[DESKTOP] Can I save Guest user settings, data?

[RLynwood]

I'm a heavy computer user who's computer is out of commission now and am borrowing a friend's laptop as a guest user until I can solve my computer problems. I'm not sure, but I believe that logging out of my guest session deletes all usage info, is that right? If it is, how do I set up the guest account to save all my settings (web browser tabs, passwords, history, etc.) & personal documents? My guest session has been set up as administrator but without password.

[claydoh]

Which OS are we talking about here (just to be clear)?
I don't think most Linux desktops have an ephemeral 'guest' login per se, though iirc Unity used to have an option for this back in the day.
If you created a new user account, and called it Guest, and did not set a password, or set it as a blank one, it is just a normal user account, it will save user application settings in /home/username (/home/Guest, or whatever), so if you have such a directory, your browser data is being saved, just like normal.

My guest session has been set up as administrator but without password.

I am guessing that your friend trusts you with such powers ?
But again, I am guessing you have simply created a new user account, simply called 'guest', and used a blank password. A true 'guest' login would not be able to have admin privileges, it sorta defeats the purpose.

[RLynwood]

Which OS are we talking about here (just to be clear)?

It's Linux Mint 20.04. I'm in the wrong forum here; I just went here because this is where I've been working on my computer problem. Sorry.

I don't think most Linux desktops have an ephemeral 'guest' login per se, though iirc Unity used to have an option for this back in the day.

I asked because of my recent experience with the Xubuntu that's on my about 14-year-old laptop. It does not save anything in a guest session (I don't have my password for my account & so had been using as guest.

If you created a new user account, and called it Guest, and did not set a password, or set it as a blank one, it is just a normal user account, it will save user application settings in /home/username (/home/Guest, or whatever), so if you have such a directory, your browser data is being saved, just like normal.

I'm not sure what my friend did, but I believe he did create a guest account that did not have a password or it was set as blank. If that was the case, I didn't know it. Boy, I sure hope you're right. Is there a way to save all that somewhere in case it does automatically delete it?

I am guessing that your friend trusts you with such powers ?

Actually, I'm not sure he does, but because of what I've experienced with my ancient laptop (whose screen is nearly dead), I've been afraid to turn it off and so have kept it on for a week or so. Now I want to stop that and turn it off when I don't need it. I have to switch back and forth between his and my computer for different purposes.

But again, I am guessing you have simply created a new user account, simply called 'guest', and used a blank password. A true 'guest' login would not be able to have admin privileges, it sorta defeats the purpose.

I believe that what you've described is what he did. He does seem to trust me to do simple administrative stuff. I have to to save data to a flash drive. I'm trying to move all the data on a few old, small flash drives to one that's large enough for it and more, freeing those old ones for use as Live USBs & boot repair USBs. That also is why I'm trying to learn how to create/assign GPTs (call it prejudice; I want to avoid anything Microsoft to the fullest extent possible). If it's possible and not inadvisable, I'd like to make those flash drives GPTed.

[RLynwood]

I've checked, learned that my friend's Linux Mint laptop has indeed saved my info in its guest session. Whew.

[RLynwood]

I need to know any reason for not using the GPT on a flash drive so as to save different kinds of OSs &/or data on one drive. That's where I'm stopped now, but I'm going to pursue this in my other problem post. So I'm calling this one solved.

[claydoh]

GPT/MBR only matters for booting purposes. For simple storage uses, it makes no difference which one is used.

When 'burning' an ISO to a USB, it also doesn't matter as this part of the disk image already, and/or the software takes care of it, You don't need to worry about it in this case.
MBR is only for really old computers, in terms of booting.

Just use GPT.

[RLynwood]

GPT/MBR only matters for booting purposes. For simple storage uses, it makes no difference which one is used.

That's what I thought, but I've read that GRUB must be put into an MBR. And, of course, GPT begins with a short MBR, but I'm not sure that it's big enough for GRUB2.

When 'burning' an ISO to a USB, it also doesn't matter as this [is] part of the disk image already, and/or the software takes care of it, You don't need to worry about it in this case.

This is what I don't understand. You're saying that the ISO has a boot system, presumably GRUB. But how does it work if I had a series of partitions, each with an OS &/or disk repair/treatment utility on it. Would that work exactly the same as an internal hdd that's partitioned with multiple OSs? That is, I get into the UEFI display, select the usb, then click on the partition I want to use?

MBR is only for really old computers, in terms of booting. Just use GPT.

This I know.

[claydoh]

An ISO is a direct bit-for-bit copy/clone of a disk, which includes the boot stuff. "ISO" *usually* indicates an bootable optical disc image.

On UEFI systems (using GPT), the MBR is no longer where the boot loader is stored as it is too small for current OS boot loaders, let alone multi-booting. It actually is kept in a fairly normal FAT partition. This is set to normally be hidden in normal usage. if you poke around the contents of an ISO image, you will see an EFI folder. This is actually where the boot loader files are, and it lives on that FAT partition. if you look at the partitions on the USB stick, you will see a small FAT 12/16/32 partition of a few hundred Mb. This is where the EFI folder goes to when the image is 'burned'. This is where all the bootloader items are.

Windows and Linux both use this UEFI boot scheme, and this partition can be used to hold multiple OS boot loaders, or one can have these EFI partitions on each individual hard drive if desired.

[RLynwood]

So when cloning, Clonezilla makes and ISO? I just looked up the meaning of ISO; it looks like that's exactly right.

" ... and it lives on that FAT partition." Do you mean sub-partition? Isn't that a part/portion of the GPT-defined partition?
I see that my SSD's GPT partition begins with a 487 Mb FAT subpartition. Why does GPT put that there? I've read that GRUB *must* be in a FAT, but why? Is that why GPT keeps a FAT subpartition?

"if you look at the partitions on the USB stick, you will see a small FAT 12/16/32 partition of a few hundred Mb."
I know that usb sticks typically come with FATs, but I don't understand this statement. Are you saying that, when one creates multiple partitions on a usb stick, there is that small 12/16/32--what?-- FAT at the beginning of the entire stick, or at the beginning of each partition?

I have to make a trip to town for a while now but will return to this as soon as I return. A million thanks. This is the help I've been waiting for three weeks for. Now I'm getting somewhere and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Snowhog]

So when cloning, Clonezilla makes and ISO? I just looked up the meaning of ISO; it looks like that's exactly right.

No. Clonezilla makes an EXACT COPY of what you tell it to copy, either a partition, or a disc.

Clonezilla makes a 'bare metal' copy of the 'source' and writes it to the 'destination'. The 'destination' must be equal to or greater in size than the 'source'.

[RLynwood]

I thought that an ISO was an image which was an exact copy, bit for but, of the source. The rest I understand.

[Snowhog]

I thought that an ISO was an image which was an exact copy,

It is, but Clonezilla doesn't work on files, so you can't use Clonezilla to 'copy' and 'write' an ISO 'file' to a destination 'device'.

[RLynwood]

An ISO is a file? I thought it was an image of a space, as a partition. Yes, Kubuntu comes as an ISO, which is a file. So, what exactly is an image?

[Snowhog]

ISO file: An ISO file is an image file of a CD/DVD or other disc. It contains all the files from the disc, neatly packed into a single .iso file. This allows users to burn new copies of the disc, or they can open the ISO file to browse and copy its contents to their system.

[claydoh]

So when cloning, Clonezilla makes and ISO? I just looked up the meaning of ISO; it looks like that's exactly right.

" ... and it lives on that FAT partition." Do you mean sub-partition? Isn't that a part/portion of the GPT-defined partition?
I see that my SSD's GPT partition begins with a 487 Mb FAT subpartition. Why does GPT put that there? I've read that GRUB *must* be in a FAT, but why? Is that why GPT keeps a FAT subpartition?

"if you look at the partitions on the USB stick, you will see a small FAT 12/16/32 partition of a few hundred Mb."
I know that usb sticks typically come with FATs, but I don't understand this statement. Are you saying that, when one creates multiple partitions on a usb stick, there is that small 12/16/32--what?-- FAT at the beginning of the entire stick, or at the beginning of each partition?

I have to make a trip to town for a while now but will return to this as soon as I return. A million thanks. This is the help I've been waiting for three weeks for. Now I'm getting somewhere and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A partition is a partition. A separated portion of an entire drive