# Unable to upgrade to Debian Buster and Yunohost 4x
**URL:** https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** english
**Created:** [March 2, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804 "2021-03-02T06:28:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/1 "2021-03-02T06:28:15Z")
My YunoHost server
Hardware: Old computer
YunoHost version: 3.8.5.9
I have access to my server :through the webadmin
Are you in a special context or did you perform some particular tweaking on your YunoHost instance ?\*\* : no
I am unable to upgrade to Yunohost 4x via the migration tool due to these errors. Any advice would be greatly appreciated:)
[https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/wisuyiwigo](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/wisuyiwigo)
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/2 "2021-03-02T13:02:07Z")
- It would help if you could share the full log of the failed migration, the log you share is only the “system upgrade” suboperation
- It looks like you installed a graphical environment on your server, do you confirm that ?
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/3 "2021-03-02T23:34:40Z")
Please let me know if this is what you’re looking for, it is the log specifically for the migration
[https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/demawipiwo](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/demawipiwo)
And yes, I didn’t install Gnome Desktop to more easily navigate the server locally.
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/4 "2021-03-02T23:48:26Z")
Well idk what the hell happened, but from the timing of the logs, it sounds like you started the migration, then it failed, then you somehow thought “well it failed but whatever, let’s launch a system upgrade anyway”
Anyway … let’s first get rid of some boring warnings with :
```auto
rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sury.list
```
Then : it looks like the actual upgrade issue is related to
```auto
The AppStream system cache was updated, but some errors were detected, which might lead to missing metadata. Refer to the verbose log for more information.
[...]
E: Problem executing scripts APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success 'if /usr/bin/test -w /var/cache/app-info -a -e /usr/bin/appstreamcli; then appstreamcli refresh-cache > /dev/null; fi'
```
Does “appstream” means anything to you ? It sounds like it’s related to desktop environment stuff, which honestly is just boring, it’s not related to Yunohost and i’m starting to get tired of fixing stuff that are unrelated to yunohost itself…
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/5 "2021-03-02T23:49:38Z")
(But anyway you can still go in Tools \> Migrations, confirm migration 15 is still pending, then try to re-run it …)
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/6 "2021-03-03T00:11:44Z")
I have no idea what appstream is and I’m not concerned with it either.
When I originally attempted the migration it failed telling me that I needed to complete existing system upgrades first, or at least that’s what I thought:(
I will try what you suggested, thanks!
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/7 "2021-03-03T00:13:26Z")
It is pending, I am retrying now, it seems to be working so far … fingers crossed.
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/8 "2021-03-03T00:46:29Z")
No luck:(
[https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/itemubatin](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/itemubatin)
If the Gnome Desktop is causing issues should I be uninstalling it to make it headless again? Or is it something else?
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/9 "2021-03-03T01:25:15Z")
```auto
2021-03-02 19:36:46,912: WARNING - /dev/disk/by-id/ata-KINGSTON_SA400S37240G_50026B778253D15C does not exist, so cannot grub-install to it!
2021-03-02 19:36:46,913: WARNING - You must correct your GRUB install devices before proceeding:
2021-03-02 19:36:46,913: WARNING -
2021-03-02 19:36:46,914: WARNING - DEBIAN_FRONTEND=dialog dpkg --configure grub-pc
2021-03-02 19:36:46,914: WARNING - dpkg --configure -a
[...]
2021-03-02 19:38:59,039: WARNING - Errors were encountered while processing:
2021-03-02 19:38:59,040: WARNING - grub-pc
```
That error sounds similar to [Update Errors, also on fix commands!](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/update-errors-also-on-fix-commands/14496)
You should run `sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text dpkg --configure -a` and probably select /dev/sda … (though difficult to be 100% sure)
Also please run `rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sury.list` as advised previously to get rid of a bunch of warnings …
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/10 "2021-03-04T23:27:44Z")
To give you some background, I was nervous to do these upgrades and break the whole system so I decided to use Clonezilla and simply clone the entire drive to a second identical drive in case something terrible went wrong.
Is there a better way of getting to Yunohost 4x? Possibly by doing a clean install on the new drive and restoring a backup from my original install?
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/11 "2021-03-05T00:49:49Z")
Yes you can …
Or you can just try to run the _one_ command I provided about grub-pc (btw this particular issue ain’t really about yunohost itself, it’s just the grub people who somehow broke the upgrade of the grub-pc package … maybe it’s not even related to moving from stretch to buster)
and possibly relaunch the migration after this …
Don’t underestimate the cost of reinstalling everything from scratch (or from a backup) compared to taking “only” a couple hours to iterate with us on the support …
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/12 "2021-03-05T01:50:39Z")
thanks, I truly appreciate all the help and make every effort not to cause you any grief;( I’ll try the grub command and see where it gets me.
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/13 "2021-03-05T01:55:04Z")
This is what it presents me with 1 - is the drive (sda) and 2 - is the boot (sda1)
which should I be selecting?
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/14 "2021-03-05T23:05:50Z")
Yes,
> [@Aleks](#):
>
> and probably select /dev/sda … (though difficult to be 100% sure)
Same **disk** as where the boot partition is installed, so yes, /dev/sda ( **NOT** /dev/sda1)
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/15 "2021-03-06T22:58:32Z")
k, that worked, I’ll try to do the migration now
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/17 "2021-03-06T23:13:00Z")
 Looks like it worked but I’m getting 500 Internal Server Error now, I will reboot to see if this is required.
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/18 "2021-03-07T22:58:08Z")
Okay, upgrade complete but I’m unable to upgrade several apps
Nextcloud: [https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/bawutucowe](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/bawutucowe)
Roundcube: [https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/cezixalufe](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/cezixalufe)
Mastodon: [https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/xesesuzegu](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/xesesuzegu)
is there anything obvious that you can see?
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2021, 10:35am UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/19 "2021-03-08T10:35:21Z")
> A backup archive with this name already exists.
There are already a bunch of archives named nextcloud-pre-upgrade2 and same for other apps … the may be remains from failed upgrade attempts earlier, maybe you can delete those
---
### Author:  [@lps](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/lps)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/20 "2021-03-08T17:41:35Z")
I thought that might be the issue. I had a similar error with my initial Mastodon failed upgrade, I removed the existing file and tried again. Please compare the 2 Mastodon logs:
1st attempt, duplicate detected: [https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/xesesuzegu](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/xesesuzegu)
2nd attempt, duplicate removed: [https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/suhoqipuku](https://paste.yunohost.org/raw/suhoqipuku)
Mastodon still failed.
I think this may be an issue with the backup utility. I’ve been having issues for months where the Web Admin doesn’t load the backup tool, it simply times out. The only way I’ve been able to do backup is with the command line.
I will try Nextcloud to see if I remove the duplicate, the issue persists. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@Aleks](https://forum.yunohost.org/u/Aleks)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804/21 "2021-03-08T19:40:46Z")
`WARNING - /usr/share/yunohost/helpers.d/backup: line 412: 1908 Killed BACKUP_CORE_ONLY=1 yunohost backup create [...]`
Sounds like the issue is that yunohost got killed while trying to perform the backup … that’s usually indicative of an overloaded machine, lack of RAM, etc…
Do you have a lot of stuff running on your server ? Anything in particular in the diagnosis section “System resources” ?
[Next page](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/unable-to-upgrade-to-debian-buster-and-yunohost-4x/14804.md?page=2)