Is it practical to ...

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-01 21:10

make a snapshot of Q4OS on a Notebook once all settings are as you want them and use it to install to a Desktop? I am conscious that the hardware will be different, but if possible, how easy is it to do? Or is it just quicker to do separate installs?

q4osteam · 2026-05-01 21:14

It's quite feasible for such install to use S4-snapshot https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4510 . If you want to start from a fresh system setup we recommend to use Desktop profiler with custom profiles https://www.q4os.org/dqa016.html

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-01 21:47

Many thanks. Would you advise installing to Notebook first, (client likely to want the full profile), use S4-snapshot on the installed Q4OS on Notebook and use the captured snapshot on the Desktop? Does this save the user and their login credentials?

q4osteam · 2026-05-01 23:03

Yes, install Q4OS on Notebook and create S4-snapshot. S4 has an option available to keep all user data and settings within the snapshot.

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-02 19:53

Excellent. Thank you so much. I will let you know how I got on installing Q4OS on two devices for a client.

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-04 19:22

Ok, Decided to create a VM of Q4OS. I downloaded the S4 snapshot application, created an .iso and decided I would try and paste it onto my Ventoy stick.
However, the .iso that got created with its md5 sum did not match. When trying to boot in Ventoy it booted to GRUB command. Some package was missing (should have made a note) but from memory it was something like 1cld132 missing.

q4osteam · 2026-05-04 19:31

swarfendor437 wrote:

Decided to create a VM of Q4OS.

What virtualization software, Virtualbox, Qemu, other ?
What type of BIOS for the VM, legacy or EFI ?

swarfendor437 wrote:

However, the .iso that got created with its md5 sum did not match.

Where the md5sum didn't match ? The created .iso or the .iso copied to the USB ? What way did you verify the checksum ?

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-04 21:22

Hi, Thanks for getting back to me. I used Virt-Manager. I created an image of 40 Gb based on a dual processor with 4 Gb RAM allocated to the VM and used the Profile that gives a full desktop experience. I added a few applications from the applications installer and removed some. I then installed the snapshot application. It saved the generated .iso into a snapshot folder within home together with an md5sum file. To check the md5sum I opened a terminal and entered:

md5sum [name of .iso]

and waited for the results.

I also opened k3b which gave the same md5sum as the one generated in the terminal but it did not match the one generated by the S4 application.

I did not choose legacy or efi as I used and existing Ventoy USB drive I had created.

Last edited by swarfendor437 (2026-05-04 21:23)

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-04 23:13

Update. I tried creating a new snapshot of the VM and this time it worked in respect of the md5sum matched. I then installed virtmanager in the VM and I was able to create a VM of the snapshot which held my credentials. Brilliant! I think it was a better .iso creation because I used the slowest and best compression option.

Now when it comes to doing this for installation purposes, I noticed when the desktop launched it has Install Debian - would I have to do this if booting the iso of Ventoy stick and would it hold the account data (ussername and password)?

Update - it worked with Ventoy as well - just need to know now do I click on 'Install Debian' that appears on the desktop (normally install Q4OS) and would it then transfer everything that was on the original machine it was created from?

Last edited by swarfendor437 (2026-05-04 23:20)

q4osteam · 2026-05-05 08:17

Note, you need to reboot your machine after S4-snapshot installer setup and before generating the first snapshot.

swarfendor437 wrote:

... just need to know now do I click on 'Install Debian' that appears on the desktop (normally install Q4OS) and would it then transfer everything that was on the original machine it was created from?

Yes, except for some subtle configuration differences needed to ensure the system works properly on the target machine.

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-10 20:47

Hi, Just thought I would update you on what happened today. I had an issue with 5.9 (can't remember what exactly) any how I decided to make a snapshot of 6.6 as this has a kernel that deals with the 'copy fail' kernel bug. Sadly, for some unkown reason, when running in live mode, and adding a WD Elements portable drive to the Notebook (a Lenovo ewish device - no power button, the lid is the power button!) the Elements drive was recognised but would not mount. I had to resort to trying other OS' and only one picked it up (which will remain nameless). So after a full day of attempting to see if the snapshot would work and to show how the backedup files would show in Q4OS I sadly got nowhere fast.

Perhaps if it had been a non-Windows 11 notebook it might have faired better! Aaaarrrrrggggghhh!

q4osteam · 2026-05-11 08:57

swarfendor437 wrote:

... and adding a WD Elements portable drive to the Notebook ... the Elements drive was recognised but would not mount.

If we understand correctly, this is not issue with S4-snapshot. Q4OS refuses to mount an external drive. So it may better to create a new fitting topic.

- Please specify what filesystem the WD drive uses.
- Run commands in terminal and post output:
$ lsblk
$ sudo blkid
- Try to mount the drive in terminal and post back the output.

You may only need to install an additional package related.

swarfendor437 · 2026-05-13 22:44

Hi thanks for responding. I believe it was NTFS as WD Elements tend to have this as the default FS on their external drives (I have 2 4 TB WD Elements).
Guess I should have tried to install it and then see if the WD Elements would mount. But I was running out of time.

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Is it practical to ...

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