How to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10
Ubuntu 23.10 is here, and with it comes a whole lot of new and exciting features! In this guide, we’ll show you how you can upgrade from your current release to Ubuntu 23.10 so that you can enjoy the latest Gnome Shell, a newer kernel, updated drivers, and more.
How to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 – GUI
By far, the easiest way to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 is with the GUI. To start the upgrade process, you’ll need to install any updates for your current release of Ubuntu. To do this, select the “Activities” button on the Ubuntu desktop, and type in “Software Updater.”
After typing in “Software Updater,” launch the software. Doing this will start up the update tool. If you have any software upgrades that must be installed, the updater will prompt you. You can then install the updates to your current release of Ubuntu.
Once you’ve installed all of the upgrades on your system, the Ubuntu Update Manager will inform you that there is a new version of Ubuntu available and ask you if you wish to upgrade. Click the “OK” button to begin the upgrade process.
When you select the “Upgrade” button, you’ll be asked to enter your password into a prompt window. Do so. Then, Ubuntu will display the Ubuntu 23.10 release notes. Read the Ubuntu 23.10 release notes to familiarize yourself with the new features. Then, click the “Start Upgrade” button in the “Do you want to start the upgrade” window to begin.
Once the “Do you want to start the upgrade” button is selected, Ubuntu will begin preparing your system. It’ll do stuff like setting up new software channels for you, downloading new packages, and installing them. This process may take up to 20 minutes, depending on your internet speed.
When your Ubuntu system completes the upgrade process, it will start cleaning up your system by deleting and uninstalling packages from your old version of Ubuntu. This process will take a few minutes to complete, at most. When the process is done, you’ll be asked to reboot your Ubuntu PC.
After rebooting your Ubuntu PC, log back in. When you log back into your account, you’ll be using Ubuntu 23.10! Enjoy your newly upgraded Ubuntu system!
How to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 – Terminal
The first thing you’ll need to do when upgrading to Ubuntu 23.10 is to change the release prompt from “lts” to “normal.” Changing this prompt is a good idea if you’re coming from an LTS version of Ubuntu. Open up a terminal window on the Ubuntu desktop, and enter the command below.
sudo sed -i 's/Prompt=lts/Prompt=normal/g' /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Once you’ve changed the prompt from “lts” to “normal,” you need to update your current version of Ubuntu to ensure that you have the most current packages. You can do this by running the update and upgrade commands below.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
When everything is up to date, you’ll need to use the do-release-upgrade command. This command will handle everything to do with upgrading your Ubuntu Desktop to 23.10. All you’ll have to do is sit back, watch the terminal, and follow the prompts on the screen.
sudo do-release-upgrade
If you’re having issues upgrading to 23.10, you can force the upgrade using this command:
sudo do-release-upgrade -d
When the release upgrade is complete, you must reboot your Ubuntu desktop. You can reboot by simply typing in the following reboot command.
sudo systemctl reboot
Server upgrade
If you’re using Ubuntu on the server, and you want to upgrade to the 23.10 release, here’s how you can do it. First, change your prompt from “lts” to “normal”. This is necessary, especially if you’re running an LTS server.
sudo sed -i 's/Prompt=lts/Prompt=normal/g' /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Next, you’ll need to update your Ubuntu server system so that all packages are up to date. This is done by running the apt update and apt upgrade commands in a terminal window.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
With everything up to date, you’ll need to run the do-release-upgrade command. However, you must run this command in “server” mode. By default, the Ubuntu upgrade tool is programmed to run in Desktop mode.
sudo do-release-upgrade --mode=server
Or, if you need to force Ubuntu to upgrade:
sudo do-release-upgrade -d --mode=server
When you run the command above, the Ubuntu upgrade tool will ask you if you wish to upgrade. If you’re doing this over SSH, it will caution you not to. However, you can ignore this warning and safely upgrade this way if you wish.
When the upgrade is complete, reboot your server with the reboot command. When it is restarted, you’ll be using Ubuntu 23.10!
sudo systemctl reboot
