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I have this Samsung notebook with dual boot, running Windows 7 and Xubuntu 12. My main concern is that I use that machine mostly for work, and I don´t want to mess the Windows partition (around 400Gb and full of files I can´t afford losing or recovering). Since Xubuntu software updater keeps telling me that I can upgrade to version 14.04 LTS, I was wondering how far could I go without compromising my entire existence.

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Traditionally I've read bad things about Ubuntu's dist-upgrade, there are no shortage of questions on AskUbuntu about failed upgrades. There's also plenty of questions involving clean installs that accidentally erased windows data too.

Whichever method you choose, a backup of important data (in linux & windows) is strongly recommended.

The in-Ubuntu upgrade (dist-upgrade) is supposed to work well, and it does for many people, and a clean install is supposed to go smoothly too, but without a backup of important data I wouldn't attempt either, especially on a production working computer.

I'd prefer a clean install.


But for now, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is still supported until mid 2017, and if you're happy with the way it works now there's no pressing need to upgrade. Even a few stand-alone programs (like web browsers - they should have the latest versions available in the LTS repositories anyway, Office programs, etc) could be updated on their own to the latest versions without needing to update everything - including the kernel - to a whole new Ubuntu version like 14.04 (which is already almost 2 years old) or 16.04 soon.


Here's some Q's on AskUbuntu.com I found from a web search for "ubuntu update stop asking about lts upgrade". Looks like a GUI method & a file editing method, should do the same thing...?

How do I stop Ubuntu from suggesting to upgrade to a non-LTS release?

  1. Open the Dash (By pressing the "Super-Key" / "Windows-Key" / "Ubuntu-Key" / "Command-Key")
  2. Search for "Software"
  3. Open the application "Software & Updates"
  4. Select the "Updates" tab
  5. Next to "Notify me of a new Ubuntu version:" select "None" (or whichever's desired)

Disable Ubuntu Update Manager's new version warning

Either use the GUI method above, or:

Open the /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades with your favorite text editor, ie:

sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

As in this screenshot from before the change: screenshot

Change the Prompt= line to Prompt=never


And this answer might be useful if the update message keeps appearing, even though it's not supposed to be checking for updates anymore.

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  • Thanks for the heads up, I think I will just wait untill it is really necessary :) Jan 22, 2016 at 18:09
  • Linux Mint is taking an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach too, their update manager lists available updates by how "risky" they could be & doesn't recommend updating major components (like the kernel) unless there's a real need to - I like it (Mint's based on Ubuntu, uses their repositories plus their own, currently #1 on distrowatch.com I use their XFCE version). And there should be a way to stop the updater from asking you to update to a newer LTS version too, I've added to answer above
    – Xen2050
    Jan 22, 2016 at 22:18

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