16.04 to 18.04 upgrade failed

[RogerDavis]

I attempted to upgrade from 16.04 to 18.04 today. I first selected to update software, which it did. I then selected to upgrade to 18.04. The upgrade failed by simply stopping midstream for several hours. This was just before the "clean up" phase, and it referenced xserver if I remember right. I finally stopped it by a hard restart.

It would restart into 16.04, and I ran software update. It gave me a HUGE list of updates, which I ran without success. It did not give me notice of 18.04 this time. I spent the next several hours trying to manually update it without success, and finally rendered it dead. I restored from a clone copy.

So I still need to upgrade it, and really need to know every detail on how to prepare the computer for the cleanest, most problem free, possible update. I need every small detail on this process to make sure I forget nothing.

Also how to update (NOT reinstall) from disk, since I don't have to depend on downloads during the update process with that ?

Thanks!

[CatKiller]

It was probably waiting for you to tell it what you wanted to do with a config file. Force-stopping it would necessarily leave your package management in a bad state, as you found.

The cleanest, most problem-free, update is to back up your files and do a fresh install. I've never had a problem with upgrades-in-place, but plenty of people have. A fresh install is a known and tested configuration.

I don't think you can upgrade from an install disk any more.

[RogerDavis]

The update app was the only thing running, and there was no other window open when it died. I did see other windows as you describe, and they were promptly answered as needed and progress continued.

I did no special preparation or cleanup beforehand. I'm thinking that perhaps that was my problem, so I'm seeking both how to approach it from that direction, as well as any other ideas how to help this.

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Also, is there a way to install 18.04 "over" 1604, without formatting - one way of installing from disk ?

[CatKiller]

The update app was the only thing running, and there was no other window open when it died. I did see other windows as you describe, and they were promptly answered as needed and progress continued.
It would have been text-mode in the drop down "more details" thing. If you're configuring X, there's no reason to believe X would be running, so you can't use dialogue boxes in a new window.

I did no special preparation or cleanup beforehand. I'm thinking that perhaps that was my problem, so I'm seeking both how to approach it from that direction, as well as any other ideas how to help this.[quote]
Yeah, it all helps. Running ppa-purge, making sure everything's up to date, and whatnot, to get your system as standard as possible. Package management isn't magic, it's just really really fiddly. The more your system is in a configuration that the person that wrote the scripts anticipated, the fewer problems you'll have.
[quote]
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Also, is there a way to install 18.04 "over" 1604, without formatting - one way of installing from disk ?

No. Installing 18.04 over 16.04 will format it. If your /home is on a separate partition, that wouldn't need to be formatted, though, so you'd keep your data and settings.

Maybe I'm wrong, though, and you can use the installer as a local repository like the old days. It only takes a couple of shakes to burn the iso to a thumb drive, take it out, and plug it back in, to see if you're offered it as an option.