How to upgrade to LMDE 4

by ·42 Comments

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

It is now possible to upgrade LMDE 3 to version 4.

The upgrade instructions are available at: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2475

Take your time

Read all the instructions and take the time to understand them, ask for help if you’re stuck.

The instructions will ask you to be up to date and to prepare system snapshots. Don’t rush into upgrading and do not take shortcuts.

Don’t panic

If you’re stuck or wondering about something don’t hesitate to ask for help:

  • You can post here in the comments section.
  • You can ask for help in the forums.
  • You can connect to the IRC (from within Linux Mint, launch Menu->Internet->Hexchat). If you’re new to IRC, please read this tutorial.

42 comments

  3. Hi, Congratulations. Where are the instructions to upgrade from Beta?? Software Updates haven’t got mintupgrade or something??

    Reply

    1. Generally, all you need to do is run regular Update Manager. That will top you up to the final release (and a little further, as packages are added to update even after they draw the line for testing the ISO).

    2. Congratulations. Where are the instructions to upgrade from Beta?? Software Updates haven’t got mintupgrade or something….

  5. E: Unable to locate package mintupgrade
    I checked all the online reports etc. but it comes down to the fact that it looks like you have removed the mintupgrade pack because there were some problems.
    Please just confirm if or not the package is available.
    New linux/mint user but lots of time to explore now so hope all is well with the community.

    Reply

  7. First of all, i would to thank you for this version. Second, can I upgrade my Linux Mint 19.3 to LMDE 4? If so, how? Thank you.

    Reply

  8. I’m trying to upgrade LMDE 3(with some custom packages) to 4 but I think something’s wrong. The file /usr/share/linuxmint/mintupgrade/apt_destination_sources on my system looks like mintupgrade is trying to upgrade my computer to Tara: http://dpaste.com/247E9HV. This is causing the upgrade process to go crazy and delete way too many packages, including the mint “important” packages.

    Reply

    1. Ah, never mind I didn’t read this note from the Upgrade Guide: It is recommended to use the default Linux Mint mirror before upgrading, to make sure you’re using the latest version of mintupgrade. You can check your version of mintupgrade with “apt policy mintupgrade”.

    2. Hi Tom,

      Can you check your version of mintupgrade? It should be 2020.03.19.1. Switch to the default repositories to ensure they’re up to date.

    1. Chequea las actualizaciones en MintUpdate y aplica todas las últimas y ya estarás en la versión estable sin reinstalar.

  10. I try to Downgrade Foreign Packages, Select All, Downgrade

    Every time I try, he tells me that this package is missing: libck-connec

    I stopped to update from lmde 3 to 4 🙁

    Reply

  11. Hi,
    Upgrading from cindy to debbie, I get this error at the simulation step:
    mintsources : Dépend: mint-common (>= 2) mais ne sera pas installé
    E: Erreur, pkgProblem::Resolve a généré des ruptures, ce qui a pu être causé par les paquets devant être gardés en l’état.
    Thanks to help me

    Reply

  12. Great job – pleased to see LMDE4 😉
    Question:-
    I’ve got “stuff” still in init.d files that seems to get picked up by Systemd (which I don’t understand) – will this still be the case with LMDE4?

    Reply

  13. mintupgrade check says:
    !! ERROR: Performing the upgrade would remove the following important packages: cinnamon, metacity, mintsystem, nemo-preview, xed, xreader.

    I assume that means I have to do a fresh install?

    Reply

  14. Someone is marketing a usb based plug/play device called X-tra Computer. They say they use Linux. Can LMDE4 be loaded to a usb stick, and can the computer boot from there?

    Reply

    1. Yes – but LMDE4 will run more slowly as it runs in memory.
      Without some special commands, it won’t access any disks etc you might have.
      It’s a good way of checking that sound, networking etc works as expected.

    2. Of course you can put LMDE on a USB stick and live boot on it. It’s like almost all modern Linux Distro !
      ISO image of LMDE (Mint one too) are live with ability to install on disk and ready to be put on USB stick.

      By the way don’t buy X-Tra Computer USB stick that total overpriced Sandisk USB stick (like from 2 to 4 time the real price).
      And NO, the additional cost don’t match the work of making the custom Distro they ship (or they work very very slow for the thing that put on top of the modified Lubuntu distro !).
      IHMO the right price for the X-Tra (or any USB stick with pre-install Linux) are more like a few buch more than the raw cost of the USB stick for the seller (don’t forget they can buy it like in thousands of unit, so price are lower than the one on Newegg/Amazon/…)

  15. You need to follow the upgrade instructions EXTREMELY carefully.
    As a trial run, I installed LMDE3 onto a spare laptop, applied all updates etc.
    From a printout of the upgrade instructions:-
    I followed the upgrade instructions – but several times the upgrade program told me that I had omitted a step…
    At one point the screen ceased to respond (except for mouse movements) [as indicated in the instructions].
    Anyway, I ended up with a working LMDE4.
    Don’t attempt it without a full printout of the instructions, though.

    Reply

  16. I am an advocate. I am using Linux since 2001. I love Linux mint for 6 years. But recently installed MX Linux 19.1. Now, I would like to use LMDE 4. Is it as good, easy and stable as LM?

    Reply

    1. Hi Imon, I’m a long time LMDE user.
      I don’t know about MX Linux, but about regular Mint vs LMDE, you are going to miss the driver manager, that doesn’t exist in LMDE. It turns the installation of a scanner / printer more difficult.
      Also, some libraries have been quite old in LMDE until now, which makes several softwares hardly compatible, for example neural networks playing the game of go (couldn’t compile because libboost libraries were more than 5 years old), or some Java applications like REW. However, LMDE 4 massively upgraded all this. I’ve not tested yet.
      And, I can’t tell myself, but I’ve heard that LMDE is faster and more stable than Ubuntu (and thus possibly than regular Mint).

  17. Installed without any issues to HDD on a cleared out drive using shred, what a remarkable and outstanding distro. this is! Fast, slick, organised and as smooth as silk. This appears to have almost everything needed and whats more, anything else is available.
    Thanks Debian Team I’m glad I moved over.

    Reply

    1. Hi mockturtl.

      If the output of dmesg | grep snd includes this line when running the 5.4 kernel:
      snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: Digital mics found on Skylake+ platform, aborting probe
      Run this in the terminal to fix the lack of audio card detection:
      sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-fix.conf <<<'options snd-hda-intel dmic_detect=0'

  19. Hello !

    I have a small problem, after the update (apt update) I would like to upgrade, but I have this error message “Cannot find the mintupgrade package”
    could you help me ?

    Emile

    Reply

    1. Hi Emile,

      Use the default repositories, refresh your cache. You should see mintupgrade in Cindy’s repositories. “apt cache mintupgrade” should help troubleshoot.

  20. LMDE3 MATE currently running on EeePC 1000HA – I would like to upgrade to LMDE4. Can I stay with MATE via the upgrade or will I need to switch to Cinnamon? If switch, how/when?

    Reply

  22. I am one of those dreaded newbies. I changed from Windows 8 to Linux Mint Cinnamon about a year ago which was easy to upload on to my computer. I only had a couple of problems but further upgrades fixed those. However I don’t know anything about APT. What will my options for moving to LDME4. Should I wait until it can be like the loading of theLDME3 (i.e not much input from me)

    Reply

  26. $ mintupgrade check
    fails with:
    !! ERROR: Performing the upgrade would remove the following important packages: cinnamon, metacity, mintsystem, nemo-preview, xed, xreader.

    $ lsb_release -a
    No LSB modules are available.
    Distributor ID: LinuxMint
    Description: LMDE 3 Cindy
    Release: 3

    $ cat /etc/os-release
    PRETTY_NAME=”LMDE 3 (cindy)”
    NAME=”LMDE”
    VERSION_ID=”3″
    VERSION=”3 (cindy)”
    ID=linuxmint
    ID_LIKE=debian
    …
    VERSION_CODENAME=cindy
    DEBIAN_CODENAME=stretch

    Any ideas?

    Reply

  28. Trying to upgrade from LMDE 3 to LMDE 4, I got the same error mentioned also by other people:
    !! ERROR: Performing the upgrade would remove the following important packages: cinnamon, metacity, mintsystem, nemo-preview, xed, xreader.
    Could someone tell me if it means that the upgrade is not possible and I have to go for a fresh installation?
    Thanks

    Reply

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