Unable to follow upgrade path for 23.04 EOL

Support and Help
,
1

I’ve followed multiple guides on attempting to get out of the EOL’d version (including ManticUpgrades - Community Help Wiki), but the Software Updater only detects the supported 24.X LTS version (which then fails to upgrade since it’s not the intended update path). Is there anyway to force an update to EOL’d 23.10, so I can finally move onto an actually supported version? Not having your drivers updated for an entire year is not fun, and I’m unsure why the Software Updater has been incapable of updating my OS version all this time. Will I just need to fresh install over my hard drive again?

If there’s anything I can do to give more information on my issue, just direct me to where the logs (if any) I need to pull.

2

If you want an easy release-upgrade path, you need to release-upgrade BEFORE the release goes EOL, or very soon after that.

There is no 24.x LTS version; please be specific with details; as they do matter.

The instructions you linked, apply to releases that weren’t EOL, or within a couple of days of EOL, as if you read the EOL notices (here as example) there is a note that says

as there are extra steps required AFTER that occurs; which you’re now finding.

The extra steps are covered in EOLUpgrades - Community Help Wiki which tell you what is required for a release that has gone EOL.

Ubuntu 23.04 had a single upgrade path, which was to Ubuntu 23.10 or the next release, however that release is EOL now too. The upgrade instructions found at ManticUpgrades - Community Help Wiki assume that 23.10 isn’t EOL (which it now is).

You need to follow the EOLUpgrades links details to ensure you system is fully upgraded, THEN apply the instructions in the “Unsupported upgrades” step that should allow you to release-upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10.

Once on Ubuntu 23.10, you can then repeat the process and release-upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (NobleUpgrades - Community Help Wiki) which is the easier step, as 24.04 is a supported release.

Your alternative is to backup your data, and install a supported release… You’ve left it so late, and now have more manual steps to achieve your required release-upgrades, a backup, install & restore of data is likely far faster/easier.

In future please remember 23.04 tells you it’s the 2023-April release, making it’s 9 months of supported life pretty easy to calculate (ie. Jan 2024), and the supported release-upgrade path only remains open for six months after that date (where the next release is not an LTS; ie. you had till 23.10 reached EOL in July 2024).

1 Like
3

Thank you for your response! It was helpful, but it appears Ubuntu is no longer hosting the older EOL releases, as the upgrade tool for 23.10 (Mantic) on the Usupported upgrades section returns an 404 error now (unless there’s mirrors out there somewhere). I’ll try making a fresh installation as you also suggested when I get my hands on a thumbdrive, which should resolve my issue.

4

They are hosted, but NOT in original locations as the move post-EOL as I mentioned in the prior message (see my quoted bit from the EOL notice that clearly says they’ll be archived in the coming weeks).

That is what makes an EOLUpgrade more complex once this archiving has happened, and the reason for the warning in EOL notices; and also pre-EOL notices ~six weeks before hand.

The EOLUpgrades link deals with that move, but yes it is a much more involved/manual process after the archiving has happened.

If you want to confirm they’re there; you’ll find lunar, mantic and other EOL releases at Index of /ubuntu/dists

Mirrors do drop support; only the main archive is archived (ie. moved).

1 Like
5 
#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu kinetic main restricted universe multiverse

#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu kinetic-security main restricted universe multiverse

#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu kinetic-updates main restricted universe multiverse

These lines are from my sources.list from when I experimented (successfully) with upgrading via the Debian method from 22.04 > 24.04 to each release one after the other before 24.04 upgrade was officially available. Try adding them and changing to kinetic to mantic then see what happens.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt full-upgrade

Then you would be on 23.10 and the upgrade tool should pick up 24.04. PPA’s and non repo packages may cause problems with this method. If you have a purely repository based system + snaps and or flatpaks it should be just fine.

NOTE This method is not supported by Canonical and like anything Linux related is used at your own risk. Make sure to backup critical files and your home directory before proceeding down this path.

If this fails then your only option is to fresh install 24.04 from the installer or via chroot debootstrap method (my preferred way). From that point on keep up with the releases and you shouldn’t have this problem in the foreseeable future. If 24.04 is not suitable due to missing drivers (proprietary nvidia driver dropped support for one of my older machines cards) then you would be best off reinstalling 22.04 and enabling Ubuntu Pro.

6

Hi, it’s been a long time since I have done upgrades I almost always do a fresh install, due to the EOL process of upgrading I really recommend backing up your important data doing a fresh install it will be much quicker and easier plus your system will be less likely to have issues in my opinion, I have done EOL upgrades myself many years ago and I will never do it again, good luck on whatever process you choose, guiverc has provided excellent instructions.

3 Likes
7

The debian method can be useful, however some of the problem mitigations that are done when using the Ubuntu tools don’t occur; such as stopping screensaver from operating (locked screen may be unable to be unlocked until after reboot & you may have questions that need to be answered prior to upgrade completing…), ensuring python3 & other changes occur safely & in the correct order (no corrupted databases) and more, which can make it more risky, but outside of these specific things, it’s what does ~98% of the upgrade when using Ubuntu tools too.

Myself I’m mostly a desktop user, so my fallback is a non-destructive re-install of my system, I just use the newer release instead of what I was using before… I talk about that method over here but it’s a desktop method, and due to problems being discovered not long before noble was released as 24.04; a forced-format was added to the / partition which prevents its use where ubuntu-desktop-provision is used (ie. 24.04 & 24.10 currently for ubuntu-desktop-installer ISOs). I’d not likely use it for server installs; but a lunar or 23.04 system I kept for support was re-installed & became a noble or 24.04 system using this method (my 22.10 system had six months earlier become a 23.10 system so I didn’t need 23.10); this install allowing me to keep my files, setup, configs & more & just move to a newer release (noble hadn’t been released at that point; and that system got weekly re-installs as a QA measure from then on anyway)