---
lang: en
layout: doc
permalink: /doc/upgrade/4.2/
title: How to upgrade to Qubes 4.2
---

This page explains how to upgrade from Qubes 4.1 to Qubes 4.2. There are two
ways to upgrade: a clean installation or an in-place upgrade. In general, a
clean installation is simpler and less error-prone, but an in-place upgrade
allows you to preserve your customizations.

## Back up

Before attempting either an in-place upgrade or a clean installation, we
strongly recommend that you first [back up your
system](/doc/how-to-back-up-restore-and-migrate/) so that you don't lose any
data.

## Clean installation

If you would prefer to perform a clean installation rather than upgrading
in-place:

1. Create a
   [backup](/doc/how-to-back-up-restore-and-migrate/#creating-a-backup) of your
   current installation.
2. [Download](/downloads/) the latest 4.2 release.
3. Follow the [installation guide](/doc/installation-guide/) to install Qubes
   4.1.
4. [Restore from your
   backup](/doc/how-to-back-up-restore-and-migrate/#restoring-from-a-backup) on
   your new 4.2 installation.

## In-place upgrade

**Warning:** It is not possible to upgrade directly from releases earlier than
4.1. If you're still on an earlier release, please either perform a [clean
installation of 4.2](#clean-installation) or [upgrade to
4.1](/doc/upgrade/4.1/) first.

The upgrade may take several hours, and will download several gigabytes of
data.

In place upgrade is a complex operation. For this reason, we provide a
`qubes-dist-upgrade` tool to handle all the necessary steps automatically. You
can install it with the following command in the dom0 terminal:

    sudo qubes-dom0-update -y qubes-dist-upgrade

The upgrade consists of five stages --- three before restarting the system ---
labeled "STAGE 1" through "STAGE 3" in the options list below, and two after restarting the system --- labeled as "STAGE 4" and "STAGE 5" below.

Full list of options can be obtained with `qubes-dist-upgrade --help`:

    Usage: qubes-dist-upgrade [OPTIONS]...

    This script is used for updating current QubesOS R4.1 to R4.2.
    
    Options:
        --update, -t                       (STAGE 1) Update of dom0, TemplatesVM and StandaloneVM.
        --release-upgrade, -r              (STAGE 2) Update 'qubes-release' for Qubes R4.1.
        --dist-upgrade, -s                 (STAGE 3) Upgrade to Qubes R4.1 and Fedora 32 repositories.
        --template-standalone-upgrade, -l  (STAGE 4) Upgrade templates and standalone VMs to R4.1 repository.
        --finalize, -x                     (STAGE 5) Finalize upgrade. It does:
                                             - resync applications and features
                                             - cleanup salt states
        --all-pre-reboot                   Execute stages 1 do 3
        --all-post-reboot                  Execute stages 4 and 5
    
        --assumeyes, -y                    Automatically answer yes for all questions.
        --usbvm, -u                        Current UsbVM defined (default 'sys-usb').
        --netvm, -n                        Current NetVM defined (default 'sys-net').
        --updatevm, -f                     Current UpdateVM defined (default 'sys-firewall').
        --skip-template-upgrade, -j        Don't upgrade TemplateVM to R4.2 repositories.
        --skip-standalone-upgrade, -k      Don't upgrade StandaloneVM to R4.2 repositories.
        --only-update                      Apply STAGE 4 and resync appmenus only to
                                           selected qubes (comma separated list).
        --keep-running                     List of extra VMs to keep running during update (comma separated list).
                                           Can be useful if multiple updates proxy VMs are configured.
        --max-concurrency                  How many TemplateVM/StandaloneVM to update in parallel in STAGE 1
                                           (default 4).

After installing the tool, before-reboot stages can be performed at once with:

    sudo qubes-dist-upgrade --all-pre-reboot

Optionally, an `--assumeyes` (or `-y`) option can be used to automatically
accept all the actions without confirmation.

Alternatively, each upgrade stage can be started separately (see the list of
options above).

After completing "STAGE 1" through "STAGE 3", restart the system. Then perform
the final steps:

    sudo qubes-dist-upgrade --all-post-reboot

After performing those steps, it's recommended to restart the system one last time.

When this completes, you can start using Qubes OS 4.2.


## Update

After upgrading or performing a clean installation, we strongly recommend
[updating your system](/doc/how-to-update/).