Installation with "Advanced Custom"

I have installed many different OSs on this computer, but they have usually used a different installer, so I’m not used to the Fedora one.

I’m halfway through installation of Fedora-32 and have selected the disk. I am now selecting which partition to use for what, I have:
sda1 /
sda2 swap
sda3 /home
I have formatted / as requested.
/home I’m leaving alone because my data is on there.

Obviously the OS will overwrite 1. There is no explanation of what will happen to sda3.
I am concerned that the files will be deleted and a new user created on there with empty directories of Desktop, Downloads, Music etc.

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The installer asks for your confirmation when you finish setting up the storage.
It should clearly state which partitions/filesystems are marked for removal/formatting.

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If the system partition isn’t marked for formatting it won’t be formatted (obviously), but the files will be replaced by a newer operating system.

If the /home partition isn’t marked for formatting it won’t be formatted (oviously), but the files won’t be replaced?

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That’s correct.
Although making a backup of your important data on a separate storage is always a good idea. :wink:

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I always have a backup or two. However I don’t want to rely on that as that’s a last resort. It’s essential to make sure I do things properly in the first place.

It only took 20minutes to install, but all I got was the logo screen. When I logged out all I got was a black screen. When I restarted I couldn’t log in.

I eventually tried the gear wheel bottom right and selected Gnome Classic instead of the default Gnome, and it works, I don’t know why it’ll run one and not the other as that was no problem on Ubuntu.

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Some settings in the user profile may not be compatible across different DEs and releases.
You can switch to a text TTY with Alt+Ctrl+F5 and log in there.
Then move the contents of your home to a new directory and copy the contents of /etc/skel.
Also verify your home directory UID and GID match the user created during installation.
In addition, you can add a new user for testing the default profile.

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“settings in the user profile” this sounds like a likely cause. I’ve been there before with other OSs.
“You can switch to a text TTY” I couldn’t even do that (before switching to Gnome Classic).
“move the contents of your home” If I copy the dot files I will keep the dodgy configuration, if I don’t I’ll lose stuff I need.
" UID and GID" will check.
“new user for testing” Sounds like a good test. Can be a nightmare to find which settings need deleting though.

# Repair SELinux context and file ownership
sudo restorecon -R ~
sudo chown -R $(id -u):$(id -g) ~

# Add a new user with administrative privileges
sudo useradd newuser
sudo usermod -a -G wheel newuser
sudo passwd newuser

This way you should be able to log in with GUI.
Then check out the system journal for related errors.

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All three options work for my new “Guest” user, so it looks like you’re right that it’s incompatible “hangover” settings in myusername.
I’ve found that myusername “Gnome on Xorg” works as well as “Gnome Classic”. Don’t know why that should be.

I’m going to use Gnome on Xorg, I can’t see much difference between that and Gnome. It’s not worth all the work to try to remove the problem configuration files while retaining the same username.

Thanks for the help. Accurate, prompt and un-patronising help is one of the top three factors for me in deciding which distribution to use.

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Have now decided to go for the proper Gnome interface and have done as you suggest (using Nautilus except for the file permissions). All works now.

Maybe one day someone will write an application that goes through all the Gnome configuration files, states what they are for and gives the option of deleting them. Probably a very large number of them though…

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