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I just tried to upgrade my Ubuntu server from 20.04 to 22.04 using the `do-release-upgrade` command, but it failed halfway through. Now I'm stuck with a partially upgraded system that won't boot properly, and I can't seem to get the network manager to start so I can even try to fix it remotely.

That sounds brutal. I had a similar halfway upgrade once. I booted into recovery mode, dropped to a root shell, then ran apt-get -f install and dpkg --configure -a to fix broken packages, and checked /var/log/dist-upgrade for clues. After that I tried a reboot and a different kernel, but the system still wouldn’t boot cleanly. In the end I booted from a rescue USB, mounted the root partition, chrooted, and completed the upgrade there. Not elegant, but it worked eventually.

Networking on a headless server can be tricky after an upgrade. In my case the NetworkManager service refused to start even though the config looked fine. I checked systemctl status NetworkManager, enabled it, and also verified netplan had a config under /etc/netplan. If you’re not using NetworkManager on a server, the fix might be to ensure systemd-networkd or netplan is actually managing the interface rather than forcing NetworkManager to take over.

Grub and kernel issues can masquerade as a networking problem. I would try booting into an older kernel from GRUB and see if the machine boots, then attempt to finish the upgrade from there or use a chroot to repair the dist-upgrade once you’re in a working environment.

Do you have out of band or console access to the machine so you can recover without relying on remote networking?

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