S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

q4osteam · 2025-12-22 17:55

It will be helpful for development, if you would share the results. Anyway thanks

q4osteam · 2026-03-06 12:52

S4-snapshot has been updated to version "1302". Current users only need to perform a regular upgrade from repositories.

q4osteam · 2026-04-06 21:55

We have made several updates to the S4-snapshot tool to improve usability and functionality. In this new release, we have introduced S4-live-usb-maker, a tool designed to simplify the process of creating a bootable live USB drive. With this addition, users can now easily take a generated .iso file and burn it directly onto a USB flash, turning it into a fully bootable live environment with minimal effort.

giuliofena · 2026-04-10 11:03

q4osteam wrote:

We have made several updates to the S4-snapshot tool to improve usability and functionality. In this new release, we have introduced S4-live-usb-maker, a tool designed to simplify the process of creating a bootable live USB drive. With this addition, users can now easily take a generated .iso file and burn it directly onto a USB flash, turning it into a fully bootable live environment with minimal effort.

I am a little confused ...

Normally, I used to generate an .iso file with S4 snapshot into my home directory.
Then I used to burn the same .iso file (the clone of my system) into an USB stick using IMAGER.
This way, I had a bootable live USB containing a perfect clone of my system.

Now I have the new S4 Live USB Maker installed.
I open it and it asks me to select an .iso file.
This means that I need to have an .iso file already generated with S4 Snapshot and stored.

So, I do not see the difference between using IMAGER or S4 Live USB maker (if not for options like dry run or others).

Am I missing anything?

Thank you!

q4osteam · 2026-04-10 13:48

You are right, both Imager and S4-liveusb-maker create bootable USB flash drive from a .iso file. So you can safely use them both. However, S4-liveusb-maker features an "advanced mode." In short, this allows you to create separate data partitions on your bootable drive and set up persistence for example. Imager is designated rather to download and burn official Q4OS media, but yes, you can use it to burn the custom .iso too.

schip · 2026-04-13 06:30

I've been having trouble getting snapshot to work. Been making the iso files on an iMac and a netbook, then using imager to write to a USB stick but using either PC keep getting the same error 'Could not find antix/linuxfs' even though it's there in the right location.

Tried using a different USB stick but get the same error.

Not seen anyone else with this issue so must be something I'm doing wrong.??

schip · 2026-04-13 06:38

Oops forgot to say: ..that's with q4os running on iMac n netbook

q4osteam · 2026-04-13 09:04

schip wrote:

I've been having trouble getting snapshot to work. ...

1. What Q4OS version ?
$ get-q4os-version

2. Do your source computers use EFI or legacy BIOS ?

3. Did you make a system .iso without users accounts or did you keep users accounts ?

Last edited by q4osteam (2026-04-13 09:08)

seb3773 · 2026-04-13 14:52

Are the source files for the Q4OS version of S4 snapshot available?
If you’re okay with it, I’d like to try porting the graphical interface to tqt3 for Trinity (it’s currently using Qt6, if I’m not mistaken…). If the separation between business logic and the graphical interface is clean, it should be possible to maintain two versions with minimal extra effort.
I know Qt6 is available on TDE like all other toolkits, but it would be nice for such an “essential” Trinity app to depend only on tqt3. What do you think?

Last edited by seb3773 (2026-04-13 14:52)

q4osteam · 2026-04-13 15:16

@seb3773

Yes, that would be great. Download the source code https://sourceforge.net/projects/q4os/files/sourcepack/

It would be also valuable to create a qt/tqt free "backend", and as minimal as possible frontend part what could be written in tqt or qt6

Last edited by q4osteam (2026-04-13 15:17)

seb3773 · 2026-04-13 15:34

q4osteam wrote:

Yes, that would be great. Download the source code https://sourceforge.net/projects/q4os/files/sourcepack/
It would be also valuable to create a qt/tqt free "backend", and as minimal as possible frontend part what could be written in tqt or qt6

Thank you very much, will take a look at it tonight :-)

q4osteam · 2026-04-14 10:47

schip wrote:

I've been having trouble getting snapshot to work. ...

1. What Q4OS version ?
$ get-q4os-version

2. Do your source computers use EFI or legacy BIOS ?

3. Did you make a system .iso without users accounts or did you keep users accounts ?

Did anyone else notice this issue https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.ph … 423#p34423 ?

schip · 2026-04-14 11:54

q4osteam wrote:

schip wrote:
I've been having trouble getting snapshot to work. ...
1. What Q4OS version ?
$ get-q4os-version
2. Do your source computers use EFI or legacy BIOS ?
3. Did you make a system .iso without users accounts or did you keep users accounts ?

1. iMac = 5.9-deb12u1, netbook = 5.9-deb12u1
2. iMac EFI, netbook = no UEFI in /sys/firmware/..so is BIOS
3. kept my one n only account..so to clone onto second iMac., netbook same one account to use as backup for netbook

q4osteam · 2026-04-14 12:34

@schip
What are the resulted .iso sizes ?

seb3773 · 2026-04-14 15:40

q4osteam wrote:

It would be also valuable to create a qt/tqt free "backend", and as minimal as possible frontend part what could be written in tqt or qt6

Absolutely. I’ve started analyzing the code and working on converting the backend to pure C++, with no Qt dependencies. This will take a little time—there’s a lot to rewrite—but it’s entirely doable and will get done ;-)

This approach will make it easier to have a native version for Trinity/Plasma/other environments by just porting a minimal frontend.
On that note, while I haven’t yet started looking into the frontend port specifically (the first step is to have a “clean” backend without Qt dependencies), I’d like to know: regarding the original graphical interface, should I replicate it exactly or remove/modify certain parts? (And if so, which ones, of course.)

I was also thinking about some “customization” elements, since this is a fork dedicated to Q4OS. Maybe replace entries named “AntiX” with “Q4OS”? …And in the GUI, perhaps add the Q4OS logo, things like that. Feel free to let me know—I’m happy to help.

** Maybe we should continue this discussion in the development section? As soon as I’ve finished porting the backend, I’ll post in dev—this way, we can discuss the topic without cluttering this help thread.

q4osteam · 2026-04-14 16:22

seb3773 wrote:

... converting the backend to pure C++, with no Qt dependencies. ..

+1

seb3773 wrote:

.. should I replicate it exactly or remove/modify certain parts?

We don't insist on to replicate MX-snapshot. We prefer a functional ergonomic solution dedicated to Debian/Q4OS.

seb3773 wrote:

I was also thinking about some “customization” elements, since this is a fork dedicated to Q4OS. Maybe replace entries named “AntiX” with “Q4OS”? …And in the GUI, perhaps add the Q4OS logo, things like that. Feel free to let me know

We would prefer a Debian brand, or even better customizable, In anyway, we need to follow the original MX/Antix licenses.

seb3773 wrote:

Maybe we should continue this discussion in the development section? As soon as I’ve finished porting the backend, I’ll post in dev—this way, we can discuss the topic without cluttering this help thread.

Absolutely. We appreciate the systematic approach, sounds good what you say. You are welcome to start a new project on Github to ease a collaboration.

q4osteam · 2026-04-16 10:19

schip wrote:

I've been having trouble getting snapshot to work. ...

- What desktop environment Plasma or Trinity or other ?
- What are the resulted .iso sizes ?

schip · 2026-04-17 03:51

q4osteam wrote:

@schip
What are the resulted .iso sizes ?

I added lots of software sos to use as a quick install on other iMac:

file size of iso is 12.2 GBs.

However Im now trying a fresh re-do ie Q4os imager to download directly a new iso
..gonna find out if can complete down load within my hour of free data given by provider.

I guess there must be issues at my end..especially with iMacs - so will tinker to see if can find a solution.

...oops - thats not gonna work ..only 15% downloaded in 30 minutes

Gonna try Qbittorrent instead.

Last edited by schip (2026-04-17 04:00)

q4osteam · 2026-04-17 08:35

schip wrote:

I guess there must be issues at my end. ...

We would think so as we are not able to reproduce the issue. S4 works fine here for the Q4OS version in question. In anyway we will continue to investigate.

electricroo · Yesterday 14:53

Interesting I'll have to check it out. Can it back up a Windows Q4OS install and then restore to a hard drive as a regular Linux installation. Would be nice if someone decided to dump windows without loosing their settings in Q4OS and not having to do a complete reinstall on the drive.

q4osteam · Yesterday 17:12

@electricroo
Yes, that should work, please post back the result.

Q4OS Forum

#26 2025-12-22 17:55

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#27 2026-03-06 12:52

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#28 2026-04-06 21:55

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#29 2026-04-10 11:03

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#30 2026-04-10 13:48

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#31 2026-04-13 06:30

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#32 2026-04-13 06:38

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#33 2026-04-13 09:04

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#34 2026-04-13 14:52

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#35 2026-04-13 15:16

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#36 2026-04-13 15:34

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#37 2026-04-14 10:47

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#38 2026-04-14 11:54

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#39 2026-04-14 12:34

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#40 2026-04-14 15:40

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#41 2026-04-14 16:22

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#42 2026-04-16 10:19

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#43 2026-04-17 03:51

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#44 2026-04-17 08:35

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#45 Yesterday 14:53

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

#46 Yesterday 17:12

Re: S4 Snapshot - create live media and the full image of your system

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