This post shows students and new users steps to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 from Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 21.10. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) was released on April 21, 2022. This Long Term Support (LTS) version will be supported for 5 years.
This release is based on the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel to support newer hardware and filesystems and additional support for OpenSSL, GCC, and other packages.
The desktop version of this release supports GNOME 42 as its desktop environment, and Wayland is the default display server. There are also additional packages, including many other changes to the desktop, which users may find helpful.
Those who want to upgrade their desktops and servers can upgrade directly to version 22.04 from Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 21.10. However, if you’re currently running a version before 20.04, you must first upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 21.10 before upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04.
How to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 from Ubuntu 20.10 or Ubuntu 20.04
As mentioned above, Ubuntu 22.04, recently released, is an LTS version that will be supported for five ( 5 ) years. There is a direct upgrade path from Ubuntu 20.04 or 21.10 to 22.04.
The upgrade operation runs with superuser privileges, so you must be logged in as root or member of the sudoers file.
How to Back up Ubuntu
Before upgrading Ubuntu, your first task should be to back up your current system so you can restore it if something unexpected happens when upgrading.
How to update Ubuntu
Also, one should update the currently installed packages before upgrading to the latest Ubuntu version if new versions are available.
If packages are held back, you may want to release the hold and upgrade to the latest version. Run the commands below to show any packages being held back from the upgrade.
sudo apt-mark showhold
To release the hold, run the commands below, replacing package_name with the name of the package being held back.
sudo apt-mark unhold package_name
Next, run the commands below to update all current packages currently installed.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Next, run the commands below to complete an upgrade and remove packages that may prevent your machine from upgrading.
sudo apt full-upgrade sudo apt --purge autoremove
Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04
Now that your system has been updated and rebooted, you can start upgrading to the latest version of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu has an upgrade package called “update-manager-core“, installed by default on both desktops and servers. If it’s not already installed, you can run the commands below.
sudo apt install update-manager-core
Once the package is installed, ensure that the default upgrade policy in the /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades file is set to “Prompt=normal” or “Prompt=lts.”
If the option is set to its but unable to upgrade, change it to normal and try again.
Finally, run the commands below to start the upgrade process
sudo do-release-upgrade
During the upgrade process, you’ll be prompted and asked whether you want to keep an existing configuration file or install the package maintainer’s version.
You can safely type Y for Yes if you haven’t done many custom configurations.
Wait for the upgrade process to complete. Once the process is done, you’ll be prompted to reboot.
After rebooting, run the commands below to verify that your Ubuntu system was upgraded.
lsb_release -a
You should see something similar to the lines below:
No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Release: 22.04 Codename: jammy
Related post:
How to upgrade the Ubuntu desktop
Conclusion:
- Upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) from Ubuntu 20.04 or 21.10 is straightforward and well-supported.
- It’s crucial to back up your current system before performing the upgrade to ensure you can restore it if anything unexpected occurs.
- Updating the currently installed packages and releasing any held-back packages is necessary before upgrading.
- Once the system is updated, installing the update-manager-core package and adjusting the upgrade policy will allow you to start the upgrade process with the sudo do-release-upgrade command.
- During the upgrade, you may be prompted to confirm certain actions, and after completion, it’s essential to reboot and verify the Ubuntu version to ensure a successful upgrade.
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