The Fedora Project announced the final release of Fedora Linux 45 on November 3. Images cover desktops, servers, cloud systems and Atomic variants. This report confirms final availability; the earlier IsosLinux article covered the beta.

Installation and desktops

Anaconda integrates Stratis for storage management. Red Hat places GNOME 51 in Workstation and Plasma 6.8 in the KDE edition. It also highlights enforced RPM signature verification by default.

Check your VPN connections

Fedora is retiring NetworkManager-vpnc and NetworkManager-fortisslvpn and links to migration instructions. Review those changes before upgrading a computer that depends on these connections.

What to check on an existing installation

This release matters beyond desktop appearance. Installer changes, package verification and network plugins affect different stages of using the system. It therefore helps to distinguish a new installation from upgrading a computer that already has applications and connections configured.

The removal of the two VPN plugins deserves an advance check when a computer provides access to a company network or a remote server. Our editorial recommendation is to identify connections that depend on them and consult Fedora's migration instructions before starting the upgrade. A desktop that starts successfully is not sufficient if a connection needed for work is then unavailable.

Readers using several Fedora editions should also check the announcement for their particular variant. Workstation and KDE desktop changes alone do not describe every change in Server, Cloud or Atomic. Both the image choice and upgrade procedure should match the installed system.