Brief: This tutorial shows you how to upgrade Fedora version to a new major release.
Considering that Fedora 30 has been released, you as Fedora 29 user may want to upgrade your system to the latest release an use all the new features in Fedora 30.
In this article, I’ll show you how to upgrade to Fedora 30 Workstation from Fedora 29 Workstation.
Note
This article was originally written for upgrading Fedora 27 to Fedora 28. But the steps for upgrading the Fedora version remains the same for any release. Hence, I haven’t changed the screenshots in the tutorial.
Upgrade Fedora to a Newer Release
There are two ways to upgrade to a newer version of Fedora. The graphical way and the command line way. I’ll show you both ways of upgrading Fedora in this tutorial.
Use Software Center to upgrade to Fedora 30
The good thing about Fedora is that it doesn’t take long in notifying you of availability of a new version. All you have to do is to open the Software Center and look for updates. You may see the new version available here.
If you don’t see any upgrades available here, try hitting the reload button on the top left corner.
Keep in mind that it may take a couple of days before the upgrade to the newer version of Fedora is available for everyone. If everyone gets to upgrade on the same day, it would stress the servers which would result in slow downloads of the updates. Servers may even crash. This is why upgrades are rolled down gradually.
If you see the upgrade option available, just click on Download and follow the procedure.
The download will take some time depending on your internet speed. Once the required files have been downloaded, you’ll be asked whether you want to install them or not.
When you choose to install it, you’ll be asked to restart your system. It kind of reminds me of Windows upgrade. Upgrading Ubuntu version doesn’t obstruct you from using your desktop.
Once you restart and login to your existing Kernel (the grub screen), you’ll see that your system is upgrading to a newer version:
Once this process completes, your system will boot into the newer Fedora version. That’s it. Enjoy Fedora 30.
Use command line to upgrade to Fedora 30
Another way to upgrade Fedora is by using DNF command line tool. DNF has a system upgrade plugin for the sole purpose of distribution upgrade.
First thing first, make sure that your system packages are updated. Open a terminal and run the command below:
sudo dnf upgrade --refreshUpgrade or no upgrade, it’s always a good idea to make a backup of your system. I suggest that you make a backup of your important files before the upgrade. It is optional yet recommended.
Next, you need to get the upgrade plugin. Use the command below for that:
sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgradeNow that you have everything set, you can start the upgrade now. You should know the version to which you are upgrading. If you are upgrading to Fedora 30, use the number 30 in the command:
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=30
You’ll see that it starts downloading the Fedora 30 upgrades.
Note: If you face issues when upgrading because of broken dependencies, or obsolete packages, add the ‐‐allowerasing flag in the above command. This flag removes packages that are blocking Fedora upgrade.
Once the download finishes, you can reboot your system into the upgrade procedure. Use this command for that:
sudo dnf system-upgrade rebootYou’ll see the kernel selection screen at the reboot.
And after this, the system upgrades begins. It may take some time in completing the upgrade.
Did you upgrade to Fedora 30?
I hope this tutorial helped you to upgrade to Fedora 30 from Fedora 29. If you any questions or suggestions, please feel free to drop a comment below.
Hello, any way to upgrade using the Fedora 30 live is on USB stick. Already downloaded this live is and my data plan can’t take the hit. I figure live is should be able to do it. Thank you. Good article but no internet connection.
Hi Abhishek
I have upgraded fedora gnome workstation to ver 30. On reboot i am stuck in a log in loop. I tried disabling gnome extensions via the virtual terminal and got the following:
** (process:2784): CRITICAL **: 09:09:42.115: Failed to get connection to xfconfd: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without x11 $DISPLAY
I have searched fedora site but, as a novice, cannot determine an answer / work around
I hope you can help?
PD
just the fact that you think you need to explain how to upgrade this system makes me think I wouldn’t want a system that would call for this explanation. Perhaps you’re just exaggerating for the extreme doofus, but in other operating systems it’s so easy that I can’t imagine how somebody would need instructions
I think you are the one who is dufus
Good article Mr. Prakash.
I’m using the standard (Gnome) Fedora Workstation edition. I used the procedure you describe to upgrade from 28 to 29. But now dnf list and dnf info return No Matching Packages for dnf-plugin-system-upgrade. The upgrade does show up in the graphical software manager. Dunno if that option has been removed from the command line, if the capability has been moved from a plugin to the “main” dnf program, or if there is something wrong with my configuration. (I’m not backed up yet so I’m not ready to try “dnf system-upgrade” from the command line.)
Anyway, you might want to confirm that the command line process is still the same.
Hello Hugh,
Please try this command to enable updates repository:
sudo dnf config-manager –set-enabled updates
And then, use this command:
sudo dnf update –refresh
After this, try to try to install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade
Mr. Prakash,
That seemed to work. Thank you! I have not yet performed the upgrade but was able to install the plugin. It kinda sorta looks like the package name is now
python3-dnf-plugin-system-upgrade
That may have contributed to my previous difficulties. But after I performed
dnf update –refresh
dnf install dnf-plugin-system-update
intalled python3-dnf-plugin-system-upgrade.
After upgrade plugin, I used the command for upgrade to Fedora 28, but in vain. The outcome is given below.
[[email protected] ~]$ sudo dnf system-upgrade download –releasever=28
[sudo] password for anupam:
No such command: system-upgrade. Please use /bin/dnf –help
It could be a DNF plugin command, try: “dnf install ‘dnf-command(system-upgrade)'”
[[email protected] ~]$
As I’m new in Fedora, solicit your advice.