How To Upgrade To Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is going to be released today and a lot of you will want to upgrade instead of doing a clean install because this way you get to keep your old settings and files. But there’s something you may not know about Ubuntu 11.04: it allows you to upgrade using the Live CD. This has 2 advantages over a regular upgrade:

- you can upgrade faster if you already have the Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal ISO; that’s because the Ubuntu servers will probably be very slow with everyone upgrading these days
- you can upgrade even if you don’t have an Internet connection (download the ISO on some Internet Cafe or a friend’s)

A note: upgrading using the Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal live CD (you can use this both on a CD and on an USB stick) only works from Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. So if you use an older Ubuntu version (or just want to do this for whatever other reason), you can use the old “update-manager -d” command.

For all the steps required to upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (using both upgrade methods), a couple of videos and screenshots, see: How To Upgrade To Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (With Or Without An Internet Connection)

Have a nice Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal release day