Thank you David for your fast response, Indeed, in order to update I opened the terminal and started the procedure described in Release notes (terminal was the only running program). It is the first time I update a Linux system and from your answer I understand that this is done differently.
Ctrl-Alt-F2 moves me to the graphical interface to login, although something like a constant refresh doesn't let me insert the root password. Pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1, I return to the same message with the black background that I described in my OP. Ctrl-Alt-F3 opens the tty3 and prompts for login (this must be the "textual VC" you mentioned in your answer). Which is the best option to proceed and how can I continue? The message does not indicate a problem (at least I didn't recognize it). Thanks again, - Thanos. On Thu, Dec 9, 2021 at 5:37 PM David Wright <deb...@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote: > On Thu 09 Dec 2021 at 16:39:52 (+0200), Thanos Katsiolis wrote: > > > I followed the Release notes > > <https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/release-notes.en.pdf> for > > Debian 10, in order to update from Debian 9 to Debian 10. After running > > > > apt-get upgrade > > > > I ran > > > > apt full-upgrade > > > > to complete the update to Debian 10. While the command was running on > > terminal, it switched to black background and displayed > > > > /dev/sda5: clean, xxxxxxx/xxxxxx files, xxxxxxx/xxxxxx blocks > > [ xxxxxx] kvm: disabled by bios > > [ xxxxxx] kvm: disabled by bios > > [ xxxxxx] kvm: disabled by bios > > [ xxxxxx] kvm: disabled by bios > > [ OK ] Started Daily apt upgrade and clean activities. > > > > with a blinking underscore, and the upgrade is interrupted. What is this > > about, and how can I proceed? > > That sounds as if you might have been in X while upgrading, and > dropped out into a console that was displaying the original startup > messages (which look very much like my own). See §4.1.5. > > If you can't find a shell prompt (eg, try Ctrl-Alt-F2 etc for possible > VCs) so you can carry on, it may be necessary to close down as > gracefully as you are able to, and then login as root to a textual VC > to carry on with the upgrade. APT is pretty clever and picking up > where it left off, though you might benefit from running commands > such as: > > # apt-get -f install > # dpkg --configure --pending > > if things have got somewhat wedged. (See §4.5.3 and the sections > around there.) > > Cheers, > David. > >
