How do I reset my Ubuntu installation just like it's freshly installed (like factory reset), with my files being intact and without a reinstallation.
3 Answers
Sorry, but there is no "factory reset" option in Ubuntu. You will need to reinstall it. To keep your files intact:
If you have a separate /home partition, unmark the "format" partition and set its mountpoint to "/home" during the installation.
If you do not have a separate /home partition, copy the entire /home directory to an external storage drive, such as a flash drive. You will need root privileges to do it, so run 'gksudo nautilus /' in a terminal, without quotes, to open the file manager with such privileges. Then just copy-paste the "/home" directory to the external drive. After you reinstall Ubuntu, your files should be there.
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If you try this software, I believe it will do as you want: https://github.com/gaining/Resetter, just download and install the deb file, it reads the manifest of ubuntu and compares it with actual installed package list then creates a removable list from there along with options to remove users.
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This is just an idea, but technically you could mount an image of a freshly installed system and swap it from your original one
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