Are user accounts preserved during upgrade?

Question

I'd like to upgrade my ubuntu server from 18.04 LTS to eventually 22.04 LTS. I understand based on this post, I have to upgrade to 20.04 LTS first.

post:

18.04 -> 22.04 upgrade

I have some user accounts created on the server. I'm wondering if an upgrade preserves those accounts and their permissions?

also any tips on upgrading greatly appreciated.

Yes accounts are preserved, but experiences can differ based on what packages you use (esp. when third party). For best results I'd always read the Release notes & Upgrade instructions (eg. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FocalUpgrades for the upgrade to 20.04) as known issues including those discovered in QA get reported there (esp. Release Notes like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FocalFossa/ReleaseNotes) with workaround or mitigation details documented. — guiverc, Dec 03 '23 at 01:33
Does this answer your question? How do I upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu? — guiverc, Dec 03 '23 at 01:35
Does this answer your question? Can I skip over releases when upgrading? — karel, Dec 03 '23 at 02:25

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 03 '23 at 09:01

Yes, user accounts are preserved during an upgrade.

An upgrade updates the system files, but preserves both data files and configuration of the users and system configuration. So any user accounts continue to be configured in the upgraded system, and user files and their permissions, etc., are preserved.

Are user accounts preserved during upgrade?

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