Updating to newest version

[rms98765]

I am completely new to ubuntu and running a really old version like 14.04 i think and id like to update to the most recent and stable release and i have no idea how

[vasa1]

Why don't you stay awhile on 14.04? It isn't "really old". Several members of our forums use it and Canonical supports it in all respects.

Once you get more familiar with Ubuntu, you can decide for yourself whether moving to 16.04 or to whatever you mean by "recent and stable" is worth it or not.

[deadflowr]

Open Software Updater and run it, then install any updates and when it finishes look to see if an upgrade button shows, if it does click on it.
It should offer to upgrade to 16.04.
If it does not show, click on the Settings button (still in the software updater box) and go to the section Updates.
Look for the setting Notify me of new Ubuntu Version; and toggle the selection to: For long term support.
Then click close, it should reload and reset with the upgrade option button showing.
Follow along with whatever is asked to upgrade to 16.04.

Unfortunately, 16.04 is not the latest stable release, but in reality the latest release only has about 5/6 months of life left.
As oppose to 16.04 which will have another 3 3/4-ish years left of support.

If you really want to try going up to the latest release you'll need to reset the update option again, and this time change it from the For Long Term Support to the Any new version option.
Then reload it again and it should again give you an option to upgrade this time to 16.10.
Follow what it says again to upgrade to 16.10.

To finally get to 17.04 (the latest stable release) , you'll need to run it one more time, but this time, no need to change any settings as you will have all those set from the last run.
Again, follow whatever the upgrade tool tell you to do.

Basically that is what you would need to do to upgrade from 14.04 to the latest stable release.


But what you're probably better off doing...

The short of it though is this: trying to upgrade from 14.04 to 17.04 can take an extremely long time and can be fraught with peril at any moment.
The better option is to simply download the latest version from Ubuntu's web page and reinstalling the fresh copy.

[Autodave]

I am with deadflowr on this. I rarely have any luck upgrading from one version to the next. Do yourself a favor and just DO A NEW install of the version that you want.

Either way, BACK UP EVERYTHING FIRST!!!!!!

[Impavidus]

You're completely new and running 14.04. If you just installed Ubuntu, you wouldn't have installed 14.04 with the intend of immediately upgrading, so I assume you got this computer (possibly used) with Ubuntu 14.04 already installed. That alone could be a reason to make a fresh install of 16.04. It will give you a clean system. You never know what hidden dangers could be present on that 14.04 system.

You can also upgrade to 16.04, as deadflowr wrote. In my experience upgrades usually work, but without knowing the history of your 14.04 system I can't tell you anything about the probability of success.

14.04 is not really old and is still supported, but it's a bit old. 16.04 will give you more recent versions of most applications.