Cannot upgrade because of updates, but cannot update because out of support

Question

I want to upgrade my 18.04.6 LTS to the next LTS, but it won't let me because it thinks there are updates I should do first. However, these updates don't work and error with a "check your internet connection", I think because they are now only available as extended support.

I've tried changing /etc/apt/sources.list to use old-releases.ubuntu.com, but it does not seem to help.

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 14.04 LTS _Trusty Tahr_ - Release amd64 (20140417)]/ trusty main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic partner
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic partner`

$ sudo apt update
Ign:1 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Ign:2 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease
Ign:3 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease
Ign:4 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease
Err:5 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.37 80]
Err:6 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.37 80]
Err:7 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.37 80]
Hit:8 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu bionic-infra-security InRelease
Err:9 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security Release     
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.37 80]
Hit:10 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu bionic-infra-updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done                     
E: The repository 'http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Does this answer your question? [How to install software or upgrade from an old unsupported release?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/91815/how-to-install-software-or-upgrade-from-an-old-unsupported-release) — nobody, Jul 15 '23 at 11:08
Be aware the *year* products (18) are different to the *year.month* products (18.04), thus 18 & 18.04 are different with only 18.04 being in *extended* support. I'll suggest reading your messages & correct; but note if your *certificates* are expired due to your location in the world you'll need ESM to correct (*or manually fix yourself!*); if your certificates are valid though you should be able to *release-upgrade*.. thus geo-location is now at play due to EOSS. Upgrading before the EOSS avoids these issues — guiverc, Jul 15 '23 at 11:18
FYI: If you've applied all security fixes & you're up-to-date as for packages, check your mirror (*at EOSS mirrors are free to drop support meaning you'll have to correct & use a valid mirror that provides EOSS support, or use main archive*) and ensure you networking is correct & unfiltered, as direct downloads of *meta* files (such as https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release) will occur; and you'll get the message mentioned IF internet is filtered or not connected.. The *meta* checks will work even if you're not 100% *up-to-date* but were updated to EOSS when EOSS was reached (ie. no ESM) — guiverc, Jul 15 '23 at 11:21
Do the basics; `sudo apt update` and read the output, any warnings/errors/missing lines etc then correct. As you're EOSS now, you may need to make changes due to dropped mirrors, dropped PPA etc.. & correct. Then when fixed and `sudo apt update` is good, apply all fixes with `sudo apt full-upgrade` (*this will still work even after ESM if you fixed errors with prior command, at least to EOSS status which will allow the *subsequent release-upgrade to work!*), then reboot if necessary, then you can try `do-release-upgrade` as per https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JammyUpgrades ... — guiverc, Jul 15 '23 at 11:33
@nobody, it does not help, I've updated my answer to include details. — hkBst, Jul 15 '23 at 11:38
You're EOSS or *end of standard support* and not *end of life* thus old-releases.ubuntu.com does **not** apply. Undo that change. — guiverc, Jul 15 '23 at 11:39
@guiverc, I was deselecting some of those old-releases in the system settings, but then decided to do it from terminal and suddenly it offered me to upgrade and it seems to be working. — hkBst, Jul 15 '23 at 11:45

hkBst · Answer 1 · 2023-07-15T14:36:56.783

0

Okay, so I guess I was wrong to change my /etc/apt/source.list to old-releases.ubuntu.com and it didn't help, but unticking the bottom 4 or 5 of those in the GUI suddenly unlocked the upgrade.

One wonders if just unticking all sources from the beginning would have worked as well, but alas I cannot test this any more.

The upgrade seems to have gone fine.

edited Jul 15 '23 at 14:36

answered Jul 15 '23 at 11:52

hkBst

101
2

Your issue was likely *network related* as you initially said (ie. "*check your internet connection*"), your internet connection is now working thus the *release-upgrade* was detected & offered. The system checks the *meta* files as I said earlier (eg. https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release) which is **not** a source file but a defined file (*outside of your sources.list*) thus will be found if you're online with a *unfiltered* network connection, valid certificates etc. – guiverc Jul 15 '23 at 11:55
No, I am certain that my network has been fine all along, and I've been browsing happily, but it still complained about it when trying to do updates. – hkBst Jul 15 '23 at 12:03
You could have been unlucky with connections (*browsing different sites to ubuntu.com for example*) even a *temporary* issue with ubuntu.com that gave you the somewhat *unhelpful* "*check your internet connection*" message (where the issue wasn't your connection!) , though it doesn't matter, as you got there, and your *release-upgrade* will hopefully complete soon, and you'll be back to using a *supported* Ubuntu system. Well done for getting there. – guiverc Jul 15 '23 at 12:06
The message about the connection happened consistently for at least a week, so I really doubt it. Also running apt-get dist-upgrade showed that the available (but unavailable) updates were the problem. – hkBst Jul 15 '23 at 12:56

Cannot upgrade because of updates, but cannot update because out of support

1 Answers1