do-release-upgrade silently fails upgrading from 18.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS in WSL

Question

It's high time I upgrade Ubuntu from 18.04 to 20.04! But I don't get very far before the process aborts without an error message. Is there a log file I can check for further information?

$ uname -a
Linux tribble 5.4.72-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Wed Oct 28 23:40:43 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic
$ sudo do-release-upgrade
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
Get:1 Upgrade tool signature [1554 B]
Get:2 Upgrade tool [1340 kB]
Fetched 1342 kB in 0s (0 B/s)
authenticate 'focal.tar.gz' against 'focal.tar.gz.gpg'
extracting 'focal.tar.gz'

In the created screen:

Reading cache
Checking package manager
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net/maxmind/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease
Hit https://packagecloud.io/cs50/repo/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Fetched 0 B in 0s (0 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
[LONG PAUSE]
Restoring original system state
Aborting
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
=== Command terminated with exit status 1 (Thu Aug  5 02:10:50 2021) ===

Apparently, there's /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log. All it shows is that Quirks.focalPostInitialUpdate "called abort".

2021-08-05 02:08:40,403 INFO Using config files '['./DistUpgrade.cfg.bionic', '/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/ubuntu-advantage-upgrades.cfg']'
2021-08-05 02:08:40,403 INFO uname information: 'Linux tribble 5.4.72-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Wed Oct 28 23:40:43 UTC 2020 x86_64'
2021-08-05 02:08:40,852 INFO apt version: '1.6.14'
2021-08-05 02:08:40,853 INFO python version: '3.6.9 (default, Jan 26 2021, 15:33:00)
[GCC 8.4.0]'
2021-08-05 02:08:40,859 INFO release-upgrader version '20.04.34' started
2021-08-05 02:08:40,866 INFO locale: 'en_US' 'UTF-8'
2021-08-05 02:08:40,948 WARNING estimate_kernel_initrd_size_in_boot() returned '0' for kernel?
2021-08-05 02:08:40,948 WARNING estimate_kernel_initrd_size_in_boot() returned '0' for initrd?
2021-08-05 02:08:40,968 DEBUG Using 'DistUpgradeViewText' view
2021-08-05 02:08:41,024 DEBUG enable dpkg --force-overwrite
2021-08-05 02:08:41,055 DEBUG creating statefile: '/var/log/dist-upgrade/apt-clone_system_state.tar.gz'
2021-08-05 02:08:43,346 DEBUG lsb-release: 'bionic'
2021-08-05 02:08:43,346 DEBUG _pythonSymlinkCheck run
2021-08-05 02:08:43,347 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 02:08:43,347 DEBUG quirks: running PreCacheOpen
2021-08-05 02:08:43,347 DEBUG running Quirks.PreCacheOpen
2021-08-05 02:08:44,659 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72360
2021-08-05 02:08:44,660 DEBUG need_server_mode(): can not find a desktop meta package or key deps, running in server mode
2021-08-05 02:08:44,660 DEBUG checkViewDepends()
2021-08-05 02:08:44,662 DEBUG running doUpdate() (showErrors=False)
2021-08-05 02:08:46,643 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 02:08:48,077 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72360
2021-08-05 02:08:48,077 DEBUG doPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 02:08:48,077 DEBUG quirks: running focalPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 02:08:48,077 DEBUG running Quirks.focalPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 02:10:48,996 DEBUG abort called
2021-08-05 02:10:48,998 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 02:10:50,287 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72360

Other files in /var/log/dist-upgrade reveal nothing either.

Additional info:

Windows was brought up to date beforehand (in case it was some WSL issue).
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade did not help.

Doubt this is the problem, but worth checking -- Did you sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade immediately before trying the do-release-upgrade? — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 14:20
Actually, this one has a better chance. I've seen that be a problem on WSL1, but since this was WSL2, I didn't think it was the answer. However, that question/answer was just about "regular" (non-WSL) Ubuntu, so it could certainly be what's causing the problem for you as well. — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 20:09
@NotTheDr01ds oo, the second mentions a log file! I'll check these out in a bit. — ikegami, Aug 05 '21 at 20:11
True! I didn't even notice the log file in that linked question (which I know was part of your question as well). — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 20:14
Did you get a chance to try the sudo apt-get purge snapd mentioned in that question? — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 21:22
@NotTheDr01ds, Not yet. I figured I'd try getting Windows up to date first; this will take a while. A bit busy with other things atm, so it's something that can be done without my attention. — ikegami, Aug 05 '21 at 21:23
@NotTheDr01ds, Removing snapd did the trick. Closed as dup of this. Thanks for the help. — ikegami, Aug 06 '21 at 05:10

score 23 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 06 '21 at 04:42

I had the same issue. I thought I didn't have snap installed and there are no PPAs as far as I know. Checked out /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log and there were no errors. Here's the output:

2021-08-05 16:57:53,055 INFO Using config files '['./DistUpgrade.cfg.bionic', '/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/ubuntu-advantage-upgrades.cfg']'
2021-08-05 16:57:53,055 INFO uname information: 'Linux DESKTOP-514S07G 4.4.0-19041-Microsoft #488-Microsoft Mon Sep 01 13:43:00 PST 2020 x86_64'
2021-08-05 16:57:53,586 INFO apt version: '1.6.14'
2021-08-05 16:57:53,587 INFO python version: '3.6.9 (default, Jan 26 2021, 15:33:00)
[GCC 8.4.0]'
2021-08-05 16:57:53,601 INFO release-upgrader version '20.04.34' started
2021-08-05 16:57:53,648 INFO locale: 'en_US' 'UTF-8'
2021-08-05 16:57:53,820 WARNING estimate_kernel_initrd_size_in_boot() returned '0' for kernel?
2021-08-05 16:57:53,820 WARNING estimate_kernel_initrd_size_in_boot() returned '0' for initrd?
2021-08-05 16:57:53,870 DEBUG Using 'DistUpgradeViewText' view
2021-08-05 16:57:53,991 DEBUG enable dpkg --force-overwrite
2021-08-05 16:57:54,198 DEBUG creating statefile: '/var/log/dist-upgrade/apt-clone_system_state.tar.gz'
2021-08-05 16:57:56,401 DEBUG lsb-release: 'bionic'
2021-08-05 16:57:56,402 DEBUG _pythonSymlinkCheck run
2021-08-05 16:57:56,403 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 16:57:56,403 DEBUG quirks: running PreCacheOpen
2021-08-05 16:57:56,403 DEBUG running Quirks.PreCacheOpen
2021-08-05 16:57:57,597 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72355
2021-08-05 16:57:57,598 DEBUG need_server_mode(): can not find a desktop meta package or key deps, running in server mode
2021-08-05 16:57:57,598 DEBUG checkViewDepends()
2021-08-05 16:57:57,603 DEBUG running doUpdate() (showErrors=False)
2021-08-05 16:58:03,578 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 16:58:04,857 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72355
2021-08-05 16:58:04,857 DEBUG doPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 16:58:04,857 DEBUG quirks: running focalPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 16:58:04,858 DEBUG running Quirks.focalPostInitialUpdate
2021-08-05 16:58:05,643 DEBUG abort called
2021-08-05 16:58:05,644 DEBUG openCache()
2021-08-05 16:58:06,869 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 72355

It turned out I had snapd installed and removing it solved the problem.

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. I know this is frustrating, but Ask Ubuntu intentionally doesn't allow new users to post comments until they have enough rep. Normally, I'd say "this is more a comment", but I also know that the log wouldn't fit in a comment. But your information does show one big difference between your system and @ikegami's question. Your uname line shows that you are using WSL1, where the uname for @ikegami shows it is WSL2. While usually that doesn't make a difference, I've seen it be a pretty big factor for Ubuntu upgrades on WSL. — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 21:18
Also, are you sure you don't have snapd installed? AFAIK, it's there by default unless you've removed it. — NotTheDr01ds, Aug 05 '21 at 21:21
@NotTheDr01ds you nailed it - I did indeed have snapd. Removed it and it's now happily updating, thanks! — Adrian Sanabria, Aug 05 '21 at 23:19

do-release-upgrade silently fails upgrading from 18.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS in WSL

1 Answers1

Linked