News · written 3 November 2026. A summary for readers, not upgrade or technical advice — check the official announcement at the end before you upgrade.

Fedora Linux is a free, community-built Linux distribution sponsored by Red Hat. It ships a new version about every six months and is often where new Linux technology appears first.

What happened

The Fedora Project announced Fedora Linux 45 on 3 November 2026. As usual it comes in several flavours: Workstation, KDE Plasma Desktop, Server, Cloud, CoreOS and IoT, the "Atomic" desktops Silverblue, Kinoite and Sericea, and spins such as Cinnamon, Xfce, MATE and COSMIC.

What is new

• GNOME 51 on Workstation. Fedora Magazine highlights a reworked frame scheduling system in the Mutter window manager to keep animations smooth under heavy load, a faster Files app (a counter badge when dragging, and folders that reload without freezing), a rebuilt Calendar view, and oo7, a new service written from scratch to store app passwords and tokens.
• Stratis in the installer. The Anaconda installer can now set up Stratis storage directly, including from automated Kickstart installs.
• Two VPN plugins retired. The unmaintained NetworkManager-vpnc and NetworkManager-fortisslvpn plugins are obsolete from Fedora 45, and upgrading removes them if they are installed.
• Updated desktops and developer tools across the release, including better Wayland and fractional-scaling support and power-management improvements for laptops.

What it means

• Upgrading: Fedora Magazine says existing users can upgrade through GNOME Software or with dnf system-upgrade in the terminal; new installs start from getfedora.org.
• Check your VPN first. If you connect to work or school with a Cisco-compatible (vpnc) or Fortinet SSL VPN through those plugins, plan another way to connect before you upgrade, because the upgrade removes them.
• A new release always arrives with a list of known issues — Fedora points to its Ask Fedora forum and "Common Issues" page for help.

Sources

• Fedora Magazine — Announcing Fedora Linux 45, 3 November 2026 (editions, Stratis, VPN plugin retirement).
• Fedora Magazine — What's New in Fedora Workstation 45 (GNOME 51 changes, upgrade paths).
• Fedora Magazine — Migrating away from unmaintained NetworkManager VPN plugins.

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