Getting KDE on Fedora
Get the KDE Plasma Desktop Edition here. Alternatively, Fedora Kinoite is also available as the atomic equivalent of Fedora KDE.
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The KDE Edition and Kinoite are the only recommended ways to use KDE Plasma on Fedora. |
Otherwise, if you have an existing installation of Fedora Workstation, any other Fedora spin, or a non-Kinoite variant of Fedora Atomic Desktop and wish to keep that installation, follow the instructions below.
Installing KDE Plasma on non-KDE variants of Fedora
On regular Fedora
To install Plasma using the command line with dnf, execute the following with sudo or as root:
dnf install @kde-desktop-environment
Or to install the full package set with the groupinstall command:
dnf groupinstall "KDE Plasma Workspaces"
On Fedora Atomic
You can rebase any existing Fedora Atomic Desktop (Silverblue, Atomic Sway, etc) installation to Kinoite with rpm-ostree by simply running
rpm-ostree rebase fedora:fedora/VersionNumber/x86_64/kinoite
Replace VersionNumber with the number of the current Fedora release you’re running. (For example, if you’re on Fedora Silverblue 40, you would run rpm-ostree rebase fedora:fedora/40/x86_64/kinoite.)
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Rebasing to Kinoite gives you a complete setup, with SDDM pre-configured and all. All you need to do is simply reboot after rebasing. |
Logging into KDE Plasma
After installing the packages, either log out or reboot back to your login screen.
If you’re using GDM (GNOME’s Display Manager), click on the gear at the bottom right of the screen, and select the option listed as Plasma.
If you’re using LightDM (default on the Fedora Cinnamon, Budgie, XFCE, LXDE and MATE-Compiz spins), select the button next to your username and select Plasma.
Switching the display manager to Plasma Login
With the release of Fedora 44, KDE Desktop 6.6 now includes Plasma Login, a dedicated display manager (also known as a login manager). Plasma Login is enabled by default on new installations.
In contrast, Plasma Login is not enabled by default during manual installations of KDE, as changing the display manager is not required to use Plasma. However, it is recommended since it integrates better with the KDE desktop experience.
To enable Plasma Login to replace your existing display manager, you can run the following command with sudo or as root:
systemctl enable --force plasmalogin.service
Switching the display manager to SDDM
For users of older KDE versions or those seeking to further customize their display manager, SDDM remains a valid and supported option. While it is not essential for using Plasma, it enables the use of custom greeter themes and is recommended by the Plasma team for older versions of KDE. Note that this project is not developed by the KDE community itself.
To enable SDDM / replace your existing display manager, you can run the following command with sudo or as root:
systemctl enable --force sddm.service
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