There are three ways to get Google Chrome onto a Fedora system, and I’ve used all of them over the years. I’m writing this down because I recently caught myself following an older guide that showed a command Fedora 44 no longer accepts — and because the tidiest route is also the least obvious one.
The short version
Fedora already ships the Google Chrome repository on your system. It’s just disabled. Enable it, install Chrome, done:
sudo dnf config-manager setopt google-chrome.enabled=1
sudo dnf install google-chrome-stableThat’s it. Updates arrive through dnf upgrade like everything else. If you want to know why this works — and why older guides show a different command — read on.
Why a Google repo is already on your system
Fedora Workstation includes a package called fedora-workstation-repositories. It contains repo definitions for a handful of third-party sources — Google Chrome among them — pre-installed but disabled by default. Fedora can’t ship proprietary software enabled out of the box for licensing and policy reasons, so instead it puts the repo file in place and leaves the decision to you. Flipping the switch is exactly what the package exists for.
If the repo file isn’t there for some reason (minimal installs, some spins), put it in place first:
sudo dnf install fedora-workstation-repositoriesThe old-guide trap: dnf4 vs dnf5 syntax
Most guides online — including ones written as recently as a couple of years ago — will tell you to run this:
# dnf4 syntax — does NOT work on Fedora 44
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled google-chromeOn Fedora 44 this throws an error. dnf5 reworked config-manager from a plugin with flags into a command with subcommands. The modern equivalent is:
# dnf5 syntax — Fedora 41 and later
sudo dnf config-manager setopt google-chrome.enabled=1Same outcome, different grammar: instead of a --set-enabled flag naming a repo, you now set the repo’s enabled option directly via setopt. (The reverse is setopt google-chrome.enabled=0, should you ever want to switch it off again.)
Verify it took before installing:
dnf repolist --enabled | grep googleYou should see google-chrome in the list. Then:
sudo dnf install google-chrome-stableThe other two routes (and why I no longer use them)
Manual repo file. Before I knew about fedora-workstation-repositories, I used to create /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo by hand, paste in the repo definition and GPG key URL, then install. It works fine — but it’s five steps to achieve what setopt does in one, and you’re maintaining a file Fedora would happily maintain for you.
Downloading the RPM from google.com/chrome. Grab the RPM, run sudo dnf install ./google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm, done. Here’s the part I had wrong for years: I assumed this route meant no updates. It doesn’t. Google’s RPM quietly drops its own repo file into /etc/yum.repos.d/ during the post-install scriptlet, so after that first manual install, updates flow through dnf upgrade normally.
Side effect worth knowing: if you install the RPM manually and have Fedora’s repo file enabled, you’ll end up with two google-chrome repo entries. They point to the same place, so it’s harmless — but if you’ve ever wondered why dnf repolist shows Chrome twice, that’s why.
Verifying updates work
After installation, confirm Chrome is under dnf’s management:
rpm -qa | grep google-chrome
dnf repoquery --upgrades google-chrome-stableThe first confirms what’s actually installed (more reliable than dnf list installed, which can miss some third-party packages). The second checks whether an update is pending — empty output means you’re current.
Recap
- The repo is already on your system, disabled:
sudo dnf config-manager setopt google-chrome.enabled=1 - Install:
sudo dnf install google-chrome-stable - If a guide shows
--set-enabled, it’s dnf4 syntax — mentally translate tosetopt <repo>.enabled=1 - The manual RPM route does get updates (Google installs its own repo), but the setopt route keeps everything under Fedora’s management from the start.