A short while ago, Fedora 41 was released. This update brings GNOME 47 with the ability to customize the accent color, several useful features in the Nautilus file manager, a new terminal emulator, and improvements to Nvidia driver installation with Secure Boot.
This article will walk you through the post-installation configuration of Fedora 41. I'll outline the key steps I took to customize my system and create a more comfortable working environment.
Table of Contents
Fedora 41 Post Install Guide
1. System Update
The first step is to update the system. You can update packages from the official repositories with the following command:
sudo dnf update
During the update, you will likely see a warning: "warning: posix.wait(): .fork(), .exec(), .wait() and .redirect2null() are deprecated, use rpm.spawn() or rpm.execute() instead". This warning does not affect the installation of updates and can be safely ignored. More information about this issue can be found here.
2. Configure Third-Party Repositories
To access a wider range of packages, you can add the RPMFusion repository. If you opted for Enable Third-party Repositories during installation, Fedora includes additional repositories for popular applications like Google Chrome, PyCharm, Nvidia, Steam, and Flathub. You can view the list of enabled RPM repositories using the command:
dnf repolist --enabled
To add RPMFusion Free and NonFree, execute the following commands:
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
If you didn't select to enable third-party repositories during installation, you'll also need to add Flathub manually.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Additionally, you can easily manage repositories using the Software application. To do this, click the three-stripes button and select Software Repositories.
Here you can disable already added repositories or enable pre-installed third-party repositories and Flathub. To do this, scroll down to the Fedora Third-Party Repositories section.
3. Configure Desktop
To change the desktop background, right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Change Background:
At the very bottom, in the Background section, you can select a background image.
You can also select the accent color here.
Additionally, enable the system-wide dark theme:
To activate the dark theme, you can also use the command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme prefer-dark
4. Configure Terminal
Now, Fedora comes with the Ptyxis terminal emulator by default, which is based on VTE. This means it has a similar appearance to Console, but now it supports profiles and containers. Container support means that when you open the terminal, it will automatically connect to a container. However, this functionality is more relevant for read-only distributions.
By clicking the three horizontal lines button and selecting Preferences, you can customize the terminal's appearance and behavior. In the Palette section, you can choose from one of the pre-installed palettes:
In the Font section below, you can customize the default font and font size.
You can also disable the use of bright colors by unchecking the Use Bright Colors for Bold option. Additionally, in the Behavior section, you can disable Restore Session to prevent tabs from being restored after closing the terminal.
To disable session restoration, you can also run:
gsettings set org.gnome.Ptyxis restore-session false
5. Configure Nautilus
You can also customize the file manager by removing unnecessary bookmarks. To do this, right-click on a bookmark you no longer need, such as Music, and select Remove from Bookmarks.
You can also customize the sorting to prioritize folders over files. To do this, click on the menu button, select Preferences, and then enable the Sort Folders Before Files option.
Alternatively, run the command:
gsettings set org.gtk.gtk4.settings.file-chooser sort-directories-first true
6. Templates in Nautilus
Windows has a handy feature that lets you create a new file by right-clicking on the desktop or in a folder, selecting Create, and choosing a file type. Nautilus offers a similar feature, but you need to add file templates to the ~/Templates folder in your home directory. To try this out, let's create a template for a empty *.txt file.
touch ~/Templates/new_file.txt
After this, New Document will appear in the context menu.
And there will be a newly created template. Clicking on it will create a file in the current directory.
7. Disable Suspend
After a certain period of inactivity, the computer will automatically switch to sleep mode to conserve energy by default. To disable this, launch the Settings utility, go to the Power section, and toggle off the Automatic Suspend option.
Alternatively, you can use the command:
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-inactive-ac-timeout 0
However, there is one more thing. This setting does not affect the login screen. Therefore, if you turn on the computer and do not log in for 15 minutes, the computer will still go to sleep because you have changed the settings for your user account, but the login screen is managed by the GNOME Display Manager (GDM). To change the settings for GDM as well, run the following command:
sudo -u gdm dbus-run-session gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-inactive-ac-timeout 0
For more information on this topic, refer to this thread
8. Disable Screen Lock
By default, the screen locks automatically after 5 minutes of inactivity. To disable this feature, open the Settings utility, go to Privacy & Security, and select Screen Lock.
Here you need to disable the Automatic Screen Lock option.
Or run the command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-enabled false
9. Automatic Emptying of the Trash
By default, the trash is not emptied automatically, so you need to delete the files sent there manually. To fix this, go to the Privacy & Security settings section, select File History & Trash, and then enable the Automatically Empty Trash option in the Trash & Temporary Files section.
You can also set the period after which files will be permanently deleted from the trash in the Automatic Deletion Period section. Alternatively, you can use a command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.privacy remove-old-trash-files true
10. Install Extension Manager
Previously, to install extensions, you had to install a special connector package and a browser extension. However, now you can use a separate application called Extension Manager to manage and install extensions in one place. This is a third-party application, and you can install it from Flathub. For example, using the Software utility:
You can also use the following command:
flatpak install flathub com.mattjakeman.ExtensionManager
After launching the application, on the Installed tab, you can manage installed extensions, such as changing their settings.
On the Browse tab, you can download new extensions from gnome-look.org. Simply search for the extension you need by name, then click Install to add it.
After that, click Confirm in the dialog window to complete the extension installation.
11. Install Gnome Tweaks
To customize some GNOME settings, you can use the Gnome Tweaks utility. This allows you to change the theme and icons, as well as enable or disable specific features, such as adding Minimize and Maximize buttons to windows. You can install Gnome Tweaks through GNOME Software or by running the following command:
sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks
12. Center New Windows
By default, windows open in the top-left corner. To change this, open Gnome Tweaks, navigate to the Windows tab, and toggle on the Center New Windows option.
Alternatively, you can run the command:
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter center-new-windows true
13. Bring Back Minimize & Maximize Buttons
You can also re-enable the Minimize and Maximize buttons by selecting the corresponding options from the menu.
Alternatively, you can use the command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout appmenu:minimize,maximize,close
14. Changing the Icon Theme
If you don't like the standard GNOME folder icon theme, you can change it. For example, you can switch to the Numix icon theme. To install the theme, run the following command:
sudo dnf install numix-icon-theme
Then, on the Appearance tab in GNOME Tweaks, select the installed icon theme:
Here is the result:
15. Bring Back Application Indicators
In GNOME, the system tray has been disabled for quite some time now, and the icons of running applications are not displayed anywhere. For programs that do not have open windows, you can use the Background Apps section in the quick access menu.
For everything else, you can install the TaskUP extension. The extension returns a list of windows to the panel.
In the extension settings, I disabled Show Titles and Move Date/Clock To the Right. After that, the application indicators look like this:
16. Configure Dash Panel
By default, the application launch panel is only displayed on the overview screen. However, with the Dash to Dock extension, you can make it visible at all times.
And, for example, move it to the left:
17. Additional Keyboard Layouts
If you need to type text in multiple languages, you will need multiple keyboard layouts. To add new layouts, open the Settings utility and navigate to the Keyboard section. Here, in the Input Sources section, you can click + Add Input Source and add additional layouts.
For example, German. Here you need to select a layout group:
Then select the layout and click the Add button.
If you also want to switch keyboard layouts using the Alt+Shift keys, you'll need the RX Layout Switcher GNOME extension.
18. Installing Multimedia Codecs
To enable multimedia playback, you'll need to install additional codecs and plugins that aren't included by default. Before you start, make sure you've installed the RPMFusion repository. If you haven't, go back to step 2.
Fedora comes with the ffmpeg-free package, which only includes open-source codecs. To get full multimedia support, you'll need to replace this package with a version that includes all codecs, available from RPMFusion. To do this, run:
sudo dnf swap ffmpeg-free ffmpeg --allowerasing
It's then desirable to update the packages that depend on ffmpeg.
sudo dnf update @multimedia --setopt="install_weak_deps=False" --exclude=PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin
To support hardware acceleration for video playback on AMD, you need to:
sudo dnf install ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs libva libva-utils
sudo dnf swap mesa-va-drivers mesa-va-drivers-freeworld
sudo dnf swap mesa-vdpau-drivers mesa-vdpau-drivers-freeworld
19. Install Applications
Practically all necessary applications in Fedora can be installed from GNOME Software. Some will be installed from the official repositories, some from RPMFusion, and those that are not available in either of those from Flathub.
Here are some recommended applications you can install on your Fedora system:
- VLC: a top-rated media player
- Gimp: a powerful image editor
- Obsidian: a Markdown-based note-taking app
- Parabolic: a video downloader for online content
- Mission Center: an alternative task manager
- Flatseal: a permissions and settings manager for Flatpak apps
- Transmission: a popular torrent client
- KeePassXC: a secure password manager
You can also install several handy console tools to enhance your workflow:
- ncdu: Identify and remove large files to reclaim disk space
- rg: A faster alternative to grep for searching file content
- htop: A feature-rich terminal task manager
- tmux: A powerful terminal multiplexer for managing multiple sessions
- unrar: Unpack rar files with ease
- p7zip: Extract p7zip files using this dedicated utility
sudo dnf install ncdu rg htop tmux
20. Launch Terminal Using Ctrl+Alt+T
Our Fedora post install guide is almost finished. If you want to launch a specific application using a keyboard shortcut, such as opening the terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T (similar to Ubuntu), you can easily set this up. To do so, go to Settings, select Keyboard, and then click on View and Customize Shortcuts.
In the list that opens, scroll down and select Custom Shortcuts, then click Add Shortcut in the dialog box that appears.
To set up the shortcut, enter a name, specify the command /usr/bin/ptyxis, and choose a key combination. To open a new terminal window every time you press Ctrl+Alt+T, add the --new-window option to the command.
Wrapping Up
This article has walked you through configuring Fedora 41 after installation. While the distribution is ready to use out of the box, there are always opportunities to make it even better. We'd love to hear about your own configuration tweaks - let us know in the comments!
