Category: Ubuntu

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Sharing folders in VMWare

Refer: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/74650

Create the file /etc/systemd/system/mnt-hgfs.mount with this content:

sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/mnt-hgfs.mount
sudo gedit /etc/systemd/system/mnt-hgfs.mount
[Unit]
Description=VMware mount for hgfs
DefaultDependencies=no
Before=umount.target
ConditionVirtualization=vmware
After=sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount

[Mount]
What=vmhgfs-fuse
Where=/mnt/hgfs
Type=fuse
Options=default_permissions,allow_other

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create the file /etc/modules-load.d/open-vm-tools.conf with this content:

sudo touch /etc/modules-load.d/open-vm-tools.conf
sudo gedit /etc/modules-load.d/open-vm-tools.conf

If the file already exists, add that line to the file.

fuse

Enable the system service with the command:

sudo systemctl enable mnt-hgfs.mount

This will make sure the hgfs fdirectory will be mounted after a reboot.

Make sure the 'fuse' module is loaded:

sudo modprobe -v fuse

In Workstation or Fusion, enable "Shared Folders" in "Virtual Machine Settings" > "Options", and set the folders to be shared.
The shared folders should appear in the directory /mnt/hgfs. If that is not the case, start the service with:

sudo systemctl start mnt-hgfs.mount

or

reboot
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Change Linux Kernel Being Used

Refer: https://linuxhint.com/update_ubuntu_kernel_20_04/

Article originall written for Ubuntu 20.04 but used it with Ubuntu 18.04 to fix Parallels issue with slow startup

In order to downgrade to an earlier kernel you will need to make sure you can see the Grub boot screen and change things.

Refer: https://askubuntu.com/questions/82140/how-can-i-boot-with-an-older-kernel-version

At the time of this writing: 5.4.144 seems to work for Ubuntu 18.04
Base install of Ubuntu 20.04 used 5.8.0.63.71 and it seemed fine but upgrade to 5.11.0.36.40 seemed to slow bootup

5.8.18 works as of 2021-09-23, Parallels Tools do NOT seem to work with latest versions of kernel

Force remove, Seems Like Parallels is NOT ready for the new Kernels

Refer: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1253247/how-to-fix-or-remove-a-broken-kernel-ubuntu-20-04

cd /boot

Remove faulty links

sudo rm vmlinuz
sudo rm vmlinuz.old

Remove Faulty Kernel Example 

sudo rm vmlinuz-5.7.5

Relink Correctly Example

sudo ln -s vmlinuz-5.4.0-37-generic vmlinuz
sudo ln -s vmlinuz-5.4.0-26-generic vmlinuz.old

Looking for Bad Stuff with 5.11 as Example

ll *5.11*

Final Cleanup to Take Changes

sudo update-grub
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo reboot now

Original Setup Starts Here

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

change GRUB_TIMEOUT to -1 and comment out GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT

### GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1

Make sure you can see messages instead of splash screen

### GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
### GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="noresume"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
sudo update-grub

Check your current version

uname -r

Install a GUI call "mainline" to install another kernel

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:cappelikan/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mainline

Select "mainline" from applications, and choose your kernel

After you download and build, you need to reboot

reboot

Check your new version

uname –r
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Ubuntu Startup Messages and NOT Splash Screen

Refer: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1030867/how-to-diagnose-fix-very-slow-boot-on-ubuntu-18-04

To update GRUB so that it passes this option to the kernel automatically on boot:

Edit the file /etc/default/grub file so that the string noresume is included in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line, for example:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
### GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

or if you want to ignore the SWAP file

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="noresume"
sudo update-grub
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Backup / Restore Firefox Settings

Refer: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

Source Computer

In Firefox click the pancake setting and go to Help, "More troubleshooting information"

Look for path to your "Profile Directory", such as:
/home/mruckman/.mozilla/firefox/6kzldk99.default-release

Close Firefox

Zip/Tar the entire folder

Target Computer

Same procedure as above, locate the folder of your profile. Erase everything in the folder and replace it with the source folder information, the contents remain the same, the only change is the folder name.

Make sure to CLOSE Firefox before deleting and copying the files