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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS End Of Life – activate ESM to keep your fleet of devices secure and operational
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Focal Fossa will reach the End of Standard Support in May 2025, also known as End Of Life (EOL). Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has become a critical component for millions of IoT and embedded devices worldwide, including kiosks, digital signage solutions, industrial appliances, and robotic systems. The release has been foundational for companies innovating in various industries, from healthcare to manufacturing. Like every Ubuntu LTS reaching the end of its standard support, Focal Fossa will transition to Extended Security Maintenance (ESM). This blog post will guide developers and businesses through their options and explain how to activate ESM for ongoing support.
Before we dive in, let’s revisit why Ubuntu releases have an EOL.
Linuxiac:
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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Reaches End of Standard Support
On May 29, 2025, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) officially transitioned from its standard support phase to Extended Security Maintenance. After five years of active support, Canonical has ceased accepting package updates into the primary archive for Ubuntu 20.04, signaling the end of standard security updates and bug fixes for this version.
Ubuntu 20.04 was initially released on March 23, 2020, and, like previous LTS releases, it benefited from a full five years of standard support. Now, as the standard support window closes, users still running Focal Fossa have options to maintain system security without immediate upgrades.
How-To Geek:
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Uubntu Linux 20.04 'Focal Fossa' Is No Longer Getting Updates
Ubuntu 20.04 ‘Focal Fossa’ has reached the end of standard support, so it won’t receive security patches and other updates unless you set up Ubuntu Pro. The end of support applies to desktops, servers, and many Linux distributions based on Ubuntu 20.04.
Canonical released Ubuntu 20.04 on April 23, 2020, complete with the GNOME 3.36 desktop environment, an updated lock screen and login screen, a global ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting, full fractional scaling support for HiDPI screens, Linux kernel 5.4, and deeper integration with Snap packages. It was a great release for the time, especially for people upgrading from the previous Long Term Support (LTS) release of ubuntu 18.04, but all good things must come to an end.
Ubuntu receives major updates twice each year, but the LTS version is intended as the more stable option with give years of standard support. Ubuntu 24.04 took over as the latest LTS release last year, and standard support for Ubuntu 20.04 has officially ended as of May 31st, 2025.