Good news for all Pop!_OS users. The latest version of Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS (long-term support) is released on April 25, 2022, just four days after the release of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. This is an LTS version, so you will get general support until the release of the next LTS version. Though pop os uses Gnome 42 as the base, system76 decided to go with the "System76 COSMIC UX" interface. In this brief guide, let us discuss what are the major new features in Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS and how to upgrade to Pop OS 22.04 from Pop OS 21.10 and older versions.
What's New In Pop!_OS 22.04?
Let’s see what are the changes implemented in Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS edition.
- A new support panel was added to the settings so you can browse the documentation, join the community support and create a log file and share to support.
- The kernel version is 5.16.19.
- System76 scheduler will provide enhanced performance by directing the windows that is in focus.
- Improved performance for the pop shop to provide a smooth experience to the users.
- Audio processing is switched from PulseAudio to Pipewire. PipeWire provides compatibility to all the applications that are built to use PulseAudio.
- Better multi-monitor support and fixed layouts on HiDPI displays.
- Disk capacity for journald logs is limited to 1GB.
Take a look at the official release page to get more details about the Pop OS 22.04 release.
Backup Important Data
First of all, you should backup all important files. In fact, this should be done prior to upgrade regardless of operating system you use.
During the installation, anything can happen and your system can go into a state where it cannot log in. So it is best to take backup of your system using pop os recover partition or external utilities like Timeshift.
To take system backup using timeshift refer to the following link where we have covered how to use timeshift in detail.
Update Your Pop!_OS System
Before upgrading to Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS, you should make sure all the packages are updated. Run the following commands to upgrade the packages.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt autoremove
$ sudo apt upgrade
You can also run "apt full-upgrade" instead of "apt upgrade".
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade
Heads Up: The difference between apt upgrade and apt full-upgrade is that apt upgrade will just upgrade the package to the latest version without removing previously installed packages. If a package needs an update then apt full-upgrade will remove the old packages to perform the upgrade. Since you are going to apply major changes to the operating system, you can either use "update" or "full-upgrade".
If you have set up the Pop OS recovery partition, then run the following command to update the recovery partition.
$ pop-upgrade recovery upgrade from-release
If you successfully completed all the foretold steps, then you can start Pop!_OS upgrade task.
Upgrade To Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS From Pop!_OS 21.10
Heads Up: This guide is exclusively tested with Pop OS 21.10. However, this method is exactly same for upgrading Pop OS 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS.
You can do the Pop OS upgrade process either from command line or graphical mode. First, we will see the graphical method.
Upgrade To Pop OS 22.04 LTS Via GUI
Pop OS will display a pop-up notification when there is a new version available.
If you don't get the notification for any reason, you can manually check if there is a new version available.
Go to "Settings -> OS upgrade & Recovery" section. It will automatically check if there is an update available. Click "Download" button and wait for some time for the download to complete.
Once the download is complete, press "Upgrade". You will be prompted with a list of changes and choose "Reboot & Upgrade" option which will reboot the machine and start the upgrade process. This will take a while depending upon the number of the installed packages.
Upgrade To Pop OS 22.04 LTS Via CLI
Run the following command in the terminal to download the necessary packages for the upgrade.
$ pop-upgrade release upgrade
There are a total of 2155 packages downloaded as part of my upgrade process.
Once the download is complete, it will ask you to reboot the machine to start the upgrade process. Type "sudo reboot" and hit ENTER key.
Just in case, if the upgrade is terminated for any reason, just reboot the machine. Pop OS will do auto repairing and will take care of the upgrade from where it is left.
If everything goes well, the installation will complete and you will get the login screen for Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS. You can validate the version through any of the following commands.
$ neofetch $ cat os-release
You can also go to "Settings -> About" and check the Pop OS version.
Conclusion
In this step by step tutorial, we have discussed how to upgrade to Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS through CLI and GUI methods. As you can see, Pop OS upgrade task is not that difficult.
Have you upgraded to Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS already? Great! Tell us your experience on this new release via the comment section below.
