I have a Win 7 laptop dual booted with Ubuntu 12.01. I want to upgrade Ubuntu to 14.04 LTS but have never done this previously. It sounds risky and I really need to keep my Win 7 copy.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for completing a stress free upgrade please?

How to upgrade is explained at the Ubuntu site at the link below. Before you jump into it, you need to determine which Ubuntu release you have since there is no "12.01". 12.04 is a long term support release and you can directly upgrade to 14.04. If you have 12.10 you can't do that but rather would have to go to intermediate releases, 12.10 to 13.04 to 13.10 to 14.04 and I'm not sure if you can do that. It would definitely take the better part of a day and it will need to be a lucky day for you.

Upgrading from one long term release to another or from one version to the next usually works pretty well, I've done it myself a few times but it's alway a risk. So check your version first.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi Yancek - Sorry about 12.1 it was, of course, 12.04. Your post has reassured me and I will complete the upgrade this weekend. (carefully). It will be my first attempt at this so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and backing-up first :-D

Many thanks for your fast and helpful reply.