Fedora has released their first official beta release for Fedora 35 that was made available on the 14th of September 2021. The new OS brings quite a few changes, most notably the Linux Kernel 5.14, Gnome 41, PHP 8, Flatpack third-party repository support, New panel for multitasking settings, Power profiles access from the system tray menu, and much more.
The tutorial below will teach you how to successfully upgrade Fedora 34 to the newly released Fedora 35 Beta.
Table of Contents
Fedora 35: Release Date Timeline
Fedora 35 is still scheduled to be released on October 19th, 2021.
The following is a timeline of the release.
- Beta Freeze : Aug 24, 2021
- Beta Release: Sept 14, 2021
- Fallback Beta 1: Sept 21, 2021
- Fallback Beta 2: Sept 28, 2021
- Final Freeze: Oct 5, 2021
- Final Release: Oct 19, 2021
However, this date can always be pushed back last minute, but for now, it looks set in stone.
Prerequisites for Upgrade
- Recommended OS: Fedora 34
- User account: A user account with sudo or root access.
- Required: Internet Connection
Updating Operating System
First, before anything, update your Fedora operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:
sudo dnf upgrade --refreshRemove Old Obsolete Packages
Ideally, you should clean up your existing Fedora system by removing old packages as follows:
sudo dnf autoremoveUpgrade to Fedora 35
The first step is to open your Fedora terminal execute the following command to install the dnf-plugin-system-upgrade package:
sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgradeNote that this should be installed by default; however, running it should be done to ensure it is on your system.
The next step is to run the system-upgrade command now to download the Fedora Beta release 35.
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=35Example output:
Type “Y,” then press “ENTER KEY” to proceed.
Next, you will be prompted with a new message about the overall install, upgrade, and downgrade of packages and the download size.
Example:
Type “Y,” then press “ENTER KEY” to proceed.
This will take some time depending on hardware and the operating systems available Internet connection.
During the installation, you will see a message advising about importing the GPG key for Fedora 35.
Example:
Type “Y,” then press “ENTER KEY” to proceed.
Example output:
Key imported successfullyNext, you will see in your terminal the process is complete and that you will now need to reboot your Fedora system to activate Fedora 35 fully.
Example:
To reboot your system, use the following command:
sudo dnf system-upgrade rebootThe system will now reboot, and you will see a progress bar advising you of the final progress.
Example of Reboot upgrade in progress:
Once the upgrade is complete, Fedora will return you to the login screen.
First Look Impressions & Verify Fedora OS Version
Once you have logged in, you will notice a new default background with some slight UI changes/improvements:
Example:
And now the applications menu:
Next, it is a good idea to run the following cat command in your Fedora 35 terminal to verify the upgrade is successful:
cat /etc/os-releaseExample output:
As you can see, you have successfully upgraded to Fedora Linux to version “35 (Workstation Edition Prerelease).”
Lastly, when upgrading any Linux OS system, it is advised to clean obsolete/old packages. To do this on Fedora 35, use the following command:
sudo dnf system-upgrade cleanExample output:
Cleaning up downloaded data...Comments and Conclusion
In the tutorial, you have learned how to upgrade from Fedora 34 to Fedora 35 Beta. Note, Fedora 35 is still in beta mode. It is advised highly to take data backups before upgrading and have a rollback option just in case. This release also removes Python 3.5 (EOL Sep 2020) dependencies completely.
See the changelog for a complete list of changes that are still occurring as Fedora 35 is still in BETA.
Thanks for the guide, works great! Loving Fedora 35.
Great article, thanks
Thanks, Ferdinand, glad to hear it worked out :).
What must we do to convert our beta systems once the final version of Fedora 35 is released?
Hi Dexter,
Once released in full, it will do it automatically when you upgrade using a standard procedure like dnf update, dnf upgrade. It’s prerelease will just switch to release.
Thanks. That seals the deal! I’m going to start using it now rather than wait another 6 days (or longer) for the official release of Fedora 35. I’m migrating all of my apps and data from Windows 10, and 35 beta seems like a better place to land than 34 stable (where some of the apps I rely on are older than what I’ve been using on WIndows). I also like the new Gnome 40/41 user interface; it’s like a breath of fresh air after using the “standard” desktop interface for 30 years! My only complaint is how dates and times are displayed in Gnome Files (Nautilus); I wish there were a way to turn off relative dates. It seems like every other file manager on the planet (except for Google’s) allows you to configure dates however you want. My preference is YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss.
If you are not happy with GNOME 41, you can try others on Fedora 35 don’t forget. I created some tutorials on some methods.
🙂
Fedora been set back on final release for another week it seems.