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How to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

By sk
1.7K views

There is one more day ahead for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS final release. Tomorrow, April 21, 2016, you can download and install Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. In the meantime, Let us see how to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

For your information, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is supported until 2019. So, it's completely not necessary to upgrade your Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. If you want to use new updated packages, then do upgrade. Otherwise, just stick with Ubuntu 14.04. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS users can get the updates till 2019.

The method of upgrade between LTS releases are quite same as normal Ubuntu releases, except a small change in the Software updater.

Let us get started now.

First things first

Make sure twice you have backup your important data before starting the upgrade process.

Then, update your Ubuntu 14.04 LTS system using command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

After updating Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, reboot it to apply the updates.

sudo reboot

Now, open up the Software & updates. To do so, type Software & updates in the unity search bar.

In the Software & updates, make sure you have selected "For long-term support versions" from the "notify me of new Ubuntu version" drop down box.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_002

Click Close. This will update the source lists.

Starting Ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop upgrade

Open up your Terminal, and type:

sudo update-manager -d

You will see a message something like below.

“The software on this computer is up to date.

However, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is available now (you have 14.04)”.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_004

After few seconds, you will be greeted with Ubuntu Xenial Xerus release notes screen.

Click Upgrade.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_005

The distribution upgrade will start to setup new software channels for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_007

Finally, click "Start upgrade".

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_008

Now, sit back. It is going to take some time depending upon the speed of your Internet connection.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_009

Click "Remove" to delete the unused packages.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_010

Finally, click "Restart now" to finish the upgrade.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop [Running] - Oracle VM VirtualBox_011

Enter your Ubuntu username's password to log in.

ubuntu login

Congratulations! Here is the desktop of newly upgraded Ubuntu 16.04 LTS system.

ubuntu desktop

Let us check the Ubuntu version.

To do so, go to System settings > Details from Unity dash.

ubuntu details

That's it! Ubuntu upgrade process is pretty and straight forward. Ubuntu developers made the upgrade process so easy, even to some new users.

Starting Ubuntu 16.04 LTS server upgrade

Just like as Ubuntu desktop, first we need to update our Ubuntu server with command:

Then, update your Ubuntu 14.04 LTS system using command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

After updating Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, reboot it once to apply the updates.

sudo reboot

 

I always recommend to use screen tool when attempting to upgrade a remote server via SSH. This will keep running the upgrade the process in case your SSH session is lost for some reason.

To install the screen tool, Enter:

sudo apt-get install screen

Once it's installed, start the screen session with command:

screen

If your SSH connection is broken when upgrading, you can re-attach to the upgrade session easily with command:

screen -Dr

Install the update-manager-core package if it is not installed already:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

Then, ddit the file /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades,

sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

and set Prompt=lts as shown below.

sk@sk: ~_012

Save and close the file.

Now, start the upgrade process with command:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

Press "Y" to continue.

sk@server: ~_013

Press Enter:

sk@server: ~_014

Press "Y" without quotes to confirm the upgrade process. It will take some time.

sk@server: ~_015

During upgrade process, you'll be asked to confirm to restart some services during package upgrades without asking. Just select Yes, and press ENTER to continue.

sk@server: ~_016

Finally, type Y to remove the obsolete packages and then again type "Y" to complete the upgrade process and reboot the system.

That's it. We just upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS server from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

I personally recommend all new and Intermediate users not to do upgrade Ubuntu desktop or server in the production environment. Just leave it to professionals. Of course it is easy, but if you lack of enough knowledge in Linux, don't that, at least in production environments.

Hope this helps. Please share it on your social networks and let others to know how to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 from Ubuntu 14.04.

Cheers!

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