How to Install Fedora Workstation (Fedora 44 and 45)

Step 1: choose a release and edition

Fedora 44 was released on 28 April 2026 and is the current release; Fedora 45 is scheduled for 20 October 2026. Each release is supported for about 13 months, and upgrades between releases take one command (see upgrade Fedora), so installing 44 now and upgrading later costs you very little.

Fedora Workstation 44 has no X11 session: GNOME 50 runs on Wayland only, with XWayland for older X11 apps. See Wayland vs X11 if you rely on X11-only tools.

Step 2: download and verify the ISO

Download the Live ISO and its CHECKSUM file from the download page. Verifying protects you against a corrupted download and a tampered mirror.

# import Fedora's signing keys
curl -O https://fedoraproject.org/fedora.gpg
# verify the CHECKSUM file is signed by Fedora (file name varies by release and edition)
gpgv --keyring ./fedora.gpg Fedora-Workstation-44-*-x86_64-CHECKSUM
# verify the ISO against the checksum
sha256sum -c --ignore-missing Fedora-Workstation-44-*-x86_64-CHECKSUM

Example output (the build number in the file name will differ):

gpgv: Good signature from "Fedora (44) <[email protected]>"
Fedora-Workstation-Live-44-1.7.x86_64.iso: OK

On Windows, check the SHA-256 with PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\Fedora-Workstation-Live-*.iso, and compare it with the line in the CHECKSUM file. The exact ISO file name changes with every release and respin, so copy it from the download page rather than typing it.

Step 3: create a bootable USB

• Fedora Media Writer (Windows, macOS, Linux) is the official tool. It can download and verify the image for you, or write an ISO you already have.
• Ventoy or balenaEtcher also work. With Ventoy, copy the ISO onto the stick and pick it from the menu.
• From Linux with dd:

  # find your USB device first; double-check the name
  lsblk
  sudo dd if=Fedora-Workstation-Live-44-1.7.x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Step 4: boot from the USB

1. Plug in the USB and power on. Press the boot-menu key: usually F12 (Dell, Lenovo), F9 (HP), F8 (ASUS), F11 (MSI) or Esc.
2. Choose the entry that starts with UEFI: followed by the USB name. Booting in legacy mode on a UEFI machine creates a BIOS install that will not dual-boot cleanly with Windows.
3. In the GRUB menu choose Start Fedora-Workstation-Live. The "Test this media" option checks the USB first.

Secure Boot can stay enabled. If the screen goes black on a machine with an NVIDIA GPU, press e at the GRUB menu, add nomodeset to the end of the linux line and press Ctrl+X; see kernel parameters.

Step 5: the installer, screen by screen

The live session opens a welcome window. Click Install Fedora (or try Fedora first and start the installer from the dash). Recent Workstation releases use the newer web-based Anaconda installer; the KDE edition and Spins may show a slightly different layout, but the same choices.

1. Language and keyboard. Pick both carefully; the keyboard layout is used for the disk-encryption passphrase.
2. Installation method / destination. Select the target disk.
   • Use entire disk erases the disk and creates the default layout: an EFI partition, a /boot partition and one Btrfs partition with root and home subvolumes.
   • Share disk with other operating systems lets you reuse free space next to Windows (see dual boot below).
   • Mount point assignment is for custom layouts prepared beforehand.
3. Encryption. Tick Encrypt my data on laptops. It uses LUKS2; you type the passphrase at every boot. There is no recovery if you forget it.
4. Review and install. Check the summary of what will be erased, then click Erase data and install or Install. It takes 5–15 minutes.
5. Reboot, remove the USB, and complete the first-boot setup: privacy settings, optional third-party repositories, online accounts, and your user account (which gets admin rights through the wheel group).

Dual boot with Windows 11

1. In Windows, back up, then disable Fast Startup (Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do) so the NTFS partition is cleanly unmounted.
2. If BitLocker is on, save your recovery key first; changing boot settings can trigger a recovery prompt.
3. Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc), right-click the C: partition and choose Shrink Volume. Leave the freed space unallocated; do not create a partition.
4. In the Fedora installer pick the disk, choose Share disk with other operating systems / use free space, and let it place Fedora in the unallocated space. It reuses the existing EFI partition.
5. After installation, GRUB shows both Fedora and Windows Boot Manager. If Windows is missing, boot Fedora and run sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg.

If Windows Update later takes over the boot order, select Fedora in the firmware boot menu or set it with sudo efibootmgr. If you ever want to remove Linux again, the process is the same as in remove Ubuntu from dual boot.

After installing: first steps

Update everything

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo reboot

Enable RPM Fusion (codecs, NVIDIA, Steam)

sudo dnf install \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
# full FFmpeg in place of the limited ffmpeg-free
sudo dnf swap ffmpeg-free ffmpeg --allowerasing

Fedora ships only codecs it can legally distribute; RPM Fusion provides the rest. Its multimedia how-to lists hardware video acceleration packages for Intel and AMD.

NVIDIA drivers

sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
# wait a few minutes for the module to build, then check:
modinfo -F version nvidia
sudo reboot

With Secure Boot on, the module must be signed by a key you enroll: run sudo kmodgenca -a and sudo mokutil --import /etc/pki/akmods/certs/public_key.der before installing, set a one-time password, and confirm it in the blue MOK screen at the next reboot. If you land on a black screen, see NVIDIA black screen fix.

Flathub

Fedora's first-boot "third-party repositories" option enables a filtered Flathub. For the full catalogue:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Firmware updates and desktop tweaks

sudo fwupdmgr refresh
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates
sudo fwupdmgr update

For GNOME extensions, minimise buttons and other tweaks, see GNOME customization.

Installation problems

• USB does not appear in the boot menu: rewrite it with Fedora Media Writer, try another port, and check that USB boot is enabled in the firmware.
• "Verification failed" or a Secure Boot violation: update the firmware, or use the latest ISO; very old firmware may not trust current shim builds.
• Installer does not see the NVMe disk: switch SATA mode from RAID/Intel RST to AHCI in the firmware (Windows needs preparation for this change first).
• No Wi-Fi in the live session: most chips work out of the box; for Broadcom, use Ethernet or a phone tether, then install broadcom-wl from RPM Fusion. More in fix Wi-Fi on Linux.
• Windows missing from GRUB: run sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg; if GRUB itself fails, see grub rescue fix.

Frequently asked questions