Upgrading to Fedora 45: Complete How-To Guide

Tue, 10/11/2026 - 08:00

If you are looking for a clear guide on how to upgrade from Fedora 44 to Fedora 45, you are in the right place. In this article, you will learn how to prepare for the upgrade, which terminal commands to use, and what to do to ensure a smooth, safe transition without data loss.

By following these simple steps, you can upgrade your distribution to the new release. If you need assistance with a production server, or want to optimize your configuration, do not hesitate to contact us. One of our Linux consultants is ready to help you.

Quick Summary: How to upgrade to Fedora 45 via terminal

To upgrade to Fedora 45, open the terminal and update your current packages with sudo dnf upgrade --refresh. Install the upgrade tool by typing sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade. Download the new release files with sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=45 and, once finished (after accepting the official GPG key), restart the system with sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot. The offline installation will take about 15-30 minutes.

Requirements and New Features

Fedora 45: Minimum system requirements

Processor: 2 GHz dual-core x86 (64-bit architecture) or supported ARM architecture
RAM: 2 GiB
Disk Space: 15 GiB

Fedora 45: Recommended requirements

Processor: 2 GHz dual/quad-core x86_64 or higher
RAM: 4 GiB (8 GiB recommended for a smooth desktop experience)
Disk Space: 20 GiB (preferably on SSD)
Graphics card: 3D video acceleration, 1920x1080 resolution or higher

What's new in this release

Fedora 45 further refines the modern Linux experience. It introduces GNOME 51, KDE Plasma 6.7, and is built on the solid Linux Kernel 6.21. Highlights include the mature adoption of DNF5 with significantly faster dependency resolution performance, hardware security improvements, and smarter power management for laptops.

Desktop Environments: Upgrade to GNOME 51 with smoother graphical workflows and KDE Plasma 6.7 with even more stable multi-monitor and Wayland support.
Package Management: DNF5 becomes the absolute standard, with a significantly lower RAM footprint and more aggressive parallel downloads.
Kernel & Performance: The transition to Kernel 6.2x brings better management of asymmetric cores (big.LITTLE) and out-of-the-box driver compatibility for the latest generation GPUs.

1. Preparing for the Upgrade

Before starting the upgrade to Fedora 45, follow these essential steps to ensure the safety of your data:

Backup: Perform a full backup of your personal data to prevent the loss of important files.
Check disk space: Make sure you have enough free space on your disk (at least 5-10 GB free on the root partition).
Update existing packages: Open the terminal and type sudo dnf upgrade --refresh to update all packages to the latest stable release of your current version.

2. Upgrade via Terminal (Command Line)

The safest and most preferred procedure by Linux users to upgrade Fedora is via the command-line interface (CLI). Here is how to proceed:

Execute a full update of the current system:
```
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
```

Install the official system upgrade tool:

sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade

Download the necessary packages to move to Fedora 45:

sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=45

Security Note: During this step, the system will ask you to confirm the import of an OpenPGP key. The fingerprint shown is the official cryptographic key of the Fedora project for this release. Confirm by typing 'Y' to proceed safely.

Importing OpenPGP key 0xF577861E:
 UserID     : "Fedora (45) <[email protected]>"
 Fingerprint: 4F50A6114CD5C6976A7F1179655A4B02F577861E
 From       : file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-x86_64
Is this ok [y/N]: Y

The key was successfully imported.
        Transaction stored to be performed offline. Run `dnf5 offline reboot` to reboot and run the transaction. To cancel the transaction and delete the downloaded files, use `dnf5 offline clean`.
Complete!

Once the download is complete, initiate the offline reboot to apply the update:

sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot

The system will now reboot to upgrade to release version 45.
Is this ok [y/N]: Y

During the reboot, the system will complete the installation of the new packages and will automatically boot into your new Fedora 45 screen. Do not turn off or interrupt the PC during this phase.

3. Post-Installation and Update: What to do next

After completing the upgrade to Fedora 45, it is a good practice to perform some cleanup and maintenance tasks to optimize the system and free up disk space. This "post-install guide" will help you keep your system clean.

Updating system configuration files:

sudo dnf install rpmconf
sudo rpmconf -a

Cleaning up retired packages (no longer supported):

sudo dnf install remove-retired-packages
remove-retired-packages

Removing old and duplicate packages to free up space:

sudo dnf repoquery --duplicates
sudo dnf remove --duplicates
sudo dnf autoremove

From Fedora upgrade to Red Hat Management in Production?

Fedora is the fantastic "upstream" of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The procedures you just read are perfect for a testing or desktop environment, but in a production RHEL environment, upgrading is only 1% of the work.

The real challenge is stability, security, and lifecycle management. Do not take risks with your critical servers.

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4. Upgrade via Graphical User Interface (GUI)

If you prefer not to use the terminal, you can perform the upgrade to Fedora 45 using the graphical "Software" tool (GNOME Software or KDE Discover):

Open the Software application from the main menu of your desktop environment.
Go to the Updates section or refresh the page.
A prominent banner will be displayed informing you of the availability of the Fedora 45 upgrade. Click on "Download" and, when finished, on "Restart & Update".

5. Common Troubleshooting

If problems arise during the download or upgrade, try these troubleshooting commands:

Conflicting packages: Add the flag to allow the removal of problematic packages:
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=45 --allowerasing
Connection error or dirty cache: If the download stalls, clear the cache and try again:
sudo dnf clean all

6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How long does it take to upgrade to Fedora 45?

The time varies based on your internet connection speed for downloading the packages (typically between 1.5GB and 3GB). The actual offline installation process, which happens during the reboot, usually takes 15 to 30 minutes on an SSD drive.

Is it possible to cancel or stop the upgrade halfway through the process?

Once you have sent the reboot command, never turn off the machine. Forcibly interrupting the upgrade at this stage will corrupt the operating system. If you use a laptop, make sure it is plugged into a power outlet.

How to resolve DNF errors or rebuild the RPM database in Fedora 45?

If you receive an error regarding the corruption of the RPM or DNF package database, you can rebuild the internal index (which now relies on SQLite) with the following command:

sudo rpm --rebuilddb