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I want to upgrade my current O.S. Ubuntu 13.04 to Ubuntu 13.10. For that purpose I created bootable usb stick using unetbootin. When the laptop boots, it boots from the usb. Now after a few steps there comes options as how to install. Here there isn't the option for upgrading ubuntu which is supposed to be there as clear from this installation manual of Ubuntu. For your ease I'm showing the options as mentioned in the manual below. enter image description here

Please see the image below that shows what I get when my usb stick boots. It's not having the option for upgrading. ( Also its not having the option for erasing the current O.S. Rather it has option for erasing the whole disk!!! Because of this I can't replace the current Ubuntu 13.04 with 13.10. ) photo2

It may happen that the problem won't be resolved using usb stick. Then tomorrow I will purchase DVD and burn the Ubuntu 13.10 iso image there. DVD should work as earlier also when usb stick didn't work to install my Ubuntu 12.10 then DVD worked perfectly.

Also I would like to add how I prepared my usb stick. Using fdisk, I deleted the partition there. I Created only 1 new partition to occupy whole 2GB of space of my usb stick or flash drive whatever you say. Then using mkfs created file system of ext4 type. Then using unetbootin created bootable ubuntu 13.10 from its iso.

I have a related thread here.

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  • 1
    As far as I know, you can't upgrade any distribution using live CD (or USB). By the way, why not upgrade over internet?
    – Alko
    Dec 26, 2013 at 15:01
  • 1
    As @slm told you in your linked thread, there is no point in doing it this way. Just upgrade over the internet. You will learn nothing more doing it this way since the two methods will do exactly the same thing. By the way, next time, please make the minimal effort of taking a clear picture, this one looks like you took it while sneezing.
    – terdon
    Dec 26, 2013 at 15:15
  • @terdon & Alko: My Internet speed is 25 kB/s and it took 10 hrs for downloading the Ubuntu 13.10 iso image. Now I am having experience of upgrading Ubuntu 12.10 over Internet & it took over 13 hours. I feel very comfortable downloading iso & then upgrading using DVD/usb than upgrading over Internet. I feel that suppose I directly upgrade form Internet and on the way the net disconnects, it shouldn't make my system useless & I can't take this risk. Downloading iso is too cool, even if the net breaks I can resume & most important my system is in tact.
    – Ravi
    Dec 27, 2013 at 7:36
  • @Alko yes you can upgrade using live CD/DVD. Please check the link (pdf document: Getting started with Ubuntu 13.10) I sent.
    – Ravi
    Dec 27, 2013 at 7:39
  • The photo is replaced with a clear one. This one is taken by Sony cybershot camera (10.1 MP)
    – Ravi
    Jan 7, 2014 at 3:34

6 Answers 6

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Upgrading from the install medium is only available if you have internet access during the install. The source you are referring to had internet access during the install, that is why he had that option. But gaining internet access during install won't help in your case, because you don't want to rely on your not reliable internet connection.

Official source for the above: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1170531

Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox):

It is correct, we do not support offline upgrades via ubiquity/desktop CDs. And even for servers, it is not recommended to use new server CD to do offline upgrade.

The support upgrade methods are with internet connectivity or a local mirror / package pool. One can for-example use tools like aptoncd to snapshot all installed packages, download them on a machine that has internet connectivity, bring them to the offline machine and upgrade it.

The reason behind this move, is enourmous amount of support cases of broken and partial upgrades since newer installation media will be missing manual additionally installed packages; packages that have now transitioned to new names; packages that have been removed from the default installation. Thus default install media for next release simply doesn't contain everything one will reasonably need to upgrade, hence the internet connectivity requirement.

0

Make a cd-rom upgrade,if you don't have highspeed internet connection.

This and this link will help you.

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  • Seems it will help me. Let's see. I will update.
    – Ravi
    Jan 4, 2014 at 14:15
  • It didn't seem to help me. 1) I ran gksudo ./cdromupgrade but it didn't upgrade. After a few seconds the prompt returned. 2) I don't think ubuntu-13.04-alternate-i386.iso is available. So I used the desktop iso and ran gksu "sh /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade" using Alt+F2. This also didn't do anything. 3) I used startup disk creator. There it isn't creating disk on ext4 file system. It forces me to click delete partition & then it creates vfat file system on usb. On booting from usb, it messages Boot error.
    – Ravi
    Jan 5, 2014 at 8:30
  • /home has no space left. If this can be a problem I need to try again after making space.
    – Ravi
    Jan 5, 2014 at 8:51
  • upload the gparted screenshot,i will help you to get space for the partition where you are going to install ubuntu. Jan 5, 2014 at 9:55
  • I have uploaded the screenshot.
    – Ravi
    Jan 5, 2014 at 16:42
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If you want to Upgrade your Ubuntu that installed on a USB Stick i have some suggestion

1.Upgrade it from a Virtual Machine so the installer won't read any other OS than your USB Stick and the installation media

2.Install it from a computer with no OS.Boot your Ubuntu Installation media,choose Try ,Then plug your USB that contain your ubuntu that you want to upgrade.Then install just it.open Install Ubuntu XX.XX it's should be located on the Desktop of your Live USB

N.B. : alternative for second suggestion is,simply unplug your HDD from your computer it's equal with a machine without OS

-1

That's not an upgrade, it just installs it on a seperate partition on the harddrive along side it. To upgrade login and in a terminal use this command:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

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  • That doesn't upgrade from one release to another. It merely updates packages on the current release, and even then isn't useful without a "sudo apt-get update" first.
    – popey
    Jan 7, 2014 at 14:08
-1

While this should work, I suspect the upgrade option isn't appearing because the installer (Ubiquity) cannot find the Ubuntu install amongst all those partitions.

Your other option is to do an online upgrade which is documented at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade

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  • As told by flconer, the upgrade option won't appear without connecting to Internet. But yes your that point seems to be valid where you wrote that installer fails to find my ubuntu. That is why the options don't include "erasing Ubuntu 13.04"; rather it has "erasing complete disk". @popey that's really a good point you have made. But why it is so that it isn't finding Ubuntu. Do you have any solution? (if req., I will post a new thread to talk reqd. this issue)
    – Ravi
    Jan 8, 2014 at 14:28
  • I suspect that ubiquity just doesn't look that hard at every single partition, but that's a question for someone like cjwatson or xnox.
    – popey
    Jan 8, 2014 at 23:51
  • One clarification on what you wrote: your answer starts with "while this should work..."; do you mean that one can upgrade using bootabe usb also (then no need for online upgrade)? Is the iso for the same is desktop iso or alternate iso? Also, may I know whether you have come to know that any one else also has faced this issue?
    – Ravi
    Jan 9, 2014 at 6:04
  • The live CD has the ability to "upgrade" but it's technically more of a "reinstall and keep your data" which allows you to "upgrade" from any release to a newer one. Normal traditional "dist-upgrade/do-release-upgrade/updata-manager" style upgrades update individual packages, the live CD doesn't do that, it pretty much clean installs (with some features to keep your data in /home and re-add some packages).
    – popey
    Jan 9, 2014 at 10:06
-2

First of all I´m sorry that you don´t have the option to do it via USB, I would like to know if you have an internet connection available to update it through there.

Just follow the steps:

1st:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

2nd:

sudo apt-get update

3rd:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

or

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -d

and this will update your Ubuntu 13.04 to Ubuntu 13.10.

Hope you find it helpful.

1
  • You have confused some command line options there! The "-d" on "do-release-upgrade" is only required if you want to go to the development release, which is currently Trusty (14.04). The user almost certainly does not want that. The "-d" on dist-upgrade will download packages and not upgrade them at all!
    – popey
    Jan 8, 2014 at 23:50

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