New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart [SOLVED]

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Georg
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New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart [SOLVED]

Post by Georg »

Hello friends,

I didn't find a helping post, so I have to ask.

Key data:
PC is Lenovo ThinkPad T470s with new NVMe drive and removed everything Windows (but it is no Lenovo linux version of this laptop!)

I loaded Mint Cinnamon «linuxmint-21.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso» and installed on USB-drive with balenaEtcher (on Mac).

I could boot from USB-stick without problems (after switching to UEFI in BIOS)
then installed Mint according to tutorial (means formatting internal drive, that never had a Windows installation! with LVM)
gave in user details including password AND "Require my password to log in".

I guess my installation worked fine and came to an end.

Then I descided to Restart Now (and NOT to continue testing!).
I WASN'T asked to remove my USB device. So I didn't want to pull it off, but did a shut-down after restart and then ejected the Stick (mistake?).

After a new restart my new installation seemed to run fine.

BUT: Every setting I change (background, language packs, etc.) is no longer present after reboot. The system shows up as it did immediately after installation.

I did the installation three times. The result is always the same.

What I noticed:
1. the desktop still shows the CD icon "Install Linux Mint". Is this normal?

2.when I open "Login-Window", the username* is "mint", not my name (normal?).

3. under "Account details" the name "Live session user" is displayed and an unknown password "-----". This irritates me.

Question: What is the reason? What can I do?

Hope really you can help me, as I my first impressions of linux and mint are positive.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations!
Last edited by LockBot on Sat Sep 23, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Pjotr »

The symptoms you describe, only coincide with booting from the Mint USB stick.... No other explanation I can think of.
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Cosmo.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

The question is: Is the stick plugged in or not? Your description says No, but our symptoms say Yes.

Open a terminal, no need to enter any command. What do you see? Mark all, copy it and past it here (in the ideal case with code tags).
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Georg »

Hello Pjotr/hello Cosmo,

thanks for answering so fast!:-)

As I searched quite long for possible reasons before posting here, several times I had found the aspect of the installation stick still stucking in the PC. Unfortunately it is NOT the stick, as it was and is removed:
After the installation I made a shut-down, unplugged the stick and then rebooted again.
[ Since I'm really a total novice I do not know WHEN you should have pulled off the stick and whether removing it only AFTER shutdown (after installation!) has an impact. ]

In any case, we are talking about a Linux installed on the internal SSD and rebooted WITHOUT installation media (USB stick).

By the way: following a source on Linux Mint, I did the last installation WITHOUT connection to the Internet. The author considers the Internet connection of the installer a possible source of error.

I consistently followed the tutorial for installing Linux Mint.
The first try was done without any special formatting of the internal(!) harddisk, then the partition became too small for the system. For whatever reason the Linux installer had chosen this one.

My (totally vague) ideas of the reasons go in the direction of:
- The BIOS or the settings of the Lenovo ThinkPad T470s interferes(?).
- A new admin must be created(?)
- any interfering settings have to be deleted(?)

Again: the Linux is installed on the internal SSD, the installer stick is removed, we are talking about a Linux running on the SSD after reboot.
I am sure about the information listed!

Hope this description helps
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Pjotr »

Please post the information that Cosmo. requested.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

Georg wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:15 am [ Since I'm really a total novice I do not know WHEN you should have pulled off the stick and whether removing it only AFTER shutdown (after installation!) has an impact. ]
Hope this description helps
It does not help, because you did not give the requested information.

Regarding your []:
If you reboot after having installed, you get asked (or at least you should get asked) to remove the stick. It is a text on black background, nothing what can distract you. This is the moment to unplug it.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Georg »

Hello Cosmo, hello Pjotr,

sorry I overlooked the request.

Opening Terminal, I see the headline/window head "mint@mint: ~"
Then beyond:
"To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.:

Then (letters in mint green)
mint@mint: -$

Hope that will help.

Am I logged in as wrong person??

I have to go out for the day, will look again for any help in some hours.
Thanks again in advance
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

In principle it looks good, although I am not quite sure, if the username mint does not create problems.

Do a test:
Open Users & Groups and create a new account for testing. Reboot and log into the new account. Same problem here?
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Pjotr »

Cosmo. wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:16 am In principle it looks good
Well, actually it's not so good.... mint@mint is what you see in the terminal of the live session.

And that's most likely because it simply still is a live session. @Georg: you're not pulling our leg here, are you? Because frankly, I have a hard time believing what you say....
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

Oops, totally right. I had concentrated at the prompt sign behind ($ or #). So I learn again: Rather believe the symptoms than the description.

Now let us take a look at a screenshot: Please open GParted from the menu and take a screenshot of your system drive.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Reddog1 »

I think your problem is a direct result of LVM. I'm no LVM expert, but your LVM has mirrored your usb install stick to your drive, from the sounds of it. When the install says "remove your usb stick and reboot", that's what you should have done. Pull out the usb and then reboot.

Scrub your system completely (boot with a gparted live if necessary, but your live Mint should be o.k.). Use Gparted to format your drive and then re-install, this time using ext4.

JMO, but LVM and encryption have no practical use on a home system.
Georg
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Georg »

To Pjotr: No, Sir :-) > I don't enjoy annoying others, I really don't.
In fact, the difficulty of it all annoys me. I was a fairly experienced Mac user for thirty years. I've never experienced anything like this there: in the mac iniverse everything is strait and simple....

I did not choose the user name "Mint", it was just there after reboot.

I answer to all other not specifically, sorry.

If I interpret your statements correctly, LVM is disadvantageous as a partitioning and could have simply cloned the installer instead of having made a normal installation.(??)

Could it be the timing of pulling the installer?
In fact, I probably did the reboot WITH the installer stick (because I didn't want to just pull it off while it was running - old Mac habit) and then shut down first, pulled it off, and THEN did a (second!) reboot. Could this be the factor???
As a Mac user, I find it hard to just pull out a medium. Under Mac OS-X this is virtually forbidden. Is it possible to do that easily on Linux?

...How a screenshot is created (at all and with GParted), I don't know. I'll have to read up on that first. Is GParted the hard disk utility of Linux?

I chose LVM not because of any particular preference, but because it was available as an option during the installation process and I had read that it was the most recommended if you might want to change the partition sizes later.
And, because in my previous attempt, where I let the installer decide for me, it chose - without my intervention - a partition that was too small, which then later called memory shortage and could not save anything.

Unfortunately, I also feel too inexperienced to format the (in principle new) SSD as it would be best for a pure Linux Mint installation.
With LVM, after partitioning, I saw that there was a large main partition and a swap partition. That seemed fitting after the experience before.

Getting a fresh start is not a problem. I'll do. But it might help to know what to do better next time:
I still don't know for sure a) how to partition (which setting) and b) when exactly to pull off the installation USB stick (and c) if that can be done without damaging it).

Have I understood your statements in principle and have I expressed myself understandably?

Again I hope for your patience and help.
I take it seriously and do not waste your time, at least neither willingly nor recklessly! I take it seriously and do not waste your time, at least neither willingly nor recklessly!ter the experience before.

Best regards
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Reddog1 »

Because you are totally green at this, when it comes time to partition your system, use the entire disk for / (root). Don't 'install alongside', do a completely new install using ext4. When asked where to install grub, that would be /dev/sda. Mint will create an EFI partition automatically for the install of the Grub boot loader early in the partitioning. Nothing fancy, keep it simple until much later, when you have linux figured out.

Usually, this just works. Sometimes, linux has problems with very recent computers because linux development is always a step-behind the hardware, which is always designed for Windows.

It is very easy to manipulate ext4 partitions with Gparted, the linux partitioning tool, even after install. Gparted is on your live disk, but it is not installed to the HD as part of the default, it will have to be installed from the Software Manager, later.

Linux installs and updates much faster than OSx. Most of my computers are Apples, running linux--sometimes dual boot but usually not, and I recently updated my wife's Air to Monterey, and I swear it took an hour and a half, at least, and rebooted at least 3 times, too. None of that happens with linux.\

Remove the live USB when the installer tells you to, after you click 'Restart'. Just follow the directions "Remove the live medium and hit Enter". The installer will automagically unmount the live usb for you.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Pjotr »

LVM is indeed a bad idea. Wipe your hard disk and repeat the installation. This time, go with the defaults. Because they should be, and usually are, reasonable for almost everyone. :wink:

Make only one exception: do install the multimedia codecs.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

I agree in this case to leave at install time everything at default. (Also the codecs; the system report will give later a reminder to install it if wanted, so it cannot get forgotten.) Install everything with defaults, after installation look around and play around. To my understanding you still have a Mac for work, so you cannot loose data on the Mint computer. If you feel a little comfortable with Mint you can ask, what should be changed and how to and you can do a new installation (which should take only a fraction of the needed time for looking around).

And for heaven's sake: Don't encrypt the system. If you should think it might be needed, you can come here and ask after you have collected some knowledge and know the terms.

And: No need to despair! No Linux user has been born with a computer in the cradle.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Georg »

Dear FRIENDS
thank you for your fast and for my still limited understanding now clear instructions/recommendations.

I will now try my very best to implement this.

If it does not succeed as hoped, I will contact you again or - and that would be much better for me - report the success.
I find this forum very important and a great thing that spontaneously and immediately some people have found to help me. That is not self-evident, but all the more beautiful!

If I am successful, I plan to write some kind of final report. Because during my searches in the vastness of cyberspace, I found several sources in which many recommendations were made, but in the end it was not clear whether these or which ones led to success.
I see forums as a kind of database of problems and possible solutions. In order for them to be of real use, they must of course be "maintained" in a meaningful way.

Best regards - till later
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Moem »

Georg wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 6:06 am I see forums as a kind of database of problems and possible solutions.
Thank you, that is exactly what we aim for this one to be!
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Georg »

Hello friends,

here is the feedback on my implementation of your recommendations.

--->Note: the installer media (USB stick) had to be recreated each time. It seems to get modified/corrupted during the installations. (Is this normal?)

The installation process itself seemed to me to proceed as already known.

When the option to partition/delete the internal hard drive/SSD came up, I found that I was (& still am) overwhelmed by detail options.
The SSD was split into two partitions from my previous initiative: one large and one smaller (SWAP).
However, I let the installer decide for itself and just let the default do it. At some point, the notice briefly appeared that the partition used was of size XX. That was the big one (about 1 TB) and OK for me.

Therefore further in the program.
I did NOT install the video codices according to your hint. For this one is asked for restart, there I let it do then.

At the end of the installation you can choose whether to continue testing (without saving data) or restart. A hint to remove the installation media did NOT come with me.

Probably important:
I then, while the system is shutting down and BEFORE starting the reboot, unplugged the USB stick.

The restart did not work on my ThinkPad at first: the computer came into a loop (BIOS call, then initially NO selection of the startup volume possible), after changing the startup order, normally probably Windows first, then the restart into Linux worked, - so far anyway.
This procedure was previously possibly different: I am completely unfamiliar with the BIOS and the settings (not) to be made there tell me little despite research.
------> Maybe some tips from you would be helpful: what should I/must I do in the BIOS and how, if I want a pure Linux operation? I could imagine the Lenovo ThinkPads (my model: T470s) are a bit special when it comes to BIOS...(??)


Then HEUREKA:
The reboot finally asks for my password. This was never the case before.
By the way: the language setting I had made in the installer was not taken over after reboot either, but the system was English!

Then the intro, I followed the possible settings with updates etc..
Reboot again - HURRA/SUCCESS, my settings are still there!!!!
In the meantime a big update of Linux ran and I installed some first tools: Benchmark - KDiskMark and Temperature Control - Psensor, as I'm not sure if the Linux installation will also reduce the performance of the laptop if needed (would hate to lose it due to overheating now that Linux is finally running on it...).
> Can anyone reassure me that this is as good as running original Windows?

My SSD is a currently very cheap NVMe WD Blue SN570 / 1TB, as I wanted to see how fast the ThinkPad can go. I'm pleasantly surprised by peaks of 3229MB/s read and 2360MB/s write (obviously less at the other file sizes). Better than I expected, the ThinkPad is as new to me as Linux...

So far everything is running quite well with it, I think. I like Mint much better :-) than Windows, really

Thanks to your tips, the box now runs as hoped!
Really THANK YOU

--->Despite my presentation, it might be useful for future users of the forum who have a similar beginner's problem, if one of you experienced people could draw a tangible conclusion from my report - and thus formulate recommendations.(?)

By the way, I normally speak German. Some things I can express in English, but to be understandable I use the help of Deepl. Some parts of the translation read a bit strange for me then, but probably it's still better than what I would write like that.
If you are a native english speaker, maybe you can give me a short feedback if the Deepl translations are any good.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Moem »

Georg wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:27 am Can anyone reassure me that this is as good as running original Windows?
I'm sorry, I honestly can't. For me it's better. Otherwise, I'd still be running Windows, and I'm not.
Glad to hear your good news, congratulations!

PS DeepL translations really are quite good.
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Re: New Mint user: beginning to despair > settings lost after restart

Post by Cosmo. »

One hint: Unplugging the stick before you rebooted the computer after installation was not the correct way. If you run the live system - even later without installing anything - and select to reboot, the GUI vanishes and you get asked on a black screen to unplug the stick and to press the Enter key to tell the system, that you have removed it; after that the reboot process continues.
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