while reducing the risk of accidentally losing important documents or files were (a) to set up a separate /home partition when first installing Linux; and (b) if dual- or multi-booting, to have a separate (shared) "data" partition.

As far as I know this enables a user to replace or reinstall the Linux OS (which is on /root....) without affecting the personal documents or files saved on the system.

I haven't tested this out yet by reinstalling my Mint 17.2 or upgrading to 18.2. But I hope that if the need arises, I will be prepared!

[karlchen]

Hello, SETHANATH.

I would like to ask you whether you could explain in a few more details what precisely you would like to reset to factory defaults.

The advice given so far has been based on the assumption that you really want to revert everything to the point in time of the initial fresh Mint installation:
Systemwide:
+ any software updates done after the initial installation would be lost
+ any additional software added to the system later would be lost
+ any PPAs added to the software sources would be lost
+ any systemwide configuration change would be lost
User specific:
+ In case you do not use a dedicated filesystem for /home,
--- all user specific configuration settings for any installed software would be lost
--- all user data would be lost (of course you have got up-to-date backups, don't you)
+ In case you do use a dedicated filesystem for /home,
+++ all user specific configuration settings for any installed software would be preserved
+++ all user data would be preserved

Is this really the kind of "reset everything" which you have in mind? - In this case, the advice given, "Do a clean installation from scratch" would be the right approach.

Or is your scope of "everything" less complete really?

Best regards,
Karl

[SETHANATH]

Hi Everyone,

I only want to learn if there is such thing as "Factory Reset" in Linux Mint. I have two iphones, I have used their "Reset to Factory Setting", and I think it is quite useful. However, I can live with reinstalling too, as it is pretty fast.

Thank you everyone for helping me.

[Neil Edmond]

Only if there were devices that came from the factory with Linux installed would there be a "Factory Reset" option. This is not the case with Linux Mint. Not even a retail version of Windows has "Factory Reset", only computers that have a factory install OS can have such an option.

[bob466]

Hi,

I want to learn how to change LM18.2 Cinnamon and Mate to as close as a fresh installation. Let's say I have been using LM18.2 for couple months, and I want it to be as good as a fresh installation.

Thank you so much.

There's no Factory Reset or Hidden Recovery Partitions because there's something much better...Timeshift and it's easy to use. I don't know why you would want to go back to a fresh install state because most will create a Restore Point (Backup) after getting Mint the way we like.

To do what you want...once Mint is installed (Fresh Install)...install Timeshift and click..."Create" this will create a Restore Point of your whole System and you can go back to it at any time. I have mine set to do a backup every week...I also create a Restore Point before I install a new Kernel or level 4 or 5 updates.

[michael louwe]

To do what you want...once Mint is installed (Fresh Install)...install Timeshift and click..."Create" this will create a Restore Point of your whole System and you can go back to it at any time. I have mine set to do a backup every week...I also create a Restore Point before I install a new Kernel or level 4 or 5 updates.

Timeshift is like Windows System Restore, ie unlike Factory Reset...
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/10/04/insta ... non-btrfs/

I have two iphones, I have used their "Reset to Factory Setting", and I think it is quite useful. However, I can live with reinstalling too, as it is pretty fast.

But smartphones/tablets do not allow users to do a clean reinstall, eg cannot do recovery after iOS or Android goes kaput or gets infected. A System Recovery DVD/USB/microSD card is the ultimate system back-up. The OEMs refused to provide such for smartphones/tablets because they wanna profit-gouge consumers through Planned Obsolescence.

Doing an inplace Factory Reset for iPhones or Android-phones is usually needed for a change of ownership, eg being sold second-hand or given away. Factory Reset is of no use if the iOS or Android or Windows system goes kaput or gets infected.

P S - Flashing ROM to reinstall Android is not provided by the OEMs = will void your warranty.

[Pierre]

if you still have a fairly standard installation,
then you can just create a 2nd user and use that profile as a "fresh start".
- when it eventually messes up, then just delete it & create another "new account".
you will find that most of the programs that were installed after the System Installation,
are not always available for all user profiles.
-at least that's what I've noticed.

[SETHANATH]

Thank you so much. Timeshift sounds perfect to me too I thought it would be available starting Linux Mint 18.3, however. Also, I have just heard of linux phone, which promises that you should be able to install Linux Mint on it. Maybe, we may need "Reset to Factory Setting", when that phone releases. I wonder if the phone would make us install OS over the wifi, which is a lot slower.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/08/puri ... owdfunding

[Moem]

I have just heard of linux phone, which promises that you should be able to install Linux Mint on it.

If that turns out to be possible, it certainly does not oblige the developers of Mint to add phone features to their desktop distro.

[Neil Edmond]

I think I've written this before, but for the sake of clarity I'll write it again. The "Reset to Factory Setting" feature on many devices is not a function of the OS, not even Android. It's a means provided by the manufacturer to re-install the OS that the device left the factory with.

If a user installs a different OS than the device left the factory with, they cannot, by definition, reset that new OS to factory state, because it did not come from the factory. It will be up to the user to find a means of re-installing the OS for it to be in the state it was first installed in.

[michael louwe]

I think I've written this before, but for the sake of clarity I'll write it again. The "Reset to Factory Setting" feature on many devices is not a function of the OS, not even Android. It's a means provided by the manufacturer to re-install the OS that the device left the factory with.

If a user installs a different OS than the device left the factory with, they cannot, by definition, reset that new OS to factory state, because it did not come from the factory. It will be up to the user to find a means of re-installing the OS for it to be in the state it was first installed in.

I don't think so.

As per this link, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... h-reset-pc , the Operating System Reset or 'Reset to Factory Setting' or 'Factory Reset' and System Refresh have been a feature of Windows OS since Win 8 in 2012. This feature utilizes the hidden Recovery Partition on the internal hard-drive for the users to do an inplace Operating System Reset or Refresh.
... I think the OEMs had colloborated with M$ to implement this feature, in order for the OEMs to save costs on providing free Windows Recovery DVDs to their computer buyers and for M$ to sell more Win 8.x/10 licenses, eg many computer dummies end up with a brick for a computer when their Win 8.x/10 system goes kaput or gets infected or the internal hard-drive dies since they do not have an external Recovery media/USB/DVD to reinstall the operating system.

If you create a Win 8.1/10 Install DVD/USB from M$'s website by using the Media Creation Tool, and reinstall Win 8.1/10, the hidden Recovery Partition will be auto-created by the installation process. In this case, there is no OEM involvement.

It can be said that M$ and the OEMs adopted this money-making Factory Reset feature of smartphone/tablet systems(= iOS and Android) for Win 8.x/10 in 2012, in order to profit from computer dummies, eg the OEMs sell Win 8.x/10 OEM Recovery DVDs for about US$60 each.

[bob466]

Timeshift is like Windows System Restore,
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/10/04/insta ... non-btrfs/

Yes it is and is exactly what the OP was looking for.

[michael louwe]

@ SETHANATH, .......

Systemback is also a good program, like Timeshift, ... https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Disk-I ... Systemback

[SETHANATH]

Thank you