The Fedora Linux team announced today the release of the beta testing version of Fedora 43. This update to the community fork of Red Hat Enterprise Linux brings several changes, which you can test out by installing the beta image.
Aofie Moloney, Fedora Operations Architect, wrote in Fedora Magazine that the beta had arrived "with the latest version upgrades of existing features, plus a few new ones too." The most notable version upgrade Moloney is referencing is probably the upgrade of its flagship "Workstation" desktop environment to GNOME 49. That GNOME beta itself is supposed to end this week with a full release.
Other notable changes include the fact that Fedora Kinoite, the KDE Plasma-sporting immutable version of Fedora, will now auto-update by default. That means, unless you change the setting yourself, Kinoite will update itself as releases become available. Automatic updates can get controversial, but Linux updates are usually less intrusive than those of Windows.
Another noteworthy change is that Fedora Spins will now all use the Anaconda WebUI installer by default. Moloney expanded:
This creates a consistent and modern installation experience across all Fedora desktop variants. It brings us closer to eventually replacing the older GTK installer. This ensures all Fedora users can benefit from the same polished and user-friendly interface.
First impressions can have a huge effect on folks looking to move to Linux. It's nice to see better consistency and modernizing efforts for the initial presentation right now when a lot of people, thanks to the end of Windows 10 , are thinking about absconding to Linux.
If you want to see what else is new, check out the Fedora 43 change set .
Getting the Fedora 43 Beta
If you're already running Fedora 42 and you want to upgrade to the beta—which I don't advise on a mission-critical machine—you can first run this command:
Then reboot Fedora. After that, run the following:
If you hit a snag, refer to the DNF system upgrade docs for more guidance.
If you don't have a Fedora system you want to upgrade, you can get a fresh Fedora 43 beta image by heading to the Fedora Workstation downloads page . Flip the "Show Beta downloads" switch and click the Download button for the architecture you're going to be testing Fedora on.
There are actually several betas for you to choose from. They include:
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Fedora Workstation 43 Beta
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Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop 43 Beta
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Fedora Server 43 Beta
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Fedora IoT 43 Beta
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Fedora Cloud 43 Beta
The Workstation edition is the one that comes with the GNOME desktop environment , which will be familiar to anyone who might be coming over to Fedora from Ubuntu. You can also get the beta version of other Fedora "Spins" and "Labs", though Moloney noted two exceptions:
Mate – not currently available on any architectures with F43 content
i3 – not currently available on aarch64 only with F43 content
That'll be a disappointment to any Fedora MATE fans. If you prefer the i3 window manager, you can still get the beta on x86_64 systems. Regardless, you can expect the beta program to last until the full release date currently planned for Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
Source: Fedora Magazine
