Upgrade from SLES 15 SP7 to 16 doesn't work

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES Updates
1

I try to follow https://documentation.suse.com/sles/16.0/html/SLES-upgrading/index.html but nothing happens. I run these steps:

  • zypper in suse-migration-sle16-activation
  • These NEW packages are going to be installed: SLES16-Migration suse-migration-sle16-activation
  • reboot
  • In the boot menu a new option “SLES 15-SP7 Migration” appears and is executed.
  • System reboots
  • The previous option disappears.
  • Nothing happened.

I have installed all updates and ran “zypper patch” as suggested.

Please advice. Thx

2

When the system rebooted it should boot into an upgrade live image to do the actual upgrade but it sounds like you’re saying it just boots back into SLES15 SP7?

3

It’s exactly what you write. I see only the “SP15 SP7” option and in the boot menu is not the “upgrade live image” option.

4

So I’ve just installed a test SLES15 SP7 x86_64 VM to check this and I also see the SLES15 SP7 Migration option appear at boot which as the new default is booted. This does then kick off an upgrade

Screenshot from 2026-02-19 18-29-58
Screenshot from 2026-02-19 18-29-581308×912 51.9 KB

Since this isn’t quick, if you’re not seeing this behaviour at boot then something is broken for you and should be logged directly with SUSE Support.

I’ll update here whether the actual upgrade works :crossed_fingers:

5

A thought - does your machine have network access? Given it’s pulling packages from (in my case) SCC I can imagine that access is checked at the beginning and if it fails it aborts the upgrade?

6

My upgrade completed successfully. It did create a log file at /var/log/distro_migration.log so perhaps that also exists for you and can shed some light on what did (or didn’t) happen.