Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, codenamed “Focal Fossa”, final version has been released. This guide describes three different methods to upgrade Ubuntu desktop and server operating systems from older version to latest available version.

3 Different Ways To Upgrade Ubuntu To Latest Version

Method 1: The Official way (Recommended method)

This is the officially recommended method. You can upgrade either non-LTS to next available version or LTS to LTS. We have already published upgrade steps for Ubuntu 20.04 and 18.04.

The above guides are specifically written for Ubuntu 20.04 & 18.04 LTS versions, however it should work for any Ubuntu version. Please remember that you can't skip distribution upgrade. For example, if you have Ubuntu 18.10, you can't upgrade directly from Ubuntu 18.10 to 19.10. You will have to first upgrade Ubuntu 18.10 to 19.04 and then upgrade 19.04 to 19.10. Clear? Good! The official method will almost 100% work for both LTS and non-LTS versions.

Method 2: Using UCareSystem (non-official way)

For those don't know, UCareSsytem is an all-in one, system update and maintenance tool that can be used to perform all sorts of basic system maintenance tasks in Ubuntu. UCareSystem can do the following tasks:

Updates all available packages.

Updates your Ubuntu system.

Upgrades Ubuntu.

Downloads and install updates.

Checks for the list of old Linux Kernels and uninstalls them. Do not worry, though, as it keeps the current and one previous version and deletes all the previous one.

Clears the cache folder (the retrieved packages).

Uninstall packages that are obsolete and no longer needed.

Uninstall orphaned packages.

Deletes package settings that you have previously uninstalled.

For more details about uCareSystem installation and usage, check the following link.

Method 3: Using zzupdate

zzupdate is a command line utility to fully update your Ubuntu desktop and server editions via apt, mostly hands-off and unattended. This makes the Ubuntu upgrade process much easier than the previous two methods. All you have to do is run a single-line command to upgrade your Ubuntu desktop or server.

$ curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TurboLabIt/zzupdate/master/setup.sh | sudo sh

One thing I noticed during testing this tool is it skips the distribution upgrade. Yes! It upgrades any older version to the latest available stable version, with a single command. Like UcareSystem, zzupdate is also unattended, and it doesn't require any user intervention. It is completely free and the source code is available in GitHub. For more details, refer the following guide.

Bonus method:

Well, this method won't upgrade Ubuntu to next available version, but updates it with latest available packages. Using this method, you can configure your Ubuntu system to automatically install updated packages and security patches whenever they are available in the repositories. Good thing is we can either configure the system to update all packages or just install the security updates. For more details, check the following guide.

All methods are properly tested and they are working 100% as described. It's up to you to choose which method you prefer to upgrade Ubuntu.

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