Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 3 is Available to Download
Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 3, the third monthly development release for the next LTS, is out!
The developer team announced this version last night:
I’d like to announce the third successful publication of the monthly snapshot – Resolute Snapshot 3 (but also the first of 2026!). You can find the images on cdimage.ubuntu.com, for instance …
The new snapshot so far features Kernel 6.18 and GNOME 49, though the final release will have GNOME 50 and most probably Kernel 7.0.
The new showtime video player has been made into system repository, and resources system monitor and task manager is pre-installed when installing Ubuntu with “extended selection”.
Software & Updates, the built-in tool for managing software sources, drivers, and Ubuntu Pro has been ported to GTK4, with a modern UI that’s well integrated with recent Gnome desktop environment.
Though, according to the road-map, the 26.04 release will begin to deprecate this tool, instead merging the features into App Center and Security Center.
The LTS will also improve the NVIDIA on Wayland experience, introduce Security Protocol and Data Model (SPDM) based fingerprint authentication, add more control for TPM-backed full disk encryption (e.g., ability to add/remove PIN or passphrase after installation, re-encrypt a disk via Security Center), and Ubuntu Pro support on WSL.
See this on-going release note page for more details.
Get Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 3
The next snapshot will be available on February 26, while the final release is planned for April 23, 2026.
For the current snapshot, you may select download the .iso images for Desktop and Server, as well as Netboot tarball, WSL, and pre-install server images via the link below:
For other desktops and education purpose, the snapshot also includes the .iso images for all the official flavors, which are available to download via the link below:
For Ubuntu MATE and Unity, the iso images are automated builds without maintainers behind them.
- EdUbuntu 26.04.
- KUbuntu 26.04.
- LUbuntu 26.04.
- Ubuntu Budgie 26.04.
- Ubuntu MATE 26.04.
- Ubuntu Unity 26.04.
- Ubuntu Cinnamon 26.04.
- UbuntuKylin 26.04.
- Ubuntu Studio 26.04.
- XUbuntu 26.04.
If you’ve already run your machine with Ubuntu 26.04 daily build or snapshot 1/2, then simply install all the available updates to get to the new snapshot.
For current Ubuntu 25.10, I’ve tried to upgrade to the new 26.04 Development release by first installing all updates:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Restart if required, then run:
do-release-upgrade -d
For future releases, see the table below or the official release schedule.
| February 26, 2026 | Snapshot 4 |
| March 26, 2026 | Beta (mandatory) |
| April 16, 2026 | Final Freeze, Release Candidate |
| April 23, 2026 | Final Release |
Source: UbuntuHandbook