In my experience, upgrades rarely proceed problem-free Fred. Indeed, they often go very wrong indeed.
I always save my personal files to an external media and reinstall from scratch. The truth is, even if an upgrade goes without a problem, it usually takes far longer than a reinstall anyway.
If your system has completely borked, then I would advise the following:
log in with a live UM ISO
copy all of your personal files to a usb drive
if you use Thunderbird, while you are logged in on the live ISO open Caja and press CTRL/h. This will show your hidden folders. One of them is “.thunderbird”. Copy this folder to the external usb drive along with your other personal files.
install 18.04 from scratch
copy your personal files back over and, before you open Thunderbird for the first time, copy the “.thunderbird” folder back into your home folder. Then, when you open Thunderbird for the first time, it will be like it was never removed. All of your email addresses, received messages and contacts will be there just as before.
Believe me, you will save yourself a massive, never-ending headache if you do the above instead of trying to fix your knackered upgrade.
@stevecook172001 I will follow your advice "install 18.04 from scratch". Even though it recovered and left me with my 16.04.
I figured it would be easier to do a fresh install, but had to try it and see what happened. I really wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed when it happened.
Fortunately I don't have much to save off, I didn't use Thunderbird and I didn't add too many extra packages.
Is there an easy way to see what I added to the original 16.04 or do I just need to remember?
@fey42 Make a list of the downloads you did in 16.04. I keep all my stuff in a separate partition called data or something like it for ease in either upgrades (which I don’t normally do) or in new (completely fresh) installs.
Save your Music folder, your Documents folder, any Images or Pictures you might have saved, Photos, scripts that you might use, a bin folder for repeated commands, your Wallpaper folder(s), .mozilla (which should contain your bookmarks), any other dot name folder (the so called hidden folders) that represent the configuration and history of something that you might use every day.
I have a lot more than this but I figure that you could use my “list” to figure out your own. Good luck old bean.
My rock solid, faultless 16.04 install keeps telling me to upgrade. Needless to say I’m more than hesitant but really can’t be bothered doing a clean install due to the age of my 16.04 installation and the level of customization, installed applications and personal files installed. I run a separate /home drive, but I just can’t be bothered with the hassle.
Don’t forget to save your bookmarks and saved passwords too.
I am not saying this would work for everyone, but I have started dual booting Ubuntu Mates LTS releases. I save what I can to an external drive and then do a fresh install on half my hard drive (18.04). I keep the old version (16.04) on the other half the hard drive. I then have time to go back and find things I might have forgotten to save but need. I also have the software I might need if the new version does not support it until I can find an alternative (MP3 Gain as an example, or Ubuntu Tweak to Ubuntu Janitor as another). When I am happy with the new install it gives me half a drive to experiment with any other OS’s I might want to try. Been working great for me and it might work for you too.
I do the dual boot method as well. But with all the backup advice, I am surprised image backups are not recommended. I routinely (probably weekly) make a backup copy of my system. So any snafu, I am can restore my system within a few minutes.
Steve, I hope you don't stay up nights figuring these things out for me. That worked great and I can see all the installs and recognize my particular ones. Fortunately I didn't muck it up badly with my installs.
