Ubuntu 11.10 is out and you can now upgrade your Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal operating system to the new and improved Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. In this post I will provide you with a complete overview of the up gradation process to help you upgrade from Natty Narwhal to Oneiric Ocelot. In case you would like to check out the new features of Ubuntu 11.10, then check out my guide here: New Features Of Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot [Review, Screenshots, Video].

To upgrade from Ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10, hit ALT and F2 together (ALT+F2) from your keyboard and type the following:

update-manager –d

Note: give a space between the word manager and –d.

This will open the update manager window which will show you that Ubuntu 11.10 is available for upgrading your existing operating system. Click on Upgrade to start the upgrading process.

Shortly after continuing, you will be asked to enter your password, after which the upgrade process will initiate and start updating Ubuntu from version 11.04 to 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.

During the update, many new packages will be installed, and old ones will be cleansed. This may mean that some classic versions of certain software may no longer be available and they may get replaced by newer versions. Before the update is started, you will be provided with the option to check the packages which will be installed, removed and upgraded. You can view this information by clicking on Details option and determine if you meet the requires system requirements to perform the upgrade such as perhaps the require hard disk space. Clik Start Upgrade to begin the installation, removal and up gradation of packages.

The update can take an awful amount of time and may take hours to complete, particularly if you have a slow internet connection. For this reason you should make sure that the update is performed at a time when you are not performing important tasks and you can leave the computer on for a long period of time.

Once the update is complete, restart your system for the changes to take effect and enjoy the Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot experience.

Note: It is advised to create a system backup before initiating the upgrade process. The backup can help you revert the changes (if required) to avoid any unwanted effects. For example, as mentioned above some old packages will be removed during the up gradation process and some software might not work with the new Ubuntu version.

You can also download the latest Oneiric build from the download link given below. In case you would like to upgrade from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04, check out this post: How To Upgrade From Ubuntu 11.10 To Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.

Download Ubuntu 11.10