it was easier to reinstall than it was to figure out how I broke it in some new novel way.

I came to the same conclusion. But I couldn’t get it to reinstall. It kept wanting to use the old partition. (2001, maybe Ubuntu?)

So I knew how to solve that. If the linux installation is wiped, then it’ll surely allow me to reinstall fresh. So,

rm -rf /

Begins deleting files…

“Wait, my Windows partition is under that, isn’t it.” Ctrl+C frantically, it won’t stop. Pull the plug.

I did get my files back. Just, you know, without file paths or file names. Do you know how many DLLs and worthless text files there are, by the way?