Failed partial upgrade from 43 to 44 leaves system confused

Ask Fedora
1

stephend@trajan:~$ sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=44
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Failed to resolve the transaction:
Package “glycin-thumbnailer-2.1.1-1.fc44.x86_64” is already installed.
Package “vte-profile-0.82.3-1.fc43.x86_64” is already installed.
Package “qt6-qtwayland-adwaita-decoration-6.10.3-1.fc44.x86_64” is already installed.
Package “qt6-qtbase-6.10.3-1.fc44.x86_64” is already installed.
Package “qt6-qtbase-gui-6.10.3-1.fc44.x86_64” is already installed.
Package “qt6-qtdeclarative-6.10.3-1.fc44.x86_64” is already installed.
Problem: The operation would result in removing the following protected packages: NetworkManager, dnf5, grub2-tools-minimal, selinux-policy-targeted, setup, sudo, systemd, systemd-udev

After first attempt to upgrade system hung on a black screen for 10 mins with no activity, rebooting appeared to still show fc43 and dnf plugins corrupted. Had to replace dnf plugins manually but system now has a mix of fc43 and fc44, repos point to fc43.
Any thoughts on the best way to fix this?

system:

System Details Report

Report details

  • Date generated: 2026-05-01 09:48:30

Hardware Information:

  • Hardware Model: Dell Inc. Inspiron 5505
  • Memory: 24.0 GiB
  • Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700U with Radeon™ Graphics × 8
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon™ Graphics
  • Disk Capacity: 500.1 GB

Software Information:

  • Firmware Version: 1.20.0
  • OS Name: Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)
  • OS Build: (null)
  • OS Type: 64-bit
  • GNOME Version: 49
  • Windowing System: Wayland
  • Kernel Version: Linux 6.19.14-200.fc43.x86_64
2 
sudo dnf distro-sync \
    --refresh \
    --releasever=44 \
    --allowerasing \
    --skip-broken \
    --setopt=protected_packages=
3

Many thanks, the bit I was missing was the setopt=protected packages. Now the distrosync is bringing down 1700+ packages and is starting to look good. :+1: