It’s now possible to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS from Ubuntu 23.10 officially, using the standard GUI updater – no command-line developer flag required.
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS released on April 25 but distro devs delayed direct upgrades to the new release due to bugs, one rather serious. While those issues don’t affect everyone (lots of folks who upgraded manually from the command-line did so successfully) the risk was there.
But with those quirks addressed —one hopes!— Canonical has enabled upgrades to the Noble Numbat, adding Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to the meta-release file older versions of the distro check to see if a new release is available.
- If you use Ubuntu 23.10 you will be shown an upgrade prompt
- If you use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, you won’t see an upgrade prompt until August
As it standard practice, Ubuntu LTS to LTS upgrades are only enabled after the first point release in the new LTS series is issued, and Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS is due to be released on August 15.
Ubuntu LTS releases check for upgrades to new LTS releases in the meta-release-lts file. While Ubuntu 24.04 is a new LTS release it won’t added to that file until the first point release is out.
To upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS from 22.04 LTS now, before August, you can use the command-line — be aware before proceeding that the following method is not recommended for novices.
- Install all pending updates
- Open Software & Updates tool
- Click on the ‘Updates tab
- Set the option at the bottom to check ‘for any new version’
- Open a Terminal and run an update check
- Run
sudo do-release-upgrade -d - Follow the prompts
Before upgrading be sure to backup any important files/settings first.
Again: the steps above above is not advised — as difficult as waiting for the official upgrade route to open, it’s worth it.
Will you be upgrading?
Ubuntu 23.10 ‘Mantic Minotaur’ users don’t need to do the above steps. An upgrade prompt will appear on desktops from today onwards, and an upgrade button will appear in the Software Updater.
So if you’ve been waiting for an official nod before you undertake your upgrade to the Noble Numbat you’re good to go — be sure to drop a comment to let me (and others) know how it goes!
Thanks Ivan!