Ubuntu Upgrade – How to Upgrade from 14.04 to 18.04

14.0418.04do-release-upgradesystem-installationupgrade

The last week of next month ubuntu will most likely release 18.04 LTS. Now my system is 14.04 and next month I want to upgrade it to 18.04. Can I directly upgrade my system from 14.04 to 18.04 or I have to first upgrade from 14.04 to 16.04 and then to 18.04? I really want to avoid the second method of upgrading.

Edit:

How should I update 14.04 to 16.04. I tried this method sudo update-manager -d and installed all the necessary software and restarted the system. Again I run sudo update-manager -d and it showed that my computer is upto date but doesnt have any button to update to 16.04

Best Answer

No.

Ubuntu does have LTS→LTS upgrades, allowing you to skip intermediate non-LTS releases...
But you can't skip intermediate LTS releases. You have to go via 16.04.

Unless you want to do a fresh install of 18.04 on release.

I should also note that the LTS upgrade pathways are usually only available some time after the main release. So don't expect to be able to upgrade from 16.04 on the day of 18.04's release.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Shown in Upgrade Manager Now

update-manager -d checks if upgrading to the latest development release is possible. Since 16.04 alpha 1 release is available from January 7, you'll be notified about this.

Read this post to know how to upgrade your system. Your best bet would be to use a 15.10 live USB.

14.04 Upgrade – How to Upgrade from 14.04 LTS to 16.04.1 LTS

This is an issue that has appeared before: 4 years ago when upgrading from 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) to 14.04.1 LTS (Trusty Tahr):

Why is "No new release found" when upgrading from a LTS to the next?

It looks like a similar issue exists for the upgrade from 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) to 16.04.1 LTS (Xenial Xerus) with the relevant update log not yet updated. There is a choice of two reasonable solutions at the moment:

Wait a little until this document is updated and then upgrade as normal

Use the following syntax now:

sudo do-release-upgrade --devel-release

Ubuntu documentation speaks on this option of using the --devel-release or -d option:

For further stability of a LTS release there is a slight change in behaviour if you are currently running a LTS version. LTS systems are only automatically considered for an upgrade to the next LTS via do-release-upgrade with the first point release. So for example 14.04 will only upgrade once 16.04.1 is released. If you want to update before, e.g. on a subset of machines to evaluate the LTS upgrade for your setup the same argument as an upgrade to a dev release has to be used via the -d switch.

And certainly at the moment this should be a safe course to take. When undertaken on my own Trusty system:

andrew@corinth:~$ sudo do-release-upgrade
[sudo] password for andrew: 
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
No new release found
andrew@corinth:~$ sudo do-release-upgrade --devel-release
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
Get:1 Upgrade tool signature [198 B]                                           
Get:2 Upgrade tool [1,265 kB]                                                  
Fetched 1,265 kB in 0s (0 B/s)                                                 
authenticate 'xenial.tar.gz' against 'xenial.tar.gz.gpg' 
extracting 'xenial.tar.gz'
[...]

And the process rolls on installing Xenial by utlising this alternative file. A few hints at upcoming resolution of this issue:

A few enquiries in IRC (thanks @ThomasWard) indicate imminent fixing of the issue pending the fixing of any bugs in the upgrade path...
A personal email to myself from a developer has indicated that this should be fixed in the week commencing July 25th
A Launchpad bug and Feature Request filed on this issue has some interesting comments...

Crossed fingers for a resolution soon!!

Note: The update log altered on July 29th my time, so issue now resolved...

References:

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Shown in Upgrade Manager Now

14.04 Upgrade – How to Upgrade from 14.04 LTS to 16.04.1 LTS

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