ISO Snapshot of Antix Installation

[Anonymous]

Hi all, new to the forum, love Antix.

I installed and customised Antix on my old PC, created two users one admin and one user.
I removed menu items from the user, so that the user doesnt have access to control panel (e.g. for my kids to use)
I created a Snapshot
I created USB from the iso and successfully installed Antix from the snapshot on another old PC, so I can have two Antix installations exactly the same on both PCs
However after installing from the ISO snapshot on the second old PC, I noticed that the users menu options are restored to default, restoring some of the items (such as control panel) back to the user account.

Is there a way to alter the ISO before creating the installation USB/DVD so that it doesnt restore menu items back to the user account the next time I use it to install it again?

Really appreciate any advice.

Appreciated

Unkajed

[rayluoMember]

Anonymous wrote:

However after installing from the ISO snapshot on the second old PC, I noticed that the users menu options are restored to default

I haven’t retried your usage, so the following is just my speculations. I suspect that, since you chose to perform a full installation, new accounts would be created as part of the normal installation process, regardless of whether your ISO snapshot contains them.

In fact, I think you may want to consider a different approach. You could just use your customized ISO snapshot to create a Live USB, and then boot from Live USB i.e. without installation at all. This way, the live system may STILL contain those default accounts (such as “demo”), but the point is, most of the changes made during a live session would NOT be persisted (unless the user knows how to explicitly turn on persistence). Personally I would consider such a live USB still suitable to be given to kids to let them play and explore. (There are lots of documents on the topic of Live USB, you can start from there.)

Regards,
Ray

[marcelocripeMember]

Hello Unkajed.

Welcome to antiX Linux and the forum.

I don’t know how to write in English and I send my texts translated by the internet translator. I hope you can understand everything, if your native language is not English, please translate my original Brazilian Portuguese text directly into your language with the help of internet translators.

You have knowledge that I still don’t have and I want to be able to learn one day.

Until you receive guidance from the experts on this forum on the correct procedure for your custom ISO image, you can make a workaround that I learned how to do, I know it’s not the ideal solution and so I would also like to know which one is the correct procedure.

Copy all files from the /username/.fluxbox, /username/.icewm, /username/.jwm folders of the installation you customized (from the source operating system). Paste the files into their respective folders on the target operating system.

marcelocripe
(Original text in Brazilian Portuguese language)

– – – – –

Olá Unkajed.

Seja bem-vindo(a) ao antiX Linux e ao fórum.

Eu não sei escrever em idioma Inglês e envio os meus textos traduzidos pelo tradutor da internet. Eu espero que você consiga compreender tudo, caso o seu idioma nativo não seja o Inglês, por favor, traduza o meu texto original em idioma Português do Brasil diretamente para o seu idioma com a ajuda dos tradutores da internet.

Você possui conhecimentos que eu ainda não possuo e quero um dia poder aprender.

Até que você receba as orientações dos especialistas deste fórum sobre o procedimento correto para a sua imagem ISO personalizada, você pode fazer uma solução paliativa que eu aprendi a fazer, eu sei que não é a solução ideal e por isso eu também gostaria de saber qual é o procedimento correto.

Copie todos os arquivos das pastas /nome de usuário/.fluxbox, /nome de usuário/.icewm, /nome de usuário/.jwm da instalação que você personalizou (do sistema operacional de origem). Cole os arquivos nas suas respectivas pastas do sistema operacional de destino.

marcelocripe
(Texto original em idioma Português do Brasil)

[christopheModerator]

Do you recall whether you did “preserving accounts” or “resetting accounts”?
(I haven’t used ISO snapshot in a while, but that jumps out as a possible stumbling point…)

Attachments:

1. 

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antiX on everything, since 2017

[christopheModerator]

Copy all files from the /username/.fluxbox, /username/.icewm, /username/.jwm folders of the installation you customized (from the source operating system). Paste the files into their respective folders on the target operating system.

@marcelocripe, that’s a terrific solution! You can’t go wrong with that.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by christophe.

antiX on everything, since 2017

[marcelocripeMember]

Christophe, this is the solution I can get with the little knowledge I have at the moment. I believe there really is a right way to make menu customizations definitive in the custom ISO image. I will keep following this topic and look forward to learning about it.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

– – – – –

Christophe, esta é a solução que eu consigo com o pouco conhecimento que eu possuo no momento. Eu acredito que realmente exista uma forma correta para tornar as personalizações dos menus definitivas na imagem ISO personalizada. Eu vou continuar acompanhado este tópico e estou ansioso para aprender sobre isso.

Obrigado por compartilhar o seu conhecimento.

[Anonymous]

Hi Rayluo: Thanks for your reply. Really need it to install rather than be in “live” mode all the time. Really appreciate your answer.

Hi Marcelocripe: Yes, I agree, the only way I could do it after installing was to copy over (and replace) the menu config files. My though was maybe I can do this as a script and have it run at the end of the Installation Process, or on first run whilst on the “live” before choosing to install Antix.

Hi Christophe: Yes did that to preserve accounts, it preserved everything apart from resetting some/most of the items back to the menu list

Thanks all for being so helpful.

Let me know what you think about restoring the menu config files aby automated script on first boot after installation has completed and PC has been restarted.

Really appreciate it.

Unkajed

[Anonymous]

I have created a .sh double click executable that will copy the edited menu files over the restored one

That way the administrator/parent can login and double click and all done.

I think its better than having the script run each time, or on first boot after installation

Unkajed

[christopheModerator]

Very good solution!

I always think simple is best.

If you’d like to, attach a text file with the script. Most people like examples…

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by christophe.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by christophe.

antiX on everything, since 2017

[Anonymous]

Got a techie solution that has worked.

1. I created the Snapshot of Antix via Control Panel
2. I edited the files on the snapshot – desktop.cfg (Used AnyBurn free software for Windows 10 (I can imagine that you could also use similar Linux software, however I will have to explore this further)
3. Deleted the Desktops I didnt want (in a list) e.g. I just left JWM
4. Created the new ISO
5. Wrote it to USB (used Rufus – could use Antix control panel option to create a live USB)
6.Installed on to PC

Bingo

[Anonymous]

ALWAYS BACK UP FIRST BEFORE EDITING ANY CONFIG FILES !!!

As I only needed JWM session type:

As my username is admin and the menu options I want to limit is for the username user I did the following

A) Opened File Manager
B) It was necessary to navigate to /home/user showing the window with Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos etc.
C) right clicked and chose the DISPLAY option
D) Clicked on SHOW HIDDEN FILES
E) Clicked on .jwm folder
F) edited the file menu by deleting the entries I didnt want the user to have
G) edited the file menu-applications be deleting the application entries I didnt want the user to have access to
H) saved everything as menu1 menu-applications1 (to admin downloads folder) and reloaded JWM as well as refresh menu
I) Created the snapshot ISO
J) Installed on USB and installed to second PC

Then to automate the process when administrator installs from snapshot iso

1) I created a file called run.sh with the following commands

#!/bin/bash

sudo cp -f /dir/user/menu /home/user/.jwm

2)saved the run.sh file to Downloads folder
3)opened terminal
4)typed in sudo su
5)entered password
6)cd /
7)cd home
8)cd admin
9)cd Downloads
10) chmod +x run.sh
11) ./run.sh

*You need to use your /dir/user/menu (location of your altered file) (Copy from)
*You need to use your /home/user/.jwm (your username e.g. user, demo etc.) (copy to)
*Point 8 above you need to use your administrator account (I used the username “admin” as mine)

[Brian MasinickModerator]

Nice job; that’s a good solution. Someone else can either use it as is or modify the specific account and anything else they choose to change, keeping your idea intact.

Thank you for sharing this creative solution!

--
Brian Masinick
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[Anonymous]

Its nice to work with a great Debian based version.

Unkajed

[Brian MasinickModerator]

Anonymous wrote:

Its nice to work with a great Debian based version.

Unkajed

It is indeed!

--
Brian Masinick
Alternate "Search B":
This search page

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

In addition my run.sh file looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
sudo su
sudo :> This-systems-menus-are-now-secure /home/admin/securemeexe/This-systems-menus-are-now-secure.txt
sudo cp -f /home/admin/securemeexe/secureme/jwmuser/menu /home/user/.jwm
sudo cp -f /home/admin/securemeexe/secureme/jwmcloud/menu /home/cloud/.jwm
sudo mv -f /home/cloud/.jwm/menu.save /home/cloud/.jwm/menu

Just incase your the cp -f create the file menu.save (if it cant overwrite)

Before running though make sure run.sh is chmod +X (Terminal-navigate to folder containing run.sh) sudo chmod +x run.sh
——-
Unkajed

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