Gene Heskett composed on 2018-08-20 07:12 (UTC-0400):

> I can't mount the stretch drive and edit it, 
> theres enough diffs between the ext4's that it refuses to mount from 
> wheezy.
...
> So first, what do I edit or nuke to get rid of the gnome over-ride?
  
Boot Wheezy, format the partitions the Stretch installer created.
Install like Michele wrote, minimal, and, use the existing partitions.

Use existing is the only way I ever install anything. I get exactly what
I want that way.

I don't download installation media. I download installation kernel and
initrd, put them where existing Grub can find them, create stanza to do
so in existing Grub, and net install minimal. Here are example stanzas,
one for Grub, other for Grub2:

title Install Debian via HTTP
    kernel (hd0,2)/boot/debian/linux64 vga=791 --- net.ifnames=0 ipv6.disable=1 netcfg/get_hostname=myhost netcfg/disable_dhcp=true tasks=standard base-installer/install-recommends=false 
    initrd (hd0,2)/boot/debian/initrd64.gz

menuentry "Install Debian via HTTP" {
	search --no-floppy --label --set=root k25p03res
	linuxefi /deb9/linux showopts vga=791 --- net.ifnames=0 ipv6.disable=1 netcfg/get_hostname=myhost netcfg/disable_dhcp=true tasks=standard base-installer/install-recommends=false 
	initrdefi /deb9/initrd.gz
}

You can type in the same options booting the regular installation media
that you already burned. Or you can download the little net boot iso, and
burn and boot from it, doing same:
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
-- 
"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Whatever else you
get, get wisdom." Proverbs 4:7 (New Living Translation)

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/