How to Upgrade Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 21.04

The new Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) has been released on 22 April 2021. Ubuntu 20.04 is long-term support and will be supported for five years. Ubuntu 21.04 is not a long-term support release, meaning it will be kept until January 2022 (9 months).

Before upgrading to Ubuntu 21.04 version, you should be aware of the following things:

• The upgrade will download a couple of GBs of data so you will need a good internet connection.
• Backing your essential files to an external hard disk is always recommended.
• After upgrading to a newer version, you can revert to the older version.
• Upgrading to a newer version will turn off the third-party repositories that you have added on your own.

This post will show you how to upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 21.04.

Step 1 – Update the System

Before starting, check the current version of Ubuntu with the following command:

lsb_release -a

You should see the following output:

Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release:	20.04
Codename:	focal

Next, update your system to the latest packages with the following command:

apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get dist-upgrade -y

Next, install the update-manager-core with the following command:

apt-get install update-manager-core -y

Next, remove all unwanted packages with the following command:

apt-get clean
apt-get --purge autoremove

Next, restart your system to apply the changes:

reboot

Step 2 – Upgrade 20.04 to Ubuntu 21.04

Ubuntu 21.04 is a non-LTS version, so you will need to edit the file /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and change the LTS version to normal:

nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

Find the following line:

Prompt=lts

Replaced it with the next line:

Prompt=normal

Save and close the file when you are finished.

Run the following command to upgrade to Ubuntu 20.10 first. After that, follow the same steps to upgrade to Ubuntu 21.04.

do-release-upgrade

Follow the on-screen installation instructions to finish the process.

Once the upgrade process has been completed, your system will be restarted automatically.

After restarting, log in to your system and verify the version of your Ubuntu with the following command:

lsb_release -a

Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 20.10
Release:	20.10
Codename:	groovy

Now, run the following command to upgrade from Ubuntu 20.10 to 21.04:

do-release-upgrade -d

After restarting, log in to your system and verify the version of your Ubuntu with the following command:

lsb_release -a

You should see that your system will be updated to Ubuntu 21.04:

Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 21.04
Release:	21.04
Codename:	hirsute

Conclusion

The above guide taught you how to upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 21.04. Ubuntu 21.04 is a non-LTS version, so stick with the Ubuntu 20.04 version if you need a stable version. If you don’t, try it on your virtual private server today!