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keb

Member

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 10  

[SOLVED] refractainstaller connect to existing home folder

When the installer asks if i created a partition for my Home folders, is it going to format that partition or will it simply mount the partition to /home ?
I have a LUKS encrypted partition that already has the home directories on it.  So before starting the refractainstaller i could use

cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb4 cryptHome

and then tell refractainstaller that the home partition is at

/dev/mapper/cryptHome

.
Obviously i dont want it to wipe out my existing stuff.

(Daedalus, amd64, question applies to both minimal-live console and desktop-live graphical installer program.)

Last edited by keb (2023-08-20 01:15:13)

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,486  

Re: [SOLVED] refractainstaller connect to existing home folder

I'm glad you asked before doing it. Yes, it will format the partition you choose for /home. You're better off installing the entire system to one partition and then making the changes manually after the install. If you need help with those steps, just ask, and I'll answer after I sleep.

It is possible to set the installer not to format any partitions, and you could format the root partition manually ahead of time, but the installer will still copy desktop configs from the live system to your home, and you might not want it to do that all at once.
The no-format option is a checkbox in the graphical installer and a config file option for the cli installer. It applies to all selected partitions - you can't select individual partitions to be formatted. It's all or none.

keb

Member

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 10  

Re: [SOLVED] refractainstaller connect to existing home folder

Thanks! I will do that.