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I want to go back to 20.04, keeping my packages and files. I just want to overwrite the system, basically just "roll back" to 20.04. I haven't been able to find a clear answer anywhere. Thank you for your help.

Bill King
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    You can't downgrade. You'll need to reinstall. However, I encourage you to ask about whatever problem has made you believe you need to downgrade. This is an XY Problem – Nmath Aug 06 '22 at 16:35
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    Your own backups provide the real rollback capabilities you have, and how are we to know what backup strategy you put in place if you didn't like Ubuntu 22.04 LTS? There is no downgrade path; except from HWE kernel to GA kernel etc within the same release. You can re-install a system & switch release that way; it's best forwards but will also go backwards but that requires a lot of homework on the end-user to ensure the older programs can use data files modified by later versions for each app they use; problems are rare but they do exist. – guiverc Aug 06 '22 at 23:32
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    Does this answer your question? How to roll back Ubuntu to a previous version? – guiverc Aug 06 '22 at 23:32
  • I'm involved in QA-testing, and regularly use the same desktop system to QA-test a re-install (upgrade via re-install, or install using existing partition) to switch to the new release being QA-tested; eg. a recent impish I no longer require becomes kinetic, or with recent 22.04.1 testing installs move to jammy, but they'll become focal soon when testing 20.04.5 is done ie. I regularly bump releases around (forward & backwards) so I know it's possible, but I've been bitten by it before so I also know the pitfalls (ie. validating each of your used apps) – guiverc Aug 06 '22 at 23:37
  • fyi: the install using existing partition documentation can be found here for Lubuntu... it works with Ubuntu Desktop, & all flavors, but not server apps as they store conf in system directories that get wiped. I've also written answers here but I've written so many I'm not looking for them, including some details on the pitfalls on data issues. Your own backups are best/easiest by far, but upgrade via re-install works well in my experience if you've done your homework – guiverc Aug 06 '22 at 23:43

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