Upgrade Linux Mint 17.3 to 19.1

Here's a quick and dirty way to upgrade Linux Mint 17.3 to 19.1 while keeping your data intact. :)

Please join the discussion at EzeeTalk.

[flashgordon]

I have been using Linux since 2000 and never thought of doing it this way. Thanks and great info. though the separate home partition is the better way to go, this is great info if you didn't do that.

[claushilman]

I made it from 17.3 to 19.2 : painless!
Fast and easy. All working in minutes. I really love Linux and Mint.
Thank you!

[geoffsamsungtab]

Thanks It worked.
I was in a mess with a crashed 17.3 and no backup, and by following this video I am now up and running with 19.2 and all of my files saved.

[gustafsongb]

A fresh install of 19.1 in a new disk partition /dev/sda2 with EFI partition /dev/sda1 was modified by copying Mint 17.3 /home directory in /dev/sdb2 to /dev/sda2. This worked, although the process then required re-install of many apps and especially 32bit WINE apps. Apache2, mysql, postgresql, php all required re-install. A number of 32bit apps required 17.3 libraries to be copied from 17.3 to 19.1, but the apps from 17.3 continued to work. Configuration of the desktop was a challenge: eventually added was "mate-panel --replace" in STARTUP programs in19.1 CONTROL CENTER. The test desktop theme with manager MARCO was "MINT-Y Blue"; several other themes caused major errors in icons.

[angelful]

God this was a lifesaver, we use 17, 3 at work, many thanks

[ronreddon]

09:00 -
 I ran into the high CPU use issue on a Gateway NE56 Pentium B960 Dual-Core laptop using the LM 19.1 Live environment, so there is still something going on there that still needs to be massaged. I haven't tried Mint v18.x in a Live environment yet, so I'll create a bootable USB tonight and try it out on that Gateway. That system runs most other distros I've tried without any issues. I was actually surprised by the CPU being pegged, but that system normally boots into Win 10 and is rarely used, so it isn't a killer to me.

My Dell N7110 laptop, which dual-boots Win 10/Mint 17.3 on separate hard drives, works great in the 19.1 live environment, but I'm still not upgrading off of LM 17.3 until we reach the EOL date in April.

[sounddoctorin]

hey joe... i have 32 bit partition....it appears for 34M boot

[Nerzhina]

Hi Joe thanks for making this & all your Linux Mint YouTube videos. Keep up the good work.

[dwbsovran]

Interesting! I am assuming you can do LM 18.x to LM 19.1 the same way - right?

[briholt]

You mention in the Intro about a well documented procedure for updating to 19.1 from 17.3 if you had a separate home partition...could you please share one of those documentations?

[zoidberg]

New Linux Mint 19.1 user checking in. I'll have to remember this when it comes time to upgrade from my current LTS.

[DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

What about starting off with a HP Proliant DL580 GEN 7 that has a RAID controller and can handle at least 20x 100TiB Data Center SSD drives as a RAID 10 array for your data and install another RAID controller using 6x 100TiB Data Center SSD drives in RAID 10 array then go into the BIOS and setup to two RAID arrays and label one Data_array and one Boot_array and install Linux Mint 18.3 CINNAMON (Sylvia) 64bit following the prompts as there must be a way to make Linux Mint update onto the Boot_array and put it's data onto the Data_array would that be the way to do it, I have decided to disable adobe's Flash Player and I think that I may have done something stupid.

[gustavinus]

This is interesting, but can't be done remotely.
If you have physical access to the machine and wants to preserve the current programs and configs, this is probably the way to go (because it is faster).
If you need to do it remotely, then you will need to install/update the packages mintupdate and mint-upgrade-info and then upgrade through the Package Manager (takes a long time).
It is also a good idea to install timeshift and make a system snapshot before doing anything. Also a good idea to backup your home folder as well (using another program or by copying everything).

[nicolasgomez]

Sorry, but this doesn't work for me. I have a separated home partition. And at the end I have a fresh install without any of my provious programs installed, and without any of the bookmarks from Firefox. Talking short: I have a completely fresh installation with only my documents preserved. Is there any way to keep the software installed and the customization preerved? Thanks in advance.

[abrundag]

Great video very helpful and your radio background really showed in the way you avoided dead air! I know you're an avid kdenlive fan so I assume you used it to edit this video. How did it behave after the upgrade? Were all the settings/addons there? Did you reinstall it from a ppa or from the main Mint repo?

A more technical question would copying the old /etc/passwd file from the old system to the new one restore the user accounts without having to deal with the order they were created (I'm assuming each user's partition is stored in /home)? Or copying the line which deals with that particular user into the existing (new) /etc/passwd?

I started using Linux after the Windows Vista debacle (2007). I get asked if I ever miss Windows. HELL NO!

[jamesa]

I've additional drives in my PC, so the installer is asking if I want to unmount partitions that are in use first. Seems if I don't then I lose ability to control partitions after the upgrade... if I do unmount them, is it just a case of recreating the mount points after the upgrade? thanks.

[peabody]

what a pain!!! just back up yur home folder then fresh install of 19.1= much easier!!!

[JuanPabloFuentealba]

Hello Joe, I got a question for im hoping you can help me, I want to buy an AMD ryzen laptop, should I put Linux on it, thank you in advance

[stuart]

Can you use the same process to move from 18.3?

[_myron]

Using mint for 2 months now and its working very well! They need to upgrade their website though because it doesn't do justice to their awesome os.