Fedora 45: changes, download and upgrade entry points

Current status

Fedora 45 reached general availability on 2026-11-03.

The F45 repositories are now a production target; the steps from 44 are in Upgrading to Fedora 45.

Release date and status timeline

Beta shipped on 2026-09-15 (official announcement).

The final release was originally planned for 20 October; after two NO-GO decisions it shipped on 2026-11-03 (GA).

Updates continue after GA: stable releases keep receiving updates and security fixes; see release cadence and support window;
Dates follow the official announcement: the GA date here is checked against announcements; before one ships, defer to the schedule page.

The six changes that matter most

The official ChangeSet lists 46 system-wide and self-contained changes in total; these six are the ones most likely to change your daily work:

Console switched to kmscon: the VT console moves from the in-kernel fbcon to the userspace kmscon. The Cloud image does not enable the service, so the visible difference is on Server and Workstation.
Signature checking enforced by default: from RPM 6.1 an unsigned package cannot be installed; dnf refuses it from a repository as well, while the local-file path only warns.
Repository configuration moved to /usr: the distribution’s own .repo files move from /etc/yum.repos.d to /usr/share/dnf5/repos.d; custom repositories still live in /etc/yum.repos.d and dnf still reads them.
oo7 unifies secret management: it replaces GNOME Keyring / KWallet as the secret service provider.
Podman 6 and the container stack move on: day-to-day rootless and Quadlet usage stays the same, but image and runtime versions move with it.
Anaconda gains Stratis and an Atomic WebUI: Atomic images are now built with image-builder.

Toolchain

GNU toolchain: GCC 16.2, binutils 2.47, glibc 2.44, gdb 17.2.
Languages and runtimes: Python 3.15, Go 1.27, LLVM 23, Perl 5.44.
Packaging and lower layers: RPM 6.1, OpenSSL 4.0, Fontconfig 2.18.

Download and verification

The F45 images and checksum files are on the official download pages; for the verification order (signature first, then SHA256) and the writing tools see Fedora downloads and media. Final image names no longer carry a Beta marker — confirm that before writing media.

Upgrading to 45

Use the flow in Upgrading to Fedora 45; the mechanism and unsupported methods are in Upgrade between Fedora releases.

sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=45

Known issues (continuously updated)

Symptom	Explanation
No kmscon console on the Cloud image	The service is disabled on the Cloud variant by design; use Server or Workstation to see the console difference
Local RPMs can still install unsigned packages	`dnf install ./x.rpm` only warns; `rpm -i` refuses. Use a repository with gpgcheck=1 when you need a hard block
The installer hangs with `network --device=link`	Observed on Beta; using `--device=<actual NIC name>` works around it

Three minutes to get going: verify, install, upgrade

Verify the image before writing it to anything:

# 1) check the signature (GPG) and digest (SHA256)
gpg --verify Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-45-*.iso.checksums.gpg
sha256sum -c Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-45-*.iso.checksums

Already on 44? Upgrade in place:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=45
sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot

Three paths, pick by where you are:

Where you are	Take this path	Entry
Not installed yet	download, write media, install	Install Fedora
Already on 44	system-upgrade	Upgrading to Fedora 45
Just want a look	a VM or Live media	Downloads and media

Version matrix: F44 versus F45, measured — what this upgrade actually changed
Fedora releases and EOL table — release states and the support window
Fedora repositories and dnf5 — how to write repo config after the path change
Security updates and advisories — signature checking and updates
Upgrade between Fedora releases — the upgrade mechanism and unsupported methods
Official: Fedora 45 ChangeSet, Announcing Fedora Linux 45 Beta