I'm using Xubuntu 16.04LTS and want to get 18.04LTS. The ease and simplicity of just pushing the "upgrade" button had me wanting to do that, but now I've been convinced that a clean install would work best. I've backed up my data, and I have my ISO and it's been MD5sum checked. I know I need to load it onto Unetebootin, which is formatted to ext4. I remember something about tapping one of the F keys to get into the BIOS and then booting from the Unetbootin USB drive. Is it that simple? Or is there anything else I should be aware of before I do this? Thanks.

If you read the unetbootin page, you will see that they recommend you format the usb to FAT32 before putting your Linux system on it. You should have a key to use for one time boot options which is usually one of the F keys. You will need to watch the screen when you boot as the specific key varies with manufacturer. Since you don't mention having any other OS or any separate data partition, using the ERase and install option should do the job. Depending upon how old the computer is, you may have an option to use UEFI/GPT.

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Thanks a lot, Yancek. Appreciate it. I think I'll give it a go tomorrow.

When you say "I've backed up my data" does that include system configuration and software selection?

Make sure that you have backed up all the hidden files and folders of your home directory, Thats directories like .mozilla, .thunderbird etc. After reinstalling you can just copy these directories into your home directory again and get back all your bookmarks, browsing history, email account setup etc...

You might also want to do a backup of your /etc directory (which typically contains most of the system level configuration files). This will probably contain a lot less modifications compared to the default setup, but it's still useful to have. E.g. I think I remember from one of your posts in the past that you had a lot of custom additions in /etc/apt/sources.list.
As opposed to the hidden files/folders in your home directory, I would not blindly throw these files back into /etc after reinstall. Again, this is just a useful thing to have around when after reinstall you realize that something behaves different than you were used to and try to remember how you configured it before.

Also you might want to do something like

After running this command, the textfile installed_software.txt will appear in your home directory and will contain a complete list of all installed packages on your system. Add it to your backup before reinstalling.

It seems you can even use this text file to reestablish the package selection as described here: https://linuxprograms.wordpress.com/...ections-clone/

I've never personally tried that though and I wouldn't expect this to go smooth across different releases. Still a complete package list might be a useful thing to have after a reinstall.

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That's what I do when I use Unetbootin. However on my desktop it's the DEL key to get into the BIOS.
On most laptops it the F2 key.

Once you are in your BIOS make the usb stick to be the first choice in the boot menu save the changes and when you reboot it should boot right into the usb drive and start the installation.

Don't forget to remove the usb stick before rebooting after your done with your fresh installation.

Good luck-

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Startup Disk Creator should work to create a new version usb.

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Hi Joe. Thanks for the great information. No, I haven't backed up hidden files or etc. I've just backed up my data. And I backed up my bookmarks. I don't think I've configured too much. I don't use Thunderbird or anything like that. I'll be glad to get rid of some stuff in GIMP (I loaded it up and made it really slow to open.) I guess I'd just have to back up the whole Home folder. (Maybe I should've done that in the first place.) That will take a while.

Anyway, I'm getting kind of cold feet about this clean install. Maybe I'd be better off taking my chances with the upgrade. At least that shouldn't be a total disaster. lol

I ran your command and backed up the .txt file on a usb drive.

I think I'll sleep on this and see how I feel in the morning.

Just running these guys

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

seems a lot easier than the clean install. And with a clean install (I did it with a laptop years ago) there's almost always a complication. I don't mind the complications if they happen after the install but if they happen during the install it's panic city. lol

Hi Ztcoracat. Your "Good luck" makes me feel like I'm going in for surgery or something. lol Thanks for the advice. I'll actually be more comfortable getting into the BIOS before I put the USB stick with the ISO on it. So, make booting with the USB the first choice in the BIOS. Shut the computer down. Stick the USB with the ISO in the computer. Turn on the computer and then the Install instructions should come right up on the screen (without having to fiddle with the F10 or whatever keys that I had to fiddle with to get into the BIOS to make the boot from the usb stick the first choice)?

And thanks for the reminder for getting rid of the stick after the installation.

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Thanks jefro.

I never upgrade. Instead I have always performed a fresh installation.

I tried upgraded on a Ubuntu based system I was running and the upgrade didn't go well. I was left with a system that I couldn't update. Something broke APT.

That won't work because the BIOS have to be able to see the usb drive plugged in to be able to set it to the first drive that's seen.

With your system up and running plug in the usb stick. Log out as if you were going to shut down and choose to restart. As soon as the machine starts to boot up press the F key to get into the BIOS and make the usb stick the first choice.

Save the changes and reboot. Than start your fresh install.

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I guess if your going to nuke and reinstall anyways it can't do harm to first see how the upgrade goes.
If you decide to try that, make sure to clean up your /etc/apt/sources.list first. Ideally remove all packages that were not installed from the original ubuntu repos, make note of them and reinstall them after the upgrade.

That will greatly improve your chances of the upgrade going well.

Also make sure to create the bootable flashdrive that you are going to use for the reinstall beforehand, so that you don't have to do that from a broken system in case the upgrade does not go well.

I recently upgraded, and now I regret it. I normally do fresh installs quarterly-ish. Double xp weekend and I cannot game because of an update. Probably fresh install and of a different distro till I can get back in the "game" "literally".

This must be an Ubuntu thing. I run Debian on all machines of friends and family and it never breaks on me during the release upgrades.

The spam key varies between computers. My HP laptops have ESC as the spam key. And for the more recent ones I had to delete known keys before it would let me disable secure boot and have it take. Otherwise is it not that complicated if you know what the words mean. And are willing to bounce off walls until you find the right combination that works for you.

Actually debian buster, because the hardware is too new for GPU support on stable. And despite being a year plus old now and older gen hardware when it was new, GPU support not so good on testing or sid at the moment. Although my wm is from source, I might try a fresh compile on it to see if that resolves the quirks.