The Kubuntu team is proud to announce the Beta release of Kubuntu 26.04 LTS — Resolute Raccoon, stepping toward our April 2026 release. This is your chance to preview the next Long-Term Support edition, put it through its paces, and help us deliver a polished final release.

This is a pre-release. It is intended for testing, not production use. Systems may encounter instability. If you need reliability, stick with Kubuntu 25.10 for now.

Who Should Try the Beta?

Great for:

• Enthusiasts who want a first look at the next LTS
• Kubuntu, KDE, and Qt developers
• Bug hunters willing to report issues and help triage

Not recommended for:

• Anyone who needs a stable, daily-driver system
• Production environments with critical data or workflows
• Users unfamiliar with pre-release quirks

How to Get It

Upgrade from Kubuntu 25.10

From a terminal, run:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

Fresh Install

Download a bootable disk image from the official Beta image server. Direct download, torrent, and zsync options are available.

What’s New in 26.04 Beta

For changes to the underlying Ubuntu base, see the Resolute Raccoon Release Notes. Below are highlights specific to Kubuntu.

Plasma 6.6

The Kubuntu team has worked to ship the latest Qt6-based KDE desktop. Plasma 6.6 is the sixth feature release in the Plasma 6 series, building on the Plasma 6 megarelease that brought a modern, Wayland-first desktop to Ubuntu users. Read the full Plasma 6.6 announcement on the KDE blog.

Wayland by Default

The Plasma Wayland session is the default and fully supported session in Kubuntu 26.04. For most users, Wayland delivers improved security, smoother rendering, and better HiDPI support compared to X11.

X11 Session (Unsupported)

The Plasma X11 session is not installed by default and is not supported by the Kubuntu team. If you need it for legacy hardware or specific workflows, the plasma-session-x11 package is available in the Ubuntu archive — but you’ll be on your own.

Qt 6 and KDE Frameworks

Qt5/KF5 packages remain in the archive for applications that haven’t yet ported to Qt6.

KDE Applications 25.12.3

All KDE Gear applications packaged through Ubuntu and Debian have been updated to 25.12.3, the latest stable release.

Browser & Office

• Firefox 148 — delivered as a Snap from the Snap Store, as is standard on Ubuntu-based systems.
• LibreOffice 26.2.2 — included in the full installation.

Linux Kernel 7.0

Kubuntu 26.04 ships with the Linux 7.0 kernel, bringing the latest hardware support, security improvements, and performance enhancements.

Known Issues

Installer & Live Session

• LP #2146196 — KHelpCenter crashes on launch in the live session due to AppArmor user namespace restrictions. This does not affect installed systems.

All Reported Bugs

Browse the full list of open Kubuntu Resolute Raccoon bugs on Launchpad.

Help Us Test

Every bug report matters. Before reporting, make sure your system is fully up to date — fixes land daily during the Beta period. Updated daily images are available at the Kubuntu daily live image server.

Where to report:

• Installation results → Ubuntu Release Tracker
• General bugs → ReportingBugs
• Kubuntu-specific triage → KubuntuBugTriage

Thank you for helping make Kubuntu 26.04 LTS the best release yet. 🐾

• Release
• beta
• plasma
• kde
• LTS