How do I record initial system settings?

James E Keenan

3/27/24, 1:12 PM

I recently purchased a machine that came installed with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. In the course of the initial setup, I noticed a terminal message to the effect of "Would you like to save your initial system settings (to removable media)?" The message indicated (a) I would need at least 2GB free on something like a USB thumb drive; (b) I could postpone doing this until after initial installation. (I elected to postpone recording this data.)

I would now like to perform this recording of initial system settings (prior to a dist-upgrade to 22.04 LTS). Most of what I have read on the web is concerned with resetting to initial settings (e.g., via dconf), but that's not what I want to do. How can I record my initial settings onto a USB?

0 + 6

settings

system-settings

David

3/27/24, 1:19 PM

I have installed dozens of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop systems and never seen that message. Nor does a search produce any results for that phrase. This may be some kind of add on from whom ever did the pre purchase install of the OS before you received the computer.

James E Keenan

3/27/24, 1:40 PM

@David, when I add or autoremove packages from this machine, the next-to-last line in the terminal outpub is "Generating 'Restore Ubuntu 20.04 to factory state' entry". So somehow the "factory state" must be accessible, hence recordable. Is that inference correct?

David

3/27/24, 2:42 PM

Again I have never seen, heard of or can find this feature.

popey

3/27/24, 4:35 PM

Was this a Lenovo or Dell (or some other tier-1 vendor) install? My ThinkPad came with a recovery system, which could copy the installer onto a USB key. This sounds very much like that. If so, I suspect it saves your installer, but not really the initial "state" other than it being a clean install. Where did this system come from?

James E Keenan

3/28/24, 12:20 AM

@popey, yes this machine is a Lenovo that came with Ubuntu Linux 20.04 installed. Suggestions? Thanks.

popey

3/28/24, 8:29 AM

The tool to build a recovery USB stick should be installed, and should be found in among other applications by searching for lenovo or recovery. I no longer have the program installed on my system, so I cannot tell you the full name.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: How do I record initial system settings?

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.