Rocky Linux 10: Complete Installation and Setup Guide

✅ Rocky Linux 10.2 — Released May 28, 2026 · Based on RHEL 10

Rocky Linux 10 is a major version release built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 source code. It brings Python 3.14, PHP 8.4, Node.js 24, PostgreSQL 18, post-quantum cryptography support, and WiFi 7 hardware compatibility. There is no in-place upgrade from Rocky Linux 10 to 10 — a fresh installation is required.

What is Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is a community enterprise Linux distribution designed as a drop-in replacement for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It was created in 2021 after CentOS shifted to CentOS Stream. Rocky Linux tracks RHEL bug-for-bug, meaning software certified for RHEL runs on Rocky without modification.

Rocky Linux 10 ships in lockstep with RHEL 10 and is supported until 2035 — a 10-year lifecycle that makes it a serious choice for production servers.

What is New in Rocky Linux 10

Updated Language Runtimes

Post-Quantum Cryptography

Rocky Linux 10 introduces substantial post-quantum cryptography (PQC) improvements. OpenSSH now supports ML-KEM hybrid key exchange and Directory Server supports ML-DSA certificates. The FUTURE crypto policy enforces hybrid ML-KEM key exchange by default — be aware this may break connections to non-PQC systems if you enable the FUTURE policy.

Networking and Hardware

• WiFi 7 hardware support is now fully supported (elevated from tech preview)
• io_uring asynchronous I/O interface now available for high-throughput workloads
• PRP/HSR industrial redundancy networking protocols fully supported
• Extended hardware support restored for older storage and networking from Adaptec, Dell, HP, and others

Containers and Virtualization

• Podman now uses Sequoia-PGP for image signature verification
• QEMU FUA I/O support improves database workload performance in VMs
• Firefox and Thunderbird ship as Flatpak packages by default (RPM packages remain available)

No Direct Upgrade Path from Rocky 9

Unlike minor version upgrades (9.x to 9.y), upgrading from Rocky Linux 10 to Rocky Linux 10 requires a fresh installation. The major version jump involves architectural changes that make in-place upgrades unsupported. Back up your data and plan a clean install.

System Requirements

Rocky Linux 10 introduces an x86_64_v2 optimized build for older hardware that does not support newer ISA extensions. Use this variant if your hardware predates Intel Haswell or AMD Excavator.

Download Rocky Linux 10

# Full DVD (offline installation) — recommended for servers without internet
wget https://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/10/isos/x86_64/Rocky-10.2-x86_64-dvd.iso

# Minimal (small ISO, downloads packages during install)
wget https://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/10/isos/x86_64/Rocky-10.2-x86_64-minimal.iso

# Verify checksum
sha256sum Rocky-10.2-x86_64-dvd.iso

Installation Steps

Rocky Linux uses the Anaconda installer — the same installer as Fedora and RHEL. The flow is identical to Rocky Linux 10.

1. Create Bootable USB and Boot

# On Linuxsudo dd if=Rocky-10.2-x86_64-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Boot from the USB and select Install Rocky Linux 10.2 from the boot menu.

2. Installation Summary Screen

Anaconda presents the Installation Summary screen where you configure everything before writing to disk. Complete all items marked with a warning triangle before clicking Begin Installation:

• Installation Destination — select disk and partition scheme
• Software Selection — Server with GUI, Minimal Install, Workstation, etc.
• Network & Hostname — configure network and set hostname
• Time & Date — set timezone and enable NTP

3. Software Selection

For a typical server deployment, choose Minimal Install and add only the package groups you need. Minimal Install gives you a clean base with no unnecessary services — the right starting point for production servers.

4. Disk Partitioning

For most server use cases, Automatic partitioning with LVM is appropriate. For containers or heavy database workloads, consider XFS for /var and separate LVM volumes for /var/lib/containers.

5. Set Root Password and Create User

Set a strong root password. For servers managed via Ansible, Terraform, or similar tools, create a dedicated admin user and add it to the wheel group for sudo access.

Post-Installation Setup

Update the System

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh -y

Install Essential Tools

sudo dnf install -y vim git curl wget tmux htop bash-completion tar unzip policycoreutils-python-utils

Enable CRB and EPEL Repositories

Rocky Linux 10 enables the CRB (CodeReady Builder) repository by default — a change from Rocky 9 where it had to be manually enabled. CRB provides development headers and build tools not included in the base repo.

EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) provides thousands of additional packages:

# CRB is enabled by default in Rocky 10 — verify:
dnf repolist | grep crb

# Install EPEL
sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Essential dnf Commands

Migrating from Rocky Linux 10

There is no supported in-place upgrade from Rocky Linux 10 to Rocky Linux 10. Plan your migration as a fresh install:

• Export your package list from Rocky 9: rpm -qa --qf '%{NAME}n' | sort > packages.txt
• Back up /etc, data directories, and any custom configuration
• Export databases: mysqldump --all-databases / pg_dumpall
• Perform a fresh Rocky Linux 10 installation
• Reinstall packages using the exported list as reference
• Restore data and reconfigure services

Rocky Linux 10 receives security updates until 2032, so there is no immediate urgency to migrate. Plan the upgrade during a scheduled maintenance window.

Troubleshooting FAQ

SSH connection refused after enabling FUTURE crypto policy

# Check current crypto policyupdate-crypto-policies --show# Revert to DEFAULT if FUTURE breaks connectivitysudo update-crypto-policies --set DEFAULT

Package not found in Rocky 10 that existed in Rocky 9

# Search across all enabled repos including EPEL
dnf search package-name

# Check if it moved to a module
dnf module list | grep package-name

# Check if it is available in CRB
dnf --enablerepo=crb search package-name

SELinux blocking a service