Upgrading From 10.04-10.10

Booting from the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD is *not* a supported way of updating from one Ubuntu release to another!

The Ubuntu Desktop Install CD can be used as a live CD, and it supports installing Ubuntu **in place of** an existing operating system, or **alongside** an existing operating system, but it does not supported **upgrading** an existing Ubuntu system. Many people have messed up (or completely erased) their Ubuntu systems by attempting this, even though the documentation *explicitly* states that this is not supported!

Instead, there are three supported ways to update:

(1) With the Update Manager. This is by far the easiest, for most people; it is the most common way. Go to System > Administration > Update Manager and click "Settings..." at the lower-left corner of the window. Under "Release Upgrade", you'll see the text "Show new distribution releases:", and a drop-down menu. Make sure the drop-down menu is set to "Normal releases" (since Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick, which you want to upgrade to, is not an LTS release). Click Close. Check for updates in the Update Manager, and you will be presented with the opportunity to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10.

(2) With do-release-upgrade. See http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/maverick/en/man8/do-release-upgrade.8.html. This is a command-line utility, so use it if you're on an Ubuntu Server system (or some other Ubuntu system where there's no GUI or you're logged in remotely without one), or just if you prefer command-line techniques to GUI techniques.

(3) With the Alternate Install CD. While the Ubuntu Desktop Install CD does not support performing a release upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to the next, the Ubuntu Alternate Install CD does support this.

See http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/upgrade for more information.