Restoring desktop settings/theme/appearance from backup

If you restored dom0 from a backup it should end up in your home folder in dom0 named like: home-restore-2023-12-10-200905. If this is missing your backup may not have restored properly.

Dark theme if you followed the global dark mode guide will need you to install some packages and change /etc/environment to get working on a new install, just review the guide and install those 2 packages and update /etc/environment.

I just did a clean 4.1 install to move between NVMes, most of what you will want to restore is in .config which you should be able to see using ls -la home-restore-[DATE]/dom0-home/[user]/ from the dom0 terminal.

I personally just brought the entire .config folder out of the backup and into my new home dir which, with the packages and /etc/environment update (as well as re-installing Whisker menu) got me back up and running exactly how I had it.

After the last restore I have made a sys_backup in my home directory where I copy over necessary files such as:

  • A text file with my current crontab -e contents.
  • /usr/share/qubes/templates/libvirt/xen.xml since I have modified it.
  • /etc/default/grub Grub with primary GPU blacklisted
  • /etc/qubes Didn’t actually need this one
  • /etc/qubes-rpc Mostly just for the Split SSH file
  • /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d so that my AMD card in the secondary slot can start lightdm

Yours will vary of course but I would recommend it and documenting your restoration procedure if your system is modified in any way so things go smooth when you really need it.

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