= How to reinstall Ubuntu over existing installation while preserving /home - Desktop CD =

Starting in Ubuntu 8.04, ubiquity (the ubuntu system installer) allows the user to install Ubuntu while preserving the /home directory. This allows you to reset your computer to default but to keep your personal files and configuration files. The point of ubiquity-preserve-home is that it's supposed to work smoothly behind the scenes using Ubuntu's Installer.

If you choose not to format the partition assigned to "/", then everything on that partition that would cause problems for an Ubuntu installation will be removed (e.g. the contents of /boot, /etc, /lib, /usr, etc.), but /home and other unknown directories that might contain data will be preserved. Doing this does not require an explicit action by the user, other than choosing manual partitioning and *not* formatting the partition assigned to "/". This may be used as a last resort to restore Ubuntu to default at the point of installation but will preserve the /home directory.

 * Boot from Live CD

 * Double click "Install" icon

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 * Go through installation steps 1-3 as you usually would. At Step 4 of 7 "Prepare Disk Space", click on "Manual" and click forward.

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 * Find the ext3 partition which is the main partition for your old Ubuntu installation, select it and click "Edit Partition"

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 * Change "Use as" to show "Ext3 journaling file system", DO NOT FORMAT THE PARTITION, and change "Mount Point" to be "/" and click OK

{{attachment:screenshot_04.png}}

 * Click forward. ''' You will be presented with the following text''' , click continue:

''' The file system on /dev/sda1 assigned to / has not been marked for formatting.  Directories containing system files (/boot, /etc, /usr, /var, ...) that already exist under any defined mountpoint will be deleted during the install.'''

Please ensure that you have backed up any critical data before installing.

 * Go on with the installation as usual, completing steps 5-7 of the installer.

 * When prompted for a user name, using the same user/login name that was used on the old installation will assure that 
  * the user is made an administrator
  * it uses your current home directory


The conception for UbiquityPreserveHome can be found [[UbiquityPreserveHome|here]]. Its blueprint [[https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/ubiquity-preserve-home|ubiquity-preserve-home]] can be found [[https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/ubiquity-preserve-home|here]].