Screen freezes at login

[Shemp]

Hi all, I've been running Linux Mint 19. 1-3 about 5 years no issues. Screen freezes at login. Cursor flashes several times, then stops. I believe the problem is I installed an applet called qshift, and it warned me about Cinnamon crashing or freezing, foolishly I went ahead and it worked for a day and now I can't get into my computer. How do I disable qshift when I can't get past the login screen? Also, I was about to do a full backup and install the new OS version, if that helps with suggestions. I just want my data, I was going to wipe and start over. It's a Gateway desktop dual booted (no issues) with windows 10 that gets opened every 4 months or so. I also have 19.3 on my laptop. Please help! Thanks in advance.

[gittiest personITW]

Using Live Mint, you can access both Windows and existing installations and copy your /home folder and whatever else is needed to an external drive, then once you're happy with that, can do an install from scratch if you prefer to do that, or dual boot.
Probably worth downloading and booting into Foxclone to image your whole drive, just in case there is a problem you'll be able to recreate what is there at the moment. Foxclone also had data recovery tools with it.

[Shemp]

Thank you! You know what you're doing! I don't, I'm in over my head. I'm taking your response to a computer shop guy to get it fixed so I can run the new version. Your response is greatly appreciated!

[gittiest personITW]

You can do it yourself if you would like to give it a go.
There is a good chance that ppl at the computer shop know Windows/MacOS very well, but maybe not other OS.

If you have a USB drive (external thumbdrive or hard drive), then give it a go yourself. Your data is the only thing that is important on a computer so you should get into the habit of making regular backups onto multiple external devices.
At least cycling the backup process so it isn't too much of a chore and you'd have different versions of files - just in case.
If you do it yourself, we can run you through what you'll need to do to backup your existing data.

[Shemp]

OK! How about this:given I can't get into my hard drive on the Linux mint side (I have it set up dual boot) I prep a thumb drive with LM 21, run it off of the USB stick, use the back up routine, save my data, and go ahead with a fresh install... is that appropriate? Can I shrink the rarely used Windows 10 partition at the same time?

[gittiest personITW]

It depends on what you mean by 'backup routine'.

When you've booted into Live Mint, go to Menu/Disks.(drive3)
Find the drive your data is hiding on. Click Triangle to Mount the drive. (drive1)
Find the external drive you are going to copy your data to. Mount that drive the same way.(drive2)

Navigate to the /home folder on your drive using Nemo. (drive1)
Copy that /home folder to an external drive.(drive1 to drive2)

Make sure that the data is safe - load a couple of files from the new backup you've just made.(drive2).

Once you are sure that your data is safely on drive2, go back into Disks and press the square on both drives to dismount them. Eject drive2 and disconnect it.
Now, you are ready to install Mint using the icon on the desktop.
Let us know how it goes, and once the install and updates have been done, do a Timeshift snapshot.
You might want to either point Timeshift to an external (EXT4 formatted) drive.
Then, go to this site:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... html#ID7.1


edit.
You might want to edit your windows partition from within windows.

[Shemp]

Awesome! Thanks, gittiest personITW, I'm going to try it. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge.

[gittiest personITW]

Wasn't clear - drive3 is the Live Boot usb.
No problem - look forward to hearing how it goes

[Shemp]

Hey, I'm doing good, but a snag: when trying to copy home folder it won't let me because I don't have permissions on live Linux Mint. How do I get permissions?

[gittiest personITW]

In Nemo, right click an empty space.
The context menu will come up.
Choose 'Open as Root'. A new window with a red outline will open. That will let you copy everything over. Be careful though as it won't ask for confirmation if you delete anything.

If it asks for a password just press enter.

[Shemp]

Thanks! For once I figured it out for myself. But your caveat is certainly useful. I had tried to follow someone's instructions on the internet using command line, but nothing happened. Sudo - string of things I didn't understand. I may try just what you said another round, just to make sure, renaming the 1st go round.

[gittiest personITW]

No harm in that. The more backups, the safer your data. Shove it onto another drive if you can so you have redundancy.
Apologise to your local computer shop though, as they seem to have lost out on this one.

[Shemp]

Hi gittiest personITW, I've got the data backed up! I'm installing 21.1! Another snag: the choices are 1)erase 19.3 and reinstall, 2) install 21.1 alongside 19.3, or 3) erase disk and install 21.1. This will delete all operating systems.

I don't know if they mean all Linux mint OS's, or if they will go into the windows side and erase that, too. I need windows for work, occasionally. I've been running dual boot for almost five years, and the installer then was a lot more specific and discussed dual boot windows, and how to set up the partitions. I don't want to continue if it's going to delete windows. There is also a "something else" choice that takes you to various drive maps. I'd be really happy to drop 21.1 in, in place of 19.3. Any thoughts? I've done my searching I can't find any documentation about what I need.

[Shemp]

Also, the installation instructions link next to the Download 21.1 button takes you to documentation that is outdated and inaccurate. The choices shown are not what I am given on my install screen.

[Shemp]

Thanks gittiest personITW, I've got 21.1 up and running. I had copied my 19.3 home directory, how do I reintroduce it to the system? There's a backup tool, but it seems to want me to open each individual file to back up. If I steer it to the external drive folder, it won't let me use the whole folder. Any tricks?

[Shemp]

I also included the hidden files on the home folder

[Shemp]

The thing on the Backup Tool, is that it will only copy new files that aren't on the home drive already, and will not update files of the same name. I don't think I can simply copy all my backup files from 19.3 and paste them into 21.1 home folder. Or can I? Can I set up paste to ignore common file name files (replace? Skip?).

[Cosmo.]

Better use another solution like BackInTime.

[gittiest personITW]

You can copy/paste, but might come up with permissions issues - easily fixed but one thing at a time.
Cosmo suggested BackinTime which would help you.

Also worth considering is to copy/paste only files that are needed - for instance, some programs you re-install onto your new 21.1 might use slightly different configuration files so might cause an upset or just not do anything.
If you do copy files over, rename the files/folders on the new installation that you don't think you need, for instance,
/home/shemp/.mozilla
becomes
/home/shemp/.mozillaBKP
Use it for a while before deleting anything.
Take it slowly. Keep the installation uncluttered. This installation will last you a lot longer as there is an easier upgrade path now, and is likely to get even easier so reducing the need (not eliminating) for a new install in the future.
Maybe keep a note of what you install, when, and what config files you are copying over - as it might save a lot of headscratching in the future.