How to upgrade to Linux Mint 19.1

ByLinux Admin

It is now possible to upgrade Linux Mint 19 to version 19.1.

If you’ve been waiting for this we’d like to thank you for your patience.

1. Create a system snapshot

You can use Timeshift to make a system snapshot before the upgrade.

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If anything goes wrong, you can easily restore your operating system to its previous state.

Launch Timeshift from the application menu, follow the instructions on the screen to configure it and create a system snapshot.

2. Prepare for the upgrade

  • Disable your screensaver
  • If you installed Cinnamon spices (applets, desklets, extensions, themes), upgrade them from the System Settings

3. Upgrade the operating system

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Upgrading to Linux Mint 19.1 is relatively easy.

In the Update Manager, click on the Refresh button to check for any new version of mintupdate and mint-upgrade-info. If there are updates for these packages, apply them.

Launch the System Upgrade by clicking on “Edit->Upgrade to Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa”.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

If asked whether to keep or replace configuration files, choose to replace them.

4. Add/remove packages (optional)

P7zip-full (which provides the ability to create password-encrypted archives) and xul-ext-lightning (Calendar support in Thunderbird) were added to Linux Mint 19.1. To install these packages, open a terminal and type:

apt install p7zip-full xul-ext-lightning

If you are running the Cinnamon edition, you can also remove the XScreensaver hacks. These are no longer supported by the Cinnamon screensaver. To remove them, open a terminal and type:

apt remove --purge xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra cinnamon-screensaver-webkit-plugin cinnamon-screensaver-x-plugin

5. Reboot the computer

Once the upgrade is finished, reboot your computer.

Commonly asked questions

  • If the upgrade is not available to you, check that you have the latest versions of mintupdate and mint-upgrade-info installed and restart the Update Manager. If the latest versions are not yet available in your mirrors, switch to the default repositories.
  • This happens rarely, but if you ever got locked and were unable to log back in, switch to console with CTRL+ALT+F1, log in, and type “killall cinnamon-screensaver” (or “killall mate-screensaver” in MATE). Use CTRL+ALT+F7 or CTRL+ALT+F8 to get back to your session.

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