Manually remove R4.0 template vms

Will Dizon

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Jul 16, 2018, 2:13:32 PM7/16/18

to qubes-users

Quick background:

1) mistakenly updated my templatevms to include Pulseaudio packages, broke audio
2) restored original fedora-28 from backup, which showed up as fedora-281
3) confirmed fedora-281 worked
4) couldn't remove fedora-28
5) qubes-dom0-update --action=reinstall qubes-template-fedora-28
6) installed software i needed on fedora-28, confirmed operability with appvms

==> 7) attempting to delete fedora-281:

"ERROR: VM installed by package manager: fedora-281

R3.2 instructions (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/remove-vm-manually/) didn't work, `--just-db` not recognized, `-f` didn't work.

I also tried editing qubes.xml to set "installed_by_rpm" to "False", but this didn't allow deletion, either in Qubes Manager or terminal.

Tried removing the entire entry from Qubes.xml, but still present in Qubes Manager.

So basically, the restore didn't operate like I expected--figured it would overwrite the existing Fedora-28 and I'd be up and running. How can I remove a template that is mis-named but believed to have been installed by the package manager?

Chris Laprise

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Jul 16, 2018, 2:29:36 PM7/16/18

to Will Dizon, qubes-users

It was probably not a good idea to edit qubes.xml by hand. Run
'qvm-prefs fedora-281 installed_by_rpm false' then check that it shows
false with 'qvm-prefs fedora-281'. If the correct value doesn't show try
rebooting the system to get qubes.xml in sync with qubesd.

Then try 'qvm-remove fedora-281'.

--

Chris Laprise, tas...@posteo.net
https://github.com/tasket
https://twitter.com/ttaskett
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Will Dizon

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Jul 16, 2018, 2:37:05 PM7/16/18

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qvm-prefs fedora-281 installed_by_rpm false

This worked perfectly. Was even able to remove it from the existing qube manager instance without reinstallation. Thanks so much!

qtpie

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Jul 16, 2018, 5:49:31 PM7/16/18

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Chris Laprise:

Thanks Chris! I had been stuck with an old template as well for months.
Altough obvious in hindsight, this should be better documented. I
proposed a change to https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/remove-vm-manually/

Sphere

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Aug 13, 2018, 9:07:01 PM8/13/18

to qubes-users

On Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 2:37:05 AM UTC+8, Will Dizon wrote:
> qvm-prefs fedora-281 installed_by_rpm false
>
> This worked perfectly. Was even able to remove it from the existing qube manager instance without reinstallation. Thanks so much!

Thank you very much for this!

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