Upgrade Ubuntu desktop

JDtheGeek · 2020-04-23T14:14:56.024Z

In the ‘Launch the Software Updater’ section:

On versions of Ubuntu prior to 18.04, press the Superkey (Windows key) to launch the Dash and search for Update Manager .

it should be:

…search for Software Updater .

mborus · 2020-04-23T20:35:19.443Z

Hi, just some feedback on the first page:

It says “Best of all, upgrading Ubuntu to the latest release is easy. As we’ll demonstrate!”

and then the next line invites me to click to

“For more recent versions, please read the release notes for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.”

I did and was lost lost. I went back and only noticed the white button for the next tutorial part later.

Also, please consider removing the term easy.

Saying that something is easy is always a problem, because that’s talking down people who may not find this easy at all. For users of other operating systems, updating Ubuntu without external help is scary enough. No need to make them feel dumb, because you don’t want them to give up at this point.

A more welcoming introduction would be

“This guide provides step-by-step intructions to show you how you can upgrade Ubuntu to the latest release by yourself.”

The line following that should not ask to read the release notes of previous Ubuntu version. If at this point it’s required to read those, please add a sentence before telling the reader why reading those is necessary and what to look out for.

From the next page on, the tutorial seems less challenging.

ruediger.kupper · 2020-04-25T10:43:21.108Z

system:

If no upgrade appears

Section “If no upgrade appears” still refers to the upgrade to 19.10, not 20.04.

miguelangelvaldivia · 2020-05-03T09:29:27.834Z

There is a typo on the command. Thanks.

nitrofurano · 2020-10-23T10:04:12.431Z

i’m using another window manager (awesomewm) - how can we enter “software updater” or “update manager” from command line?

nuggets321 · 2020-11-07T02:28:17.992Z

came here to this page to obtain .iso image to repair my installation of 18.04.5 LTS. but frustrated that you don’t provide easy way to access .iso my install is damaged (by me) so certain tools don’t work including what seems like “update manager”.

this site has very little useful information on repairing the OS by re-installing it. you provide lots of info on upgrading but next to nothing on repairing. this should not be that hard.

thanks for taking time to read my feedback.

hptasins · 2021-10-17T16:58:50.989Z

“For more recent versions, please read the release notes for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS .”

Since this is the upgrade info page presented for all versions, this line needs to be updated to include links to non-LTS versions. The release notes for Impish Indri are currently impossible to find.

ogra · 2021-10-17T18:49:42.843Z

they are at Impish Indri Release Notes

hptasins · 2021-10-17T19:09:30.248Z

Yes, I found them there after some searching. But that location isn’t the usual one - release notes for other versions are in the wiki - and it’s not clear if those release notes on discourse are final. They probably are, but there’s no indication either way, and they’re not in the usual published location.

But mainly I’m suggesting that there really should be a link from this upgrade page - since it’s the page presented to all users for any upgrade.

ogra · 2021-10-17T19:17:14.350Z

for all recent releases since the discourse Community Hub exists the release notes are managed here …

i.e. see the official 21.10 announcement mail

lists.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri) released

Typically the Release Notes live in the discourse Release category , perhaps the text should simply point there instead of explicitly listing single releases (so it does not need to be touched with each and every new release)…

hptasins · 2021-10-18T19:15:25.226Z

Not having to update this page for every release would be good. But the Release category has a lot of other stuff that end-users coming in from the Ubuntu main web page are probably not interested in. Would be nice if there was a subcategory just for Release Notes.

kreska07 · 2022-04-22T07:51:25.555Z

“this time Update Manager will open up and tell you that a new distribution is available. Click Upgrade.”

this part does not match the screenshot below it - on the screenshot it doesn’t say that a new distribution is available nor is there Upgrade button.

local-optimum · 2022-05-23T10:05:42.508Z

HI folks, I have heavily refreshed this tutorial based on the feedback here and comments from the community around the ability to upgrade early, I hope this smooths your upgrade path going forward and adds clarity but please do let me know if there are any further questions or issues.

varik · 2022-07-08T17:57:10.462Z

What if I have Ubuntu 21.04 and I want to upgrade to some LTS. The same instructions? I’m not sure

local-optimum · 2022-07-12T08:29:19.324Z

Hey Varik, it’s possible to upgrade from 21.04 to 22.04 LTS but you may want to do it via an upgrade to 21.10 first and then on to 22.04. Since interim releases like 21.04 are only supported for 9 months it is always recommended to upgrade to the newest interim or LTS release as soon as they’re available to minimise potential issues.

ian-weisser · 2022-09-13T17:19:34.103Z

Folks, keep in mind that this is a documentation thread.

Posts here should be suggestions on how to improve the tutorial.

If you have a general question or a problem that you would like some assistance with, please click here.

ian-weisser · 2022-09-18T03:43:13.099Z

A post was split to a new topic: Software Updater not detecting new release

elrond79 · 2024-02-15T18:52:15.191Z

Unfortunately, I can’t get access to the “The software on this computer is up-to-date” screen, because I have a bunch of grayed-out / disabled “Ubuntu Pro security updates” which I have not installed:
UbuntuProSecurityUpdates

How can I trigger the updater GUI manually?

EDIT

I ran this command from the terminal to trigger the update GUI:

sudo do-release-upgrade -f DistUpgradeViewGtk3

elindarie · 2025-01-30T21:49:58.511Z

On page 1, after it says to do sudo apt update, sudo apt upgrade, should it not say to do a reboot before clicking on the Software Updater?

ogra · 2025-01-30T22:01:55.109Z

elindarie:

should it not say to do a reboot before clicking on the Software Updater?

Only if apt told you so
(there is no need to reboot in most cases, only few packages like the kernel require a reboot, apt knows this and will tell you when it is necessary)