[Other] After upgrading my system from 20.04 LTS to 20.10, Plasma becomes very unstable

[notspongbob]

I've installed Kubuntu on my computer last month, and I haven't had many major problems with it until now. I wanted to get the latest version of KDE Plasma on Kubuntu, so I asked a few friends for some assistance and they told me to run these commands in this order:

1. sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
2. sudo apt dist-upgrade
3. nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades (then I changed "Prompt=lts" to "Prompt=normal")
4. sudo do-release-upgrade

After running these commands, I restarted my computer and logged in. Then, I quickly realized that Plasma became very unstable (which I expected, but I didn't think it would be this bad) and I really wanted to go back, but I don't know how. So far, I've changed "Prompt=normal" back to "Prompt=lts" in the file mentioned above in step 3 but I don't know what to do next.

I want to go back because of some weird things going on in 20.10, but for some reason I can't exactly identify them. It just feels different, and not in a good way. I just want to reset everything that happened after/while upgrading to 20.10 and return to 20.04 LTS (and also Plasma 5.18), if possible. Basically, I just want to get my old 20.04 LTS system back. I hope you understand what I want to do.

Extra information

• Version of Kubuntu: Kubuntu 20.10 (updated from Kubuntu 20.04 LTS)
• KDE Plasma Version: Plasma 5.19.5
• Grub Version: 2.04-1ubuntu35.4
• Other operating systems installed: Windows

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PC Info

• Desktop/Laptop: Desktop
• CPU: Intel Core i5, probably 64-bit
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 580 Series
• RAM: 8gb

[claydoh]

You cannot 'undo' the upgrade. You can do a fresh install of either 20.04 or 20.10, and restore your backed up settings, data, and files from your home dir.

If you have not, I do suggest, before deciding to upgrade in the future, to try out the new release via the live USB, to see how things may be different there before jumping in.
Or try it out as a virtual machine using Virt-manager or Virtualbox.

[notspongbob]

You cannot 'undo' the upgrade. You can do a fresh install of either 20.04 or 20.10, and restore your backed up settings, data, and files from your home dir.

If you have not, I do suggest, before deciding to upgrade in the future, to try out the new release via the live USB, to see how things may be different there before jumping in.
Or try it out as a virtual machine using Virt-manager or Virtualbox.

So my only option is to reinstall Kubuntu?

[claydoh]

So my only option is to reinstall Kubuntu?

Correct. unfortunately.
Or see what is needed to fix your 20.10.
There are no rollbacks, unless one has made disk images or other similar backups beforehand.

But it is not terribly difficult - just copy the contents of your home dir, reinstall, then copy the files back.
Unless you have your $HOME on its own partition. Then, it is a bit easier as all that is needed is to set this partition as the $HOME during the install, using the manual partitioning options.
This is a method a very large number of people use to make potential reinstalls quicker and easier

[notspongbob]

Correct. unfortunately.
Or see what is needed to fix your 20.10.
There are no rollbacks, unless one has made disk images or other similar backups beforehand.

But it is not terribly difficult - just copy the contents of your home dir, reinstall, then copy the files back.
Unless you have your $HOME on its own partition. Then, it is a bit easier as all that is needed is to set this partition as the $HOME during the install, using the manual partitioning options.
This is a method a very large number of people use to make potential reinstalls quicker and easier

What type of data would this copy over? Would it copy settings, application data, files, and stuff like that? I have some important files on my computer, and some other important data is stored in applications I have installed.

[claydoh]

All your desktop settings, application settings, browser caches, and your user files are stored in your home dir -- /home/your-username. So the entire folder is easy to back up and restore.
After a clean install, you would have to reinstall any extra software you added previously, but their settings and files are all stored in each user's home dir. Nothing is stored in an application itself.

Look at your home dir in Dolphin, and hit the alt-. key combo to view hidden files. Everything in there is what you want.

[notspongbob]

All your desktop settings, application settings, browser caches, and your user files are stored in your home dir -- /home/your-username. So the entire folder is easy to back up and restore.
After a clean install, you would have to reinstall any extra software you added previously, but their settings and files are all stored in each user's home dir. Nothing is stored in an application itself.

Look at your home dir in Dolphin, and hit the alt-. key combo to view hidden files. Everything in there is what you want.

Thanks, it seems like reinstalling might be the best option right now. I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions but where could I backup the home folder? It's around 24gb and Google Drive and MEGA (the accounts I have) have a 15gb limit. Would storing it on my Windows partition temporarily work fine?

[dequire]

64 GB USB sticks are pretty cheap.