Upgrading to Zorin OS 15

Hi. Is it possible to upgrade directly from 12.4 to 15 like Ubuntu?

Thanks

No I'm afraid you can't as it is a totally different beast as it now also has flatpak as well as snap support.

Looking forwards to whenever I replace 12.4 Core with 15 Core final release on my dual boot rig.
I assume I will need to format the / (root) directory that contained 12.4 system before installing 15, as it is a different OS and not an update to 12.
Will I also have to format the home directory because of different settings regime for Zorin OS 15?
i.e. effectively a fresh install on clean partitions.

Hi, just to be safe, open /home folder and press 'Ctrl+ H' to show hidden files if not shown - most of these will have a '.' in front of them and both . folders and files may hold different application information, such as bookmarks and Browser settings etc so that when you install Zorin afresh with 15 you can then put these settings back in place. The devs have finally listened to me and now made Firefox the default browser. Geary is now gone (huzzah!) but replaced with Evolution as they are aiming for the corporate market - can be fiddly to configure but you can always install Thunderbird.

Just reading again. Questions remain:
Still not sure whether I must format /home partition as well as / (root) partition when installing Zorin 15 where I before had Zorin 12.4?

Does /home hold settings for the specific Zorin Operating System, as well as settings for Application Programs?

Primarily for apps and perhaps system specific applications. If you were to install Zorin 15 without doing anything it would potentially create a new /home which would ignore your existing one. I would advise you back up everything in /home, wipe your drive and start afresh using the manual installation method.

Hi to all,
i downloaded the BETA of ZOS 15 and i am very pleased about what i saw.
I'm happy about your change from chromium to firefox as default browser

Now i'm backing up my homedir with "Déjà Dup – Datensicherungswerkzeug".
Déjà Dup – knows folders but no single files to backup.

In the upgrade guide you say that everything of the "old" 12.4 files (root, swap, etc) have to be deleted after a complete backup. But what about settings in e.g. /etc/fstab (nfs and samba mounts), and what about some settings i made in different subdirs (/opt /usr /var) ....

And another question is, can't it be made possible to backup a catalogue of my installed apps (like under linuxmint)
So called a backup of my Shop -> installed apps ??

Will a backup with "Déjà Dup – Datensicherungswerkzeug" be enough for reconstruction of homedir under ZOS 15 later (after the upgrade)?

Will i find Déjà Dup under ZOS 15 to write back my homedir to new /home?

Hi Swarf, long time no see another upgrade question, if we install 15 Beta will; we we be able to upgrade to the Release Candidate and Final Release when they come along, or will it be a scrub and replace job?

Hi to all,
i downloaded the BETA of ZOS 15 and i am very pleased about what i saw.
I'm happy about your change from chromium to firefox as default browser

Now i'm backing up my homedir with "Déjà Dup – Datensicherungswerkzeug".
Déjà Dup – knows folders but no single files to backup.

In the upgrade guide you say that everything of the "old" 12.4 files (root, swap, etc) have to be deleted after a complete backup. But what about settings in e.g. /etc/fstab (nfs and samba mounts), and what about some settings i made in different subdirs (/opt /usr /var) ....

And another question is, can't it be made possible to backup a catalogue of my installed apps (like under linuxmint)
So called a backup of my Shop -> installed apps ??

Will a backup with "Déjà Dup – Datensicherungswerkzeug" be enough for reconstruction of homedir under ZOS 15 later (after the upgrade)?

Will i find Déjà Dup under ZOS 15 to write back my homedir to new /home?

Whilst I don't think you can specify directories etc., play safe and use redobackup from sourceforge to back your entire system up in case you become unhappy with 15.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/redobackup/files/

Hi Swarf, long time no see another upgrade question, if we install 15 Beta will; we we be able to upgrade to the Release Candidate and Final Release when they come along, or will it be a scrub and replace job?

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=14324&p=63388&hilit=feedback#p63388

specifically the line that reads:

- If you have the Zorin OS 15 Beta installed, running the Software Updater as soon as the stable version is released will upgrade you to the stable Core edition of Zorin OS 15

@Swarfendor437

When we have Core installed, will it be possible to upgrade to Ultimate and preserve settings and apps or will we have to start from scratch?

@chrissi55

Deja Dup is great for backing up /home but in addition you might like to use Aptik for other selected items as it lets you pick and choose.

AZorin made it clear, beta core only - if you want ultimate you may have to start from scratch - alternatively, just install the apps you have on a 12.4 install using Synaptic Package Manager.

But for a definitive answer, PM AZorin.

Primarily for apps and perhaps system specific applications. If you were to install Zorin 15 without doing anything it would potentially create a new /home which would ignore your existing one. I would advise you back up everything in /home, wipe your drive and start afresh using the manual installation method.

@Swarfendor: I guess things have now moved a bit your end. I am referring to:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14472
From that, it would appears that we may be able to update from Zorin 12 to 15 without reformatting our /home partition.
I however accept the caveat that it is wise to backup /home anyhow before doing this.
For me the update would be from 12.4 Core 32bit to 15 Core 64bit when the final version is released. Only after successfully running 15 Core beta from USB did I discover my PC was capable of running a 64bit OS.

@zabadabadoo, so long as you have created your partition/install manually as opposed to automatic install, in theory it should still work, but I would still backup beforehand. My tutorial was to show users how it is possible to reinstall the file system ('/') without deleting/formatting the '/home' directory. I also discovered upon reinstalling Thuderbird, the settings (including account settings) remained intact.

I just wish people would stop asking dumb questions.

If you have installed Zorin OS 15 beta, installing Software Updates will bring you fully up to date with the stable Core edition of Zorin OS 15 when released.

If you have any other release, do a clean install at the stable release.

It ain't that difficult to understand.

I did my Backup now with "lucky backup"

Tool is using rsync and i can finetune everything. with lucky backup (root) i also can backup my /etc/... /opt and /usr/share/.... directories.

http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/download.html

With redobackup you can backup your entire system!

https://sourceforge.net/projects/redobackup/files/