How to Upgrade From Fedora 43 to Fedora 44

Fedfora 44 is here and brings a good set of new features to give you a cutting-edge Linux distribution.

If you have already been using Fedora 43 or 42, you can easily upgrade your existing Fedora to the latest version.

As typical, you have two ways to upgrade your Fedora 44:

• Use the GUI and upgrade through the software center
• Use the command line to upgrade

Both methods work fine. It is up to you which one you prefer. I'll share both methods in this tutorial. But before that, let's see what else you should do.

Before upgrading

There are two things I advise to do before upgrading the Fedora version, and both are optional.

1. Make a backup of your important data (optional but recommended)

The upgrades are almost always painless and straight-forward. But a smart computer user always backs up the important data he/she cannot afford to lose. I have never encountered a failed system after an upgrade ever in my life, but I don't want to be unprepared for such a situation.

I usually keep several copies of my personal photos, videos and documents. Before upgrading, if these things have not been backed up, I copy most of the contents from the home directory to my SanDisk external SSD (partner Amazon link) shown in the picture below. SSD with USB 3 or Thunderbolt have very good copying speed.

I have my reasons for copying the entire home directory. It's a no-brainer. I don't have to choose what I should copy and what I should not.

And then many app related data are usally in the .config directory under home. If I had configured something to my liking, I would have a way to import those config in the new system (if needed). And I won't lose the SSH keys in .ssh as well.

2. Check your favorite extension and apps (absolutely optional)

This is only for people who are extremely picky about their workflow and tools. If you rely on GNOME Extensions too much, it makes sense to check if your favorite extension is supported in the new GNOME version.

See, a new GNOME release means, some of your existing GNOME extensions may break after the upgrade. So it is always better to know the status of GNOME extensions.

And if you cannot manage without some of your favorite extensions that are not supported on the new release, you can decide to hold on to upgrade. Perhaps your extension will see an update later.

Luckily, the Extension Manager application provides a convenient way to check these. Install, if you haven't already used the GNOME Software.

Once installed, click on the top-right hamburger menu and select Upgrade Assistant.

Here, new GNOME version (50) is selected, and click on Check Compatibility. This will initiate a check and report to you what all installed extensions support GNOME 50 or breaks in GNOME 50.

When you are sure that the new GNOME version did not break your experience, you can start the upgrade procedure.

Method 1: Using GNOME Software to Upgrade to Fedora 44

The good thing about Fedora is that it doesn’t take long to notify you of the availability of a new version. All you have to do is open the GNOME Software and look for updates. You may see the new version available here.

You must have a fully updated Fedora before continuing with the upgrade, even if there is a new update notification.

If you don’t see any upgrades available here, try hitting the reload button in the top-left corner.

Now, you will see the the new version available notification in the software center.

Remember that it may take a couple of days before the upgrade to the newer version of Fedora is available for everyone. Considering, upgrades are rolled down gradually to minimize the load on servers.

If you see the upgrade option available, click Download and follow the procedure.

If you do not see the availability of the next release in the software center, you can either restart your system or kill any instance of GNOME Software with this command, if refreshing/reloading doesn’t work:

pkill gnome-software

Now start GNOME Software again, and you should see the availability of Fedora 44. Hit the download button.

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.

Here, click on the "Restart and Upgrade" button as shown in the image below.

Before starting the upgrade, it will show you a warning that software that does not work with the latest Fedora version will be removed (if you have a package like that).

Once your system restart, 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 44.

Method 2: Use the command line to upgrade to Fedora 44

With the terminal on Fedora, you will have to use the dnf package manager. DNF offers a system upgrade plugin for the sole purpose of distribution upgrade, which we will have to utilize.

First things first, make sure that your system packages are updated. Open a terminal and run the command below:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Furthermore, 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. You may already have it installed. Use the command to install it if it isn’t present:

sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade

Now that you have everything set, you can start the upgrade now.

You should know the version to which you are upgrading. When you are upgrading to Fedora 44, use the number 44 in the command:

sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=44

You’ll see that it lists the packages to download for the Fedora 44 upgrade.

Once you proceed, it will download the packages. At some point, you will be asked to accept a key. Press y and enter to continue.

You can verify the authenticity of the key by going to the official security page. Here, compare the key displayed on your terminal with the corresponding key displayed on the website. In this case, key of Fedora 44.

You will get a Download Complete message in terminal.

Once the download finishes, you can reboot your system to resume the upgrade procedure. Use this command to reboot and continue:

sudo dnf5 offline reboot

You will see the kernel selection screen at the reboot.

The upgrade should start once you select the preferred kernel, and you should be greeted with a progress screen.

Once it is done, you can log in to Fedora 44 and start experiencing the desktop.

Did you upgrade to Fedora 44?

I hope this tutorial helped you upgrade to Fedora 44 from Fedora 43 or 42. Did you make a backup before upgrading? Which method did you use? GUI or CLI? Did you face any issues?

Please don’t hesitate to comment below for any clarifications or suggestions.