Repair or Replace

[Steve Matzura]

After a year in storage, I'm trying to get a version 11 system back 
online. I connected it to power and network, then booted it. 
Interestingly, it appeared on my network not at the address it had when 
it went into storage, but one given it by my local DHCP server. The 
console scrolled, but not to completion, Speakup didn't start, and I 
cannot log in from the console. I have a couple applications on that 
system, including Asterisk version 20 with its configuration files, but 
the system is unusable as it stands. The questions are, repair Debian 11 
or or replace with Debian 12, and how do i reclaim those all-important 
configuration files from Asterisk and other applications? Can I try 
mounting the boot drive in WSL on another machine, or possibly inspect 
it with a running Debian system booted from the installation medium?

Thanks in advance.