Retrieving system files from a live usb

[Member eltuno]

Hi all,

I’m looking for a way to mount my live usb (MX) in order to retrieve firefox setting files from it.

I mean I know how to mount my live usb stick from another distro but I can’t see the system files in it. It just grant me access to the Live-usb-storage folder it seems.

Maybe u can help me here.

[Member Girafenaine]

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Hello eltuno,

Actually I believe that you can only see what is in the live-usb-storage folder. Other files are in the compressed squashfiles (linuxfs containing the whole file system, and rootfs and homefs containing only the changes you have done to your filesystem, as long as you remaster the linuxfs).

So you can’t access these files… except if there is some tool to expand and read squash files.

I use live-usb-storage for files I need to find from other OS, and a separate fat32 partition on the same USB live, which can be read from bad OS unable to read ext4 partitions !

Girafenaine

Girafenaine
----
Antix 19 - Fluxbox - Live USB stick and frugal / MX 19 - Fluxbox - Dell XPS 7590

[Member eltuno]

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yeah too bad, that’s what I expected

Yeah I know what kind of “bad OS” you’re talking about 🙂
that’s why I still format usb data keys to old fat32 too, though it has this awful 4GB size limit

So you create that partition first and u install live Antix on the free space ? How do u do that ?

sorry but i have no internet til tuesday, so i’ll see ur answer then ^^

merci pour ton aide en tout cas, vu que t’as l’air de parler français

[Forum Admin rokytnji]

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Back when I did full install on flash media.

Here was when I ran off sd card. The edits to grub are not needed anymore. Because it was older release with older grub application.
http://yatsite.blogspot.com/2009/07/install-antix-82-final-on-asus-eee-900.html

It should give you a general idea of doing a full install on flash media.

Guess I’ll include this link

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

[Anonymous]

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… which can be read from bad OS unable to read ext4 partitions !

Where is a will (=== “demand”!!!), there is a way!

😉

[Anonymous]

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eltuno wrote:

(MX) in order to retrieve firefox setting files from it.

The “rootfs” persistence file on the liveusb is a squashfs file.
A squashfs container file contains (stores) a compressed filesystem.
To view the content within a squashfs, you can mount its filesystem using the linux mount command.

mkdir /mnt/R
mount -o loop /sdb1_or_such/antiX/linuxfs /mnt/R

Now you can browse the content of the mounted rootfs squashfs file. accessible at /mnt/L/{bin|ext|usr}/…
After you have finished,
umount /mnt/R

[Anonymous]

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noclue, across years that Paragon tool worked reliably for me under windows & it’s probably the right tool for the job if eltuno’s liveusb was using HOME persistence.

[Moderator christophe]

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Is it possible for you to boot into your live usb?

Perhaps you can harvest your settings by copying your ~/.mozilla folder into ~/Live-usb-storage.
Then a copy of this folder is outside the live usb save-file, so you can copy anything you need from/to another system.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Anonymous]

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Well, that thing about Paragon was only because of:

… bad OS unable to read ext4 partitions !
Yeah I know what kind of “bad OS” you’re talking about 🙂

I also don’t know any GUI utillity which could do it.
Personally never had a need to do it.

mksquashfs & unsquashfs:
https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/1-unsquashfs/
ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/LDP/en/SquashFS-HOWTO/SquashFS-HOWTO-single.html#mksqoverview

[Forum Admin BitJam]

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eltuno wrote:

I’m looking for a way to mount my live usb (MX) in order to retrieve firefox setting files from it.

The answer depends on how you saved the settings: root persistence, home persistence, or live remaster.
There are three files under the antiX/ directory that may contain then settings depending on how you stored them:

rootfs (root persistence)
homefs (home persistence)
linuxfs (live-remaster)

You can use the same mount command to mount any of them and then get your settings. For example, let’s assume the live-usb is mounted at /media/live-usb. You can mount the rootfs file like this:

sudo mkdir /mnt/root
sudo mount /media/live-usb/antiX/rootfs /mnt/rootfs

When you are done, you can clean up with:

sudo umount /mnt/root
sudo rmdir /mnt/root

HTH

Context is worth 80 IQ points -- Alan Kay

[Member eltuno]

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christophe wrote:

Is it possible for you to boot into your live usb?

Perhaps you can harvest your settings by copying your ~/.mozilla folder into ~/Live-usb-storage.
Then a copy of this folder is outside the live usb save-file, so you can copy anything you need from/to another system.

Yes I can, I was just looking for a way more convenient to do it.

[Member eltuno]

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Anonymous wrote:

noclue, across years that Paragon tool worked reliably for me under windows & it’s probably the right tool for the job if eltuno’s liveusb was using HOME persistence.

I use Windows only when I’m “forced” to. Most often this happens in Internet cafés, and then I don’t have admin rights on the PC so can’t install anything, though portable software will work usually.

+ I use root persistence, not home.

[Member eltuno]

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BitJam wrote:

eltuno wrote:

I’m looking for a way to mount my live usb (MX) in order to retrieve firefox setting files from it.

The answer depends on how you saved the settings: root persistence, home persistence, or live remaster.
There are three files under the antiX/ directory that may contain then settings depending on how you stored them:

rootfs (root persistence)
homefs (home persistence)
linuxfs (live-remaster)

You can use the same mount command to mount any of them and then get your settings. For example, let’s assume the live-usb is mounted at /media/live-usb. You can mount the rootfs file like this:

sudo mkdir /mnt/root
sudo mount /media/live-usb/antiX/rootfs /mnt/rootfs

When you are done, you can clean up with:

sudo umount /mnt/root
sudo rmdir /mnt/root

HTH

Yep that worked, and surprisingly there’s no need to unsquash anything

Good to know.

Actually I’ll have to export/import my bookmarks from my live MX, otherwise I’m going to overwrite the bookmarks I have already on that other OS, but it’s good to know anyhow.

Thank u all for sharing ur tips

[edit]
Oh yeah I got it, this is the rootfs not the linuxfs, so no need to unsquash it … I should have thought twice

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by eltuno.

[Forum Admin BitJam]

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eltuno wrote:

Yep that worked, and surprisingly there’s no need to unsquash anything

There is seldom a need to unsquashfs the linuxfs file. You just need to mount it. Which is what I suggested.

Context is worth 80 IQ points -- Alan Kay

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