Desktop Linux: Unveiled Chapter 6: Upgrading the Operating System

Previous Chapter: Desktop Linux: Unveiled Chapter 5: Gnome Extensions, and Basic File Management

Note: Although it has been a while between posts and I had planned on another subject for what would have been this post, given the time lapse I decided to take advantage of a new version of Fedora that had been released to show how to easily upgrade the OS version, in this case, from version 39 to version 40. Note that many different versions of linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc.) have similar functions and upgrade paths; since I began using the automatic upgrade tool in Fedora in about 2018, I have had good experiences.

Firstly, the “Activities” screen happened to open when I logged into the system, and I chose the software icon in the dock on the bottom (the white “shopping bag” with the red, black, and blue symbols):

Activities screen with dock on bottom

Which brought up the following screen, telling me that there were general updates, and that a new version of Fedora was available:

Software icon chosen

The system updates were first chosen and downloaded:

Updates downloaded

Once the updates were downloaded, the system was ready to be rebooted for installation:

Updates ready to be installed

The “Restart & Install” button was chosen to confirm the reboot:

Restart and install updates dialog box opened

The system rebooted:

System rebooted

… and updates were installed:

Upddates installing

Once the updates were installed, the system rebooted:

System rebooted after installation of updates

… leading to the login screen:

System login screen

… where I entered my password:

Password challenge

Once logged in, I clicked on the software icon again in the dock, and chose to download the upgrades for Fedora 40:

Software store opened again, and upgrade packages downloaded (2%)
Upgrade packages downloading (19%)
Upgrade packages downloading (32%)
Upgrade packages downloading (56%)

Once the upgrade packages were downloaded, the “Restart & Upgrade” button was pressed:

All packages downloaded, and Restart and Upgrade button pressed

… which required authentication, so my password was entered:

Authentication required for the major changes
Password entered

The system asked again if I wanted to restart and Install the upgrade:

Confirmation requested to restart and upgrade the system

The “Restart & Install Upgrade” button was pressed:

System rebooted
System rebooted
Updates installing (3%)
Updates installing (14%)
Updates installing (39%)
Updates installing (52%)
Updates installing (59%)
Updates installing (77%)
Updates installing (93%)
Updates installing (97%)

Once the upgrade was complete, the computer rebooted:

System rebooted after upgrades applied

The login screen came up again:

Login screen

And again I provided my password:

Password challenge
Password entered

Once logged in, new artwork for the new version came up, as well as a notification that the system had been upgraded to the new version (in this case, Fedora v.40):

New artwork for Fedora 40

Just to finish off some checks, the menu at the power button was opened, in order to open the settings screen, accessible from the little gear second from the left on top:

Menu for settings opened

The settings were opened:

Settings opened

I noticed that the name of my computer was curiously changed back to “Fedora” in the upgrade:

System renamed after curious change by upgrade

Then I chose the “System Details”, showing that the system had indeed been updated to version 40:

Confirmation that the system had been upgraded to Fedora 40

Next chapter: Using common pieces of desktop software