# Chapter 2. Migrating and Upgrading

## Migrating from Windows

### A quick Windows–Xubuntu dictionary

Windows | Xubuntu
--- | ---
Add/Remove Programs | → Ubuntu Software Center
Control Panel | → Settings Manager for personal preferences → System (menu) for additional configuration
Windows Explorer | → Accessories → File Manager
My Documents | `/home/username/`

### Windows applications on Linux

It is possible to run Windows applications under Xubuntu. A few possible choices are:

- Wine, the Windows emulator. Wine allows running some Windows applications without having to install a Windows operating system. Refer to the Wine AppDB to find out which applications will run on Wine and the Wine documentation for FAQ's and user support.

- VirtualBox, virtualization software. You can install a Windows operating system along with any application into a virtual machine managed by VirtualBox. Note that 3D support on VirtualBox is still quite unreliable. To read more about VirtualBox and virtualization, refer to the VirtualBox end-user documentation.

Both Wine and VirtualBox are available in the software repositories.

### Windows networking on Linux

Accessing Windows network shares under Xubuntu can be easily done using:

- → Accessories → File Manager, with which you can browse publicly visible shares by clicking on the Network item in the sidebar. Alternatively, you can browse a remote file system by going to Go → Open Location... and entering `smb://computername/sharename`.

- → System → Gigolo, which allows you to save bookmarks and manage remote file systems. To connect, click the first toolbar button. Select Windows Share from Service Type, then enter the remote share's details.

If some options are not available or do not work, ensure that the `gvfs-backends` is installed.

## Upgrading from an older version of Xubuntu

### How can I upgrade to the latest version of Xubuntu?

A new version of Xubuntu is released every 6 months; the Software Updater should inform you when a new version is available for download. To check for a new version:

- Navigate to Software Sources, by clicking → Settings Manager → Software & Updates

- Select the Updates tab

- Select For any new version from the list labeled Notify me of a new Ubuntu version, enter your password, and press Close

- Go to → Settings Manager → Software Updater and wait for the list of available updates to be downloaded

- If a new version of Xubuntu is available, a box at the top of the window will appear saying that a new distribution release is available.

- To upgrade to the latest release, save all of your open documents and press the Upgrade button in Software Updater

Upgrades usually take a while to complete. Typically, around 700MB of packages must be downloaded and installed, although the actual figure will depend on how many packages are already installed on your computer.

You can only upgrade to the latest Xubuntu release if you are running the second most recent release. If you have an older release, you must upgrade to the next release after that, and so on until you are running the most recent version. For example, users of version 9.04 would first have to upgrade to version 9.10 before upgrading to version 10.04. An exception to this rule is with Long Term Support (LTS) releases. You can upgrade directly from the previous LTS release to the current LTS release.

### Upgrading to a development release

Development releases often suffer from package breakages and other problems. Only install a development release if you are prepared to attempt to fix these problems for yourself.

If you would like to install and test the latest development version of Xubuntu before it is released, run `sudo -i` at the command line to obtain a root prompt, and then enter `update-manager -c -d`. This will allow you to upgrade to the current development release.

Chapter 1. What is Xubuntu? |  | Chapter 3. Getting to know your desktop environment