. This is extremely unlikely, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It's a good idea to back up important data regularly in any case, and now is a great time to double-check.
In _Fedora Workstation_, when the next stable release is available, a graphical notification will appear similar to the update notifications.
Clicking this, or running the **Software** application and going to the **Updates** pane, will display a simple graphical interface for upgrading the system.
**Important:** Before you start upgrading, your system needs to be fully up-to-date, to ensure
Upgrading between major versions (such as from Fedora Linux 38 to Fedora Linux 39) can be completed using the Software application. Alternatively, Silverblue can be upgraded between major versions using the `ostree` command..
For instructions on upgrading Fedora Silverblue Host, refer to the link:++https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/updates-upgrades-rollbacks/#upgrading++[dedicated page].
Upgrading between Fedora Linux releases without the xref:upgrading-fedora-offline.adoc[DNF System Upgrade plugin] or xref:#_upgrading_to_the_next_fedora_workstation_release[GNOME Software] are not tested by the Fedora Quality team, and are therefore not supported by the community. You can follow xref:upgrading-fedora-online.adoc[Upgrading Fedora Linux using package manager], but you're doing that *at your own risk*.
If you are using a pre-release of Fedora Linux, you shouldn't need to do anything to get the final public release, other than updating packages as they become available. You can use `sudo dnf upgrade` or wait for desktop notification. When the pre-release is released as final, the `fedora-repos` packages will be updated and your `updates-testing` repository will be disabled. Once this happens (on the release day), it is highly recommended to run `sudo dnf distro-sync` in order to align package versions with the current release.
link:++https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Rawhide++[Rawhide] and link:++https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Branched++[Branched] are the development releases of Fedora Linux.
They are suitable for users developing or testing Fedora Linux before public release.
See the link:++https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_Release_Life_Cycle++[Fedora Release Life Cycle] for more information on how the whole Fedora cycle works from Rawhide, to Branched, to the milestone releases (Beta), to the 'Final' release.
With that in mind, if you do have an end-of-life release installed on a system you cannot just discard or re-deploy, you upgrade using xref:upgrading-fedora-offline.adoc[DNF System Upgrade]. Note that upgrades are only tested from the two previous releases.
gsettings set org.gnome.software show-upgrade-prerelease true
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If the upgrade banner does not show after executing that command, terminating the gnome-software process may be necessary.
Once the upgrade is complete, it is highly recommended to disable that function so you do not get unwanted future pre-releases. Running the same command in reverse accomplishes that:
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gsettings set org.gnome.software show-upgrade-prerelease false
If you are attempting to upgrade from 16 or older, it is highly recommended to upgrade to 16 and perform an installer upgrade from 16 to 17 before upgrading any further.
To upgrade using the installer, boot the system from a network install or DVD image for the target release, and run through the initial steps of the install process.
After you select storage devices the installer should offer you the option to upgrade the installed system.
[IMPORTANT]
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If your installation is located on a 'specialized' storage device, be sure to configure and select it.
