How to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
The latest Ubuntu long-term support release has arrived, and with it comes Gnome 42, a universal dark mode, Linux kernel 5.15, and many other useful features. Here’s how to upgrade to 22.04 LTS on your computer.
Upgrade to 22.04 LTS – GUI
If you plan to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, the GUI is the easiest way to go. The upgrade process is very straightforward compared to the terminal. Press the Win key on the keyboard to open up the Ubuntu app menu to start the upgrade process.
Inside the Ubuntu app menu, search for “Software Updater” and click on it with the mouse to open up the Ubuntu update tool. Once you open up the Ubuntu update tool, it will attempt to check for the latest updates to your current version of Ubuntu. Allow it to do so.
You will see a message when the Ubuntu updater has found update patches. This message states, “Updated software is available for this computer. Do you want to install it now?” Find the “Install Now” button, and click on it with the mouse to install all updates on Ubuntu.
After selecting the “Install Now” button, an “Authentication Required” message will appear. Next, enter your Ubuntu user account password into the box and select the “Authenticate” button to confirm it. Upon entering your password, Ubuntu will install all packages to your Ubuntu computer.
With all of the pending updates installed, Ubuntu will show a notification message. This message says The software on this computer is up to date. However, Ubuntu 22.04 is now available (you have 21.10).
Note: if you upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS, the message will say you have 20.04 and not 21.10.
Find the “Upgrade” button inside the notification window and click on it with the mouse. Selecting this button will begin the upgrade process. If you do not see this notification, you can force it. Open up a terminal window, and force open the update manager with sudo update-manager -d.
When you select the “Upgrade” button, the 22.04 LTS “Release Notes” page will appear. Read the release notes, as it contains tons of information on the new version of Ubuntu you are about to upgrade to. Once you’ve read everything, find the “Upgrade” button at the bottom of the page and click on it with the mouse.
Another pop-up window will appear when the “Upgrade” button is selected in the release window. In this pop-up window, you’ll see a message. This message states, “Do you want to start the upgrade?” Locate the “Start Upgrade” button and click on it with the mouse.
When you select the “Start Upgrade” button, the “Distribution Upgrade” window will appear on the screen. It will prepare your system to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS by setting up new software channels, downloading new packages, installing upgrades, etc. This process could take a while.
A “remove obsolete packages” window will appear on the screen when the upgrade process is complete. Select the “Remove” button to remove all obsolete packages. When all packages are removed, reboot your Ubuntu PC to use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS!
Upgrade to 22.04 LTS – Terminal
While upgrading to 22.04 LTS in the GUI is nice, it isn’t the only way to do it. Users can also upgrade via the terminal. To do an upgrade, open up a terminal window on the Ubuntu desktop. You can open up a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, run the apt update command to check for updates in your current version of Ubuntu.
sudo apt update
After checking for pending updates on Ubuntu, you must install them on your computer. Using the apt upgrade command, upgrade Ubuntu with the latest patches.
sudo apt upgrade
Once all pending updates are installed on your current Ubuntu release, you must run the apt dist-upgrade command. This command will install any software patches that have been purposely held back. These patches must be installed before attempting to upgrade.
sudo apt dist-upgrade
Once you’ve run the dist-upgrade command, it is time to enable the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS software channels. To do this, follow the instructions below that correspond to the version of Ubuntu you use.
20.04 LTS
If you use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and need to switch to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS software, run the following sed command in the terminal.
sudo sed -i 's/focal/jammy/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
Once the software channels are changed to 22.04, run the following commands to upgrade Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade sudo apt dist-upgrade
21.10
If you’re running Ubuntu 21.10 and need to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, run the following sed command in a terminal window.
sudo sed -i 's/impish/jammy/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
When you’ve updated your Ubuntu 21.10 software sources to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS software sources, run the commands below in succession to upgrade Ubuntu.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt dist-upgrade
Download 22.04 LTS
Want to install a fresh release of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on your computer? Head over to Ubuntu.com/desktop and select the download button underneath “Ubuntu 22.04 LTS” to get your hands on it.
