How to Upgrade Ubuntu

Before You Start

1. 
   Backup your data. Although the upgrade process should not affect any of your personal data, there's always a small chance that something will go wrong. Having a fresh backup of all your important data will help turn a bad situation into a manageable one.

   1. Click here for detailed instructions on backing up your data.
2. 
   Uninstall any proprietary graphics drivers. These drivers can cause problems when you are upgrading Ubuntu, so you'll want to revert to the open drivers during the upgrade process. You can reinstall the proprietary drivers after upgrading. Enter the following commands in your terminal, depending on the graphics card you have installed.
   AMD^[1]

   sudo apt-get purge "fglrx.*" sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-core libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:amd64 libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg sudo reboot 

    

   Nvidia^[2]

   sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.BACKUP sudo apt-get install nouveau-firmware sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg 

3. 
   Remove some potentially troublesome PPAs. These are software packages created in the Ubuntu community, and a couple of them are known to cause issues when upgrading: "x-swat" and "xorg-edgers". Remove these two PPAs if you have them installed, and then you can reinstall them after upgrading. Open the terminal and enter the following commands in order.

   sudo apt-get install ppa-purge sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates sudo ppa-purge ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa 

4. 
   Clean up the system. Your upgrade process will go smoother if you clean up any package remnants and old installations. Run the following three commands in order to clear out some of the cruft from your package manager.^[3]

   sudo apt-get --purge autoremove sudo apt-get clean all sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }')