We already knew how to upgrade Fedora Silverblue to next available version. What if there is a problem after updating or upgrading the Fedora Silverblue? No worries! Fortunately, Silverblue keeps a record of previous versions, so we can easily downgrade or rollback Fedora Silverblue to previous version in no time. This can be helpful if the new version is unstable and/or not working properly.
Rollback Fedora Silverblue To Previous Version
We can downgrade Fedora Silverblue version to the previous working version either temporarily or permanently.
To temporarily rollback Silverblue to previous version, just reboot your machine and choose the previous version from the Grub boot menu. If boot menu is not visible, hit any key as soon as the Bios logo appears.
You can work in the old version as long as everything is fine. Once you reboot the system, you will be logged in to the latest version by default.
If you want to permanently rollback Fedora Silverblue to previous version, run the following command from the Terminal:
$ sudo rpm-ostree rollback
This command will downgrade all currently installed packages, remove the current Fedora version packages and install any additional packages if required.
Sample output:
Moving '68e86129b4dd92d16a9e4dcd1adb5244c92cf299301581783a5d9d93c9ece677.0' to be first deployment Transaction complete; bootconfig swap: yes; deployment count change: 0 Upgraded: bolt 0.9-3.fc33 -> 0.9.1-1.fc32 conmon 2:2.0.21-3.fc33 -> 2:2.0.22-2.fc32 hwdata 0.341-1.fc33 -> 0.342-1.fc32 Downgraded: GConf2 3.2.6-29.fc33 -> 3.2.6-27.fc31 ModemManager 1.14.6-1.fc33 -> 1.12.8-1.fc32 ModemManager-glib 1.14.6-1.fc33 -> 1.12.8-1.fc32 NetworkManager 1:1.26.4-1.fc33 -> 1:1.22.16-1.fc32 NetworkManager-adsl 1:1.26.4-1.fc33 -> 1:1.22.16-1.fc32 . . . zenity 3.32.0-4.fc33 -> 3.32.0-3.fc32 zip 3.0-27.fc33 -> 3.0-26.fc32 zlib 1.2.11-23.fc33 -> 1.2.11-21.fc32 zlib-devel 1.2.11-23.fc33 -> 1.2.11-21.fc32 Removed: boost-system-1.73.0-9.fc33.x86_64 boost-thread-1.73.0-9.fc33.x86_64 cifs-utils-info-6.11-2.fc33.x86_64 cldr-emoji-annotation-dtd-1:38-1.fc33.noarch . . . zram-generator-0.2.0-4.fc33.x86_64 zram-generator-defaults-0.2.0-4.fc33.noarch Added: bridge-utils-1.6-5.fc32.x86_64 compat-f32-dejavu-sans-fonts-2.37-8.fc32.noarch compat-f32-dejavu-sans-mono-fonts-2.37-8.fc32.noarch compat-f32-dejavu-serif-fonts-2.37-8.fc32.noarch f32-backgrounds-base-32.2.2-1.fc32.noarch f32-backgrounds-gnome-32.2.2-1.fc32.noarch . . . wireless-tools-1:29-25.fc32.x86_64 zram-0.4-1.fc32.noarch Run "systemctl reboot" to start a reboot
Once the downgrade is complete, reboot your Fedora system:
$ systemctl reboot
After you are back to the old OS version, you will notified there is an upgrade available. It is normal, because we downgraded to older version. If you update, you will undo the rollback. So just skip it to stay in the older version.
Hope this helps.
