16.04 to 18.04

[ezl2]

im pretty new to ubuntu and im trying to upgrade from 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS, ive tried everything but i stll cant upgrade, any help on this?

[Holger_Gehrke]

Depending on whether you are using Ubuntu or one of the flavours 16.04 has been out of support since 2021 (or 2019 for flavours) and 18.04 has been out of support since 2023 (or 2021 for flavours). While there ways to get support for old versions of Ubuntu (ESM / Ubuntu pro), AFAIK you have to register for those while the version is still in support (you need certain tools to use that support and you can't easily download and install these tools after the version has gone out of support).

What you probably have to do is called an EOL Upgrade and there is a procedure for this described in the community wiki. The main problem I see is that you have to do at least two EOL upgrades (16.04->18.04, 18.04->20.04) before you are on a release that's still supported. Since a release upgrade is always a bit tricky and takes quite a lot of time, it might be easier to make a backup of your data, take stock of what programs you have installed beyond what was included and do a clean reinstall of a current version of Ubuntu (22.04 or - in a week or two - 24.04).

Holger

[oldfred]

Short answer no.

!8.04 is also EoL or end of live. You can get extended support but better to just install latest version.
You should have good backup, so you can just reinstall and restore from your backups.
Default apps will also be somewhat different. You can export a list from your install, but may want to edit it to exclude old kernesl and some other apps.

But 16.04 has a different gui than newer installs. And if system is that old you may need a lightweight flavor as Ubuntu with Gnome is really for newer systems.

I believe next week the latest 24.04 will be released, so you may want to try it, then. Best to create live installer & try it with your system.

https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours
Light weight flavors:
Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Budgie
Flavors of Ubuntu only come with three years of supported life (five years applies to Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server but not flavors)

I use Kubuntu which is more of a mid-weight flavor but seems full featured. I found it did work on an older system when used from an external SSD to speed things up as old system was slow.

[guiverc]

Few details were actually provided....

- 16.04 was the last supported release for ppc or powerpc architecture; only 64 bit ppc64el exists beyond 16.04; and ppc and ppc64el were incompatible.

- 16.04 LTS upgrades to 18.04 were easy before EOSS for 18.04 was reached; alas you missed that boat

- 18.04 LTS is now EOL for some architectures too; you didn't specify architecture.. as if your unstated architecture is one that is EOL (not having ESM options) you have no upgrade path. If you are using a supported architecture, the release-upgrade process will be possible, however you need to apply all upgrades first(more difficult given xenial or 16.04 is now EOSS), and depending on your geo-location that may require ESM, then you can upgrade to 18.04 ESM.

You didn't specify architecture (it really matters)... nor if using ESM. Is your system EOL or EOSS (esp. at 18.04).

[MAFoElffen]

Before you try anything", get good backups!!!

If ESM, 16.04 1.04 is till supported under that. 14.04 has one week left under ESM.

You say "you can't"

You need to be specific in what you have, what you have tried, and the specific errors you received in that endeavor.

Next.. Why a do-upgrade-release, instead of a migration? By the time of this question/comment, you have backups to be able to do that right? If not, then get them now...