Im putting this here in case someone else goes through what I did.
[Applies at least to Generic.x86_64-9.1.002. SO FAR it seems to be working]
This is how I restored my Kodi/LibreElec after:
- (accidentally) resetting it such that it destroyed all my customisations and library
- I tried to use the LibreElec (? I think) backup restore and it restored very little: no library, and apparently no addons (though this MAY have been because I didbn't do point 5 below!)
Instead this worked:
[NOTE: My Kodi is on a second PC, and the Kodi folders are shared on my network. This was either automatic or easy to do anyway]
1. I reinstalled the basic Kodi system (9.1.002 in my case)
2. I unzipped the backup file I'd made a month ago (the one that didn't do much using the standard restore)
3. I copied all the folders and files in that folder to the fresh installation, replacing the existing ones, by:
a) In Windows, navigating via the network to the shared Kodi folders (most memorably the USERDATA folder but there may have been others)
and replacing any/all folders/files in the Kodi installation with any that were equivalent to my backup ones
(by deleting then copying).
(Note that one or two files would not copy, but this did not seem to be a problem: namely the runtime file in storage\.config\pulse)
b) For the folders that I couldn't see in those shared folders, I did this:
i) (In Windows as above) I copied ALL THE REMAINING backed-up folders/files to a new folder I made in my PROFILE folder (I chose that just cos I knew it was accessible WITHIN Kodi)
ii) I probably restarted Kodi
iii) In Kodi, I went into SETTINGS and made sure that 'see hidden folders' was 'yes'
iv) I ADDED the source of the 'Home' folder, which revealed the STORAGE folder which was hidden before that.
This STORAGE folder was equivalent to the backup.
v) Using the FILE MANAGER I went to the the STORAGE folder, which contained the following top folders:
.cache
.config
.kodi
and they had subfolders and files too
vi) I replaced the existing ones with the backed up ones, by deleting the existing ones and then copying over the backed-up equivalents
(Note this didn't include Userdata, which had already been copied!)
vii) So by now, for every folder/file that had an equivalent BACKED UP VERSION, I had replaced them with those backed up versions
4. I restarted Kodi
5. I RE-ENABLED my addons
6. I was kind of amazed and pleased to see that not only did my addons work...
(...even Chrome, which had been giving me hell by not starting, and had started off this whole problem.
See: Chrome wont launch despite many different attempts...also LibreElec repository not accessible from 9.1.002)
...but even Aura (my alternative skin) loaded AND with all my special customisations including special playlists on the main homepage!
WOW!
I was so happy.
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I expect this is probably not the conventional way to do it
(for example I probably didn't need to copy over the TEMP folder and perhaps even the cache?)...
...and if anyone has any feedback, I'm very open to it.
It would be good to correct anything I've done wrong so other people don't run into problems - and me next time.
But so far everything seems to be working sweeeet !
