It’s taken longer than expected, but users can now upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 from 24.04 directly, without command-line workarounds.
Canonical has finally flipped the switch on in-place upgrades for LTS systems. A notification will let users know that a new LTS is available, which can be actioned right away, ignored or “remind me later”‘d.
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS was released on 23 April 2026, and direct upgrades from Ubuntu 25.10 were enabled a few weeks after the ISO downloads went live.
However, upgrades from 24.04 LTS to 26.04 LTS were not. Canonical only officially gives LTS-to-LTS upgrades the go ahead once the first point release in the new series has been released.
Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS came out in August, but upgrades from 24.04 weren’t delayed because of bugs – bugs that needed fixing, the fixes need testing, packaging, then the upgrade process re-tested. It takes time.
But upgrades are now live.
Long-term support releases are used by the majority of Ubuntu users and, with two years’ worth of changes to migrate, extra testing ensures more people can upgrade confidently.
User setups also differ. I doubt anyone reading runs the OS exactly as it came without changing a single setting or installing other apps. That’s a lot of edge cases to try and account for.
Before you upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, read this
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS no longer supports running the default GNOME desktop on X11/Xorg.
If you upgrade from Ubuntu 24.04, Xorg is not removed your system, but you will not be able to select an Xorg GNOME session to log in to at the login screen.
Legacy X11 apps still work on Ubuntu with Wayland via XWayland, which is still preinstalled.
If you have specific need for an X11 desktop session, you are not without choices.
Many alternative desktop environments, like Xfce, LxQt, Cinnamon, MATE, continue to support X11/Xorg – more Linux desktops still support it, than don’t.
Upgrading to 26.04 from 24.04
Look out for the upgrade prompt.
To upgrade from 24.04 to 26.04 without waiting for the desktop upgrade prompt to appear, run:
sudo do-release-upgrade
Even though Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is available to upgrade to, you do not need to upgrade right away. If your system is running as-is, and you don’t desperately need any of the new features, there’s no harm in waiting a bit longer.
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is supported until 2029 with ongoing updates as standard, with the option for a further 5 years of high-impact security fixes by enabling Ubuntu Pro.