How to upgrade Feren OS Classic, and Feren OS July 2018 — July 2020 Snapshot to a newer (currently supported) Feren OS base
This post will guide you through how to upgrade the following Feren OSs to a newer Feren OS base, or newer Operating System:
- Feren OS July 2018 Snapshot
- Feren OS October 2018 Snapshot
- Feren OS January 2019 Snapshot
- Feren OS KDE Experimental (all builds)
- Feren OS April 2019 Snapshot
- Feren OS July 2019 Snapshot
- Feren OS Next (all builds, Betas, and Release Candidates)
- Feren OS (and Feren OS Classic) December 2019 Snapshot
- Feren OS (and Feren OS Classic) January 2020 Snapshot
- Feren OS (and Feren OS Classic) April 2020 Snapshot
- Feren OS (and Feren OS Classic) July 2020 Snapshot
- Feren OS Classic
If you’re not running one of these versions of Feren OS, you can stop reading this article.
You can check your current Feren OS version from System Settings -> System Info / About System.
Feren OS December 2019 Snapshot — July 2020 Snapshot, or Feren OS KDE Experimental/Next
Updating these releases of Feren OS is considerably easier than last time — all you need to do is:
- Fully update your device (if you get EXPKEYSIG, or expired key, errors, click here)
- Press Refresh in Update Manager and make sure your device is fully up-to-date
- In Update Manager, find a banner at the top of the window telling you your device no longer receives updates
- Press Ok on this banner to open the Major Updater
You should now see a window like this:
You should consider taking a Timeshift backup, as pointed out on the orange banner on the window — you can press “Open Timeshift” to access Timeshift directly from the Major Updater.
After you have done a Timeshift backup, or decided to skip doing so, progress through the Major Updater by hitting Next, acknowledge what it tells you, and when ready press “Update Now” to start the update to Feren OS 2023.04.
NOTE: Save all your work and close all open programs before continuing — Feren OS will automatically restart during the update, meaning unsaved work will be lost during the update.
Your system will restart during the update, after preparing to update, but once it completes successfully you will be running Feren OS 2023.04. After it completes, go into Update Manager and install any remaining available updates, otherwise enjoy.
Feren OS Classic, or Feren OS July 2018 — July 2019 Snapshot
Updating these releases of Feren OS is considerably easier than last time — all you need to do is:
- Fully update your device (if you get EXPKEYSIG, or expired key, errors, click here)
- Press Refresh in Update Manager and make sure your device is fully up-to-date
- In Update Manager, find a banner at the top of the window telling you your device no longer receives updates
- Press Ok on this banner to open the Major Updater
If you now see a window like this:
…then it means that you are running the 32-bit version of Feren OS, which is no longer supported and cannot be updated to later Feren OS versions. You should try performing the actions it recommends to continue receiving updates.
If you see a window like this, instead:
…then you should consider taking a Timeshift backup, as pointed out on the orange banner on the window — you can press “Open Timeshift” to access Timeshift directly from the Major Updater.
After you have done a Timeshift backup, or decided to skip doing so, press Next, and you should now be confronted with two options as seen below:
Depending on which option you would like to choose, follow the steps in the appropriate section below:
NOTE: You can safely press either button to see the changes that will be made, however once you press “Update Now” on both options’ pages you cannot go back and choose a different option.
to Feren OS
Select “Feren OS (recommended)” on the current page, and you should now see this page:
…review the changes that will be made, and if you are okay with the changes that will be made, press “Update Now” to begin the first part of the update process. If you are not okay with the changes that will be made, press “Back” to choose a different option.
NOTE: Save all your work and close all open programs before continuing — Feren OS will automatically restart during the update, meaning unsaved work will be lost during the update.
Your system will now start ‘transitioning’ from Feren OS Classic to Feren OS. During this process, your device will restart twice. However, once done you will now be at the login screen.
Log in to your account, and then wait up to 5 minutes after logging in before continuing so that Feren OS can transfer most of your Desktop settings over from Feren OS Classic.
Once that is done, you should now see a first-login window walking you through some things you can do with Feren OS. Proceed through it, until you are then left with this window:
Press “Update Now” to begin the second part of the update process. Feren OS will now prepare to update, before restarting to start updating itself to Feren OS 2023.04.
NOTE: Save all your work and close all open programs before continuing — Feren OS will automatically restart during the update, meaning unsaved work will be lost during the update.
Once the second part of the update process completes, you will now be running Feren OS 2023.04. After it completes, go into Update Manager and install any remaining available updates, otherwise enjoy.
to Linux Mint
Select “Linux Mint” on the current page, and you should now see this page:
…review the changes that will be made, and if you are okay with the changes that will be made, press “Update Now” to begin the first part of the update process. If you are not okay with the changes that will be made, press “Back” to choose a different option.
NOTE: Save all your work and close all open programs before continuing — Feren OS will automatically restart during the update, meaning unsaved work will be lost during the update.
Your system will now start to ‘transition’ to Linux Mint. Do not turn off your device during this process, and do not disconnect from the internet.
Once complete, your system will start upgrading itself to Linux Mint 20.3, denoted by the screen’s status text changing to reflect this. Do not turn off your device during this process, and do not disconnect from the internet.
Once the upgrade is complete, your system will automatically restart. Upon the next startup, Linux Mint will display a message informing you about important changes that were made. In this message, it will also give you the option to uninstall most of the software pre-installed in Feren OS Classic that is not pre-installed in Linux Mint — if you want to uninstall the software it lists, press the box on the left of it to tick it.
Once you have made your choice of whether or not to uninstall the aforementioned software, you can choose to either “Continue” or “Shut Down” — Continue will do remaining cleanup, before taking you to the login screen, whereas Shut Down will do remaining cleanup before turning off your device.
After you continue or turn off your device, you are now successfully running Linux Mint 20.3, instead of Feren OS Classic or Feren OS. Install any remaining updates from Update Manager, and enjoy.
