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How can I copy an installed Linux system to another PC? (feddit.org)

submitted 1 week ago by mech@feddit.org to c/linuxquestions@lemmy.zip

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've spent considerable time configuring my Linux system (1) and I would like to have the exact same system on another PC (2).
What would be the best way to do that?
Hardware on (2) is different, but tested compatible with the kernel.
(2) has a smaller drive size, so simply dd'ing the entire drive from a live USB won't work.

Here's what I'm planning:

install same distro on (2), using the same username as on (1)
create a list of installed packages on (1)
install same packages on (2) using the package manager
copy /home and /etc from (1) to an external EXT4 drive
boot (2) from a live USB and mount the external drive
delete /home and /etc on (2), then copy them over from (1)

Will this cause permission issues? Is there a quicker way?

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[–] nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 days ago

fdisk/mkfs/mount (to /mnt) new drive in old system. copy all over. for i in proc dev sys; do mount -obind /$i /mnt/$i; done; chroot /mnt

now you are in a chroot envrionment of your new drive.

fix /etc/fstab, install grub to the new device, done.

i think. if you have seperate /boot, care for that, too :D