Tips for being 4.1-ready

User Support
1

I would like to upgrade to 4.1 when it is released (not before :wink:). Are there any specific tasks I should perform, or edge cases I should avoid?

At the moment I’m building AppVMs from the vanilla Debian 10 template. I will probably create one or two standalone Debian 10 VMs, and if I get time a standalone Windows 10 VM. (Windows audio will be a major motivation for me upgrading.)

I’m generally happy to backup my data and reinstall things from scratch, but less work is better :slight_smile:

Finally, do we have a rough target for 4.1 release 2021Q1, H2, etc?

1 Like
2

My experience with R4.1 began after a BIOS update bricked my R4.0.3 installation and prevented new installations, so I have experience with both. I use Debian templates almost exclusively, so my experiences should be relevant here.

 

R4.1 differences:

  • Unable to get sudo prompts working (dom0 prompts that appear in place of VM password entry after disabling passwordless root)

  • Changes in Qubes RPC that I’ve noticed but haven’t impacted me materially, yet (e.g. /etc/qubes-rpc/policy/qubes.UpdatesProxy is now blank by default). Probably related to the overhaul of qrexec I’ve been hearing about

  • At one point there was an issue with how Debian-10-minimal handled connections to the network. This doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore

  • A slightly slicker interface

  • Unable to get Windows 10 working (though I hadn’t tried doing so in 4.0.3). The OS installs and starts properly, but Qubes Windows Installation Tool (via context menu in Qube Manager) doesn’t work, so the Windows VM cannot interface with the rest of the system. There are resources out there that seem to fix this, but I haven’t been bothered to try them out

Aside from these issues, my experience of R4.1 has been largely the same as R4.0.3.

 

A happy new year to you, the Qubes team, and the Qubes community!

1 Like
3

Hi @lofidevops,
when 4.1 available, the 4.1 upgrade guide will be in the upgrade doc.
You can read a previous guide for getting general information.

2 Likes
4

Looking at the upgrade doc, it looks like the expected workflow is backup, update OS, restore. Thanks!

1 Like