2 Ways to Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04/19.04 To Ubuntu 19.10 (GUI & Terminal)

Ubuntu 19.10, codenamed Eoan Ermine, will be released on October 17, 2019. This tutorial is going to you 2 ways to upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 19.04 to 19.10. The first method uses the graphical update manger and the second method uses command line. Usually you use the graphical update manager to upgrade Ubuntu desktop and use command line to upgrade Ubuntu server, but the command-line method works for desktops too.

Ubuntu 18.04 is a long term support (LTS) release, which will be supported for 10 years. Ubuntu 19.10 is a non-LTS release, which means it will be supported for 9 months only, until July 2020. If you prefer stability over bleeding edge, then stick with Ubuntu 18.04, but if you are the other way around, you can follow this tutorial to upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04 to 19.10.

Ubuntu 19.04 will reach end of life in January 2020, so I recommend 19.04 users upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10 ASAP.

Ubuntu 19.10 New Features

  • The proprietary Nvidia driver is included in the ISO image.
  • The OS installer now supports ZFS file system.
  • Faster boot speed thanks to the LZ4 compression.
  • Linux Kernel 5.3
  • GNOME 3.34

Note:  Before doing the upgrade, you can use the systemback program to create a bootable ISO image from your current OS. If the upgrade fails, you can easily restore your OS with the bootable ISO. Everything on your OS including software and files will be intact.  If you are using a laptop, please connect your power source.

Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 with the Graphical Update Manager

First of all, open software updater (aka update manager) from your application menu. It will update software package information. If there’s updates available, click the Install Now button and enter your password to install updates.

upgrade-ubuntu-18.04-to-ubuntu-19.10

If a new version of Linux kernel is installed, then the update manager will tell you to restart your computer. Click Restart Now.

upgrade-from-ubuntu-18.04-to-ubuntu-19.10-eoan-ermine

Then open Software & Updates from your application menu.

software & updates

Select the Updates tab. At the bottom of window, change notification settings from For long-term support version to For any new version. You will be asked to enter your password for the change to take effect.

notify me of a new ubuntu version

Close the Software & Updates window. Then open up a terminal window and issue the following command.

update-manager

If you are using Ubuntu 19.04, you will be notified that software is up-to-date and Ubuntu 19.10 is now available. Click the Upgrade button.

upgrade ubuntu 19.04 to ubuntu 19.10

If you are using Ubuntu 18.04, you will be notified that software is up-to-date and Ubuntu 19.04 is now available. Click the Upgrade button. (You need to upgrade to Ubuntu 19.04 first, then upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10).

upgrade ubuntu 18.04 to ubuntu 19.10 desktop

Hint: If you prefer to upgrade 18.04 directly to 19.10, read this article: upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 directly from command line.

Next, enter your password. The release notes window appears. Click Upgrade.

Ubuntu Eoan Ermine

The distribution upgrade window will open up. If you are notified that some third-party sources are disabled, accept it. You can re-enable them after the upgrade is finished.

distribution upgrade ubuntu 19.10

In a few moments, you will be asked if you want to start the upgrade. Click the Start Upgrade button.

start upgrade

Wait for the upgrade process to finish. The update manager may ask you if you want to restart services during packages upgrade without asking. Tick it on and click Next button.

restart services during package upgrade without asking

After new versions of packages are installed, the update manager may ask you if you want to remove obsolete packages. I always select Remove.

remove obsolete packages

Obsolete packages are software packages whose name can’t be found in the software repository of the new Ubuntu release. The cause of obsolete packages are the following:

  • The upstream developer stop maintaining this package and there are no other person willing to take over. So the Ubuntu package maintainer decides to drop this package from the Ubuntu repository.
  • The package become a orphan package, which means there’s no other package that depends on it and there is very few users of this package. So the Ubuntu package maintainer decides to drop this package from the Ubuntu repository.
  • The package has a new name in the software repository of the new Ubuntu release.

After obsolete packages is removed from your system. Restart your computer and check your Ubuntu version with the following command.

lsb_release -a

Output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 19.10
Release:	19.10
Codename:	eoan

Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04/19.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 Using Command Line

You can use command line to upgrade Ubuntu desktop or a headless server. If you use SSH to log into your Ubuntu server, it’s a good idea to keep your OpenSSH session alive by adding the following line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config file on your server.

ClientAliveInterval 60

Save and close the file. Then restart SSH daemon.

sudo systemctl restart ssh

To upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10, run the following command to upgrade existing software. (Please note that if a new kernel is installed while running the following command, you need to reboot system in order to continue the upgrade process.)

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade

Then make sure you have update-manager-core package installed.

sudo apt install update-manager-core

Next, edit a configuration file using nano or your preferred command line text editor.

sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

At the bottom of this file, change the value of Prompt from lts to normal.

Prompt=normal

upgrade to ubuntu 19.04 from command line

To save a file in Nano text editor, press Ctrl+O, then press Enter to confirm. To exit, press Ctrl+X.

Next, run the following command to begin the upgrade process.

do-release-upgrade

If you are using Ubuntu 19.04, then follow the on-screen instruction to upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10.

If you are using Ubuntu 18.04, then follow the on-screen instruction to upgrade to Ubuntu 19.04 first. After that, follow the same steps to upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10.

Hint: If you prefer to upgrade 18.04 directly to 19.10, read this article: upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 directly from command line.

Once the upgrade is finished, reboot your Ubuntu desktop or server. To check your Ubuntu version, run:

lsb_release -a

Output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 19.10
Release:	19.10
Codename:	eoan

Should You Use the -d Option?

The update-manager and do-release-upgrade command come with a -d option, which will cause the system to upgrade to a development release.

Currently, Ubuntu 19.10 is still considered a development release in Ubuntu release cadence, because development of Ubuntu 20.04 isn’t started yet. It will happen one week after the release of Ubuntu 19.10 and we can use the -d option before that happens. When Ubuntu 20.04 enters development, you should not use the -d option.

Conclusion

I hope this tutorial helped you upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 or Ubuntu 19.04 to Ubuntu 19.10 As always, if you found this post useful, then subscribe to our free newsletter to get new tips and tricks 🙂

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12 Responses to “2 Ways to Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04/19.04 To Ubuntu 19.10 (GUI & Terminal)

  • John Beall
    4 years ago

    I did The Terminal upgrade but I didn’t need to install any of the other installs. Upgrade went fine

    Thanks for the information on this site!
    John Beall

  • concerned citizen
    4 years ago

    Dude, -d is for development releases.

    • Xiao Guoan (Admin)
      4 years ago

      Read the whole article before questioning the -d option.

  • Same here, upgraded from 19.04 using the CL and didn’t need to edit anything nor install anything. do-release-upgrade was it.

    Thanks for the info.

  • Thank you for the very clear tutorial. Please, could you advice what else can I do if, after the step “If you are using Ubuntu 19.04, you will be notified that software is up-to-date and Ubuntu 19.10 is now available. Click the Upgrade button.”, I click the Upgrade button, but nothing happens? Thank you.

    • Xiao Guoan (Admin)
      4 years ago

      Use the terminal method instead. Make sure there’s no unconfigured packages after you run sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade command.

      • Thank you for the reply. Actually, by using the terminal, I was able to see that there was a plugin that was blocking the process: not being able to update it, and the system asking to update everything before the upgrade. What I did was to find it and uninstall it completely, then do the upgrade via the terminal method. I have now the 19.10! Thank you again!

        • hey I have the same issues. where did you find that blocking plugin?

  • Thank you Xiao Guoan for sharing a very nice tutorial to upgrade Ubuntu 19.04 to 19.10. I was successfully able to upgrade my system. Actually, I was facing one issue with Ubuntu 19.04. Sometimes, OS was not able to boot properly and keep loading. Now, it seems that after upgrading the system to 19.10, it is resolved. I upgraded my system using the terminal.

  • $ sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
    Ign:1 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
    Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
    Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease [97.5 kB]
    Hit:4 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release
    Hit:5 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
    Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease [97.5 kB]
    Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-proposed InRelease [255 kB]
    Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-backports InRelease [88.8 kB]
    Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security InRelease [97.5 kB]
    Fetched 637 kB in 1s (641 kB/s)
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    2 packages can be upgraded. Run ‘apt list –upgradable’ to see them.
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Calculating upgrade… Done
    The following packages have been kept back:
    cpp libsnmp30
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.

    I can’t seem to get past this point. I’m trying to upgrade from 19.04 to 19.10

    • Xiao Guoan (Admin)
      4 years ago

      You can try

      sudo apt install cpp libsnmp30

      To resolve this issue.

  • gennady
    4 years ago

    My upgrade process for Lubuntu 19.04 to 20.04 (other attempts failed). First must update to 19.10. and then to 20.04.

    Edit version release update file:
    sudo nano /var/lib/update-manager/meta-release

    Go all the way to the end of the file and change the last entry under “disco” distribution:
    Supported: 0

    change the next version 19.10 to
    Supported: 1

    saved the file.

    2. Run upgrade:
    sudo do-release-upgrade

    This will get you to 19.10. Next edit the same file again, and update the next version (supported to 1) and run the update

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