COSMIC is no longer an alpha desktop that you add to Pop!_OS 22.04 with wildcard packages and display-manager edits. System76 now ships COSMIC Desktop Environment Epoch 1 with Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS, so the supported route is a Pop!_OS 24.04 installation or an in-place distribution upgrade from Pop!_OS 22.04.
Choose the supported COSMIC installation path
Use a fresh Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS ISO for a new machine or virtual machine because COSMIC is included with the release, without cosmic-* packages, a separate greeter, or GDM and udev edits.
Keep an existing Pop!_OS 22.04 installation when its applications, files, and configuration matter more than a clean start. Back up your files first, apply available system updates, then start the release upgrade from Settings, OS Upgrade and Recovery, or use System76’s documented terminal command.
| Your starting point | Recommended path | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New install or virtual machine | Download and install Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS | COSMIC ships as the desktop for the release. |
| Existing Pop!_OS 22.04 system | Upgrade to Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS | You keep the existing installation while moving to the supported release. |
| Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, or Fedora system | Use that distribution’s COSMIC documentation | The Pop!_OS release tool and package set do not apply across distributions. |
Install Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS for a fresh COSMIC desktop
Get the ISO from the official Pop!_OS download page. Select the image that matches your hardware, create installation media, and complete the installer. The first graphical session uses COSMIC, not GNOME Shell.
This route is the cleanest choice for a virtual machine because it tests the release that System76 distributes rather than an old experimental package recipe. The download page lists Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS and identifies COSMIC as its desktop environment.
Upgrade Pop!_OS 22.04 to the COSMIC release
System76’s COSMIC repository documents one command for an existing Pop!_OS 22.04 installation. Run it only after you have a backup and only from Pop!_OS, where the pop-upgrade program is installed.
pop-upgrade release upgrade -f
The command changes the operating-system release, so do not run it on a work system without a recovery plan. It is not a COSMIC package installer. It invokes Pop!_OS’s release-upgrade path, which moves a 22.04 installation to the 24.04 release that includes COSMIC.
The documented command was run on the Linux server used for this review, where the shell returned command not found. That result defines the boundary. Use the command on Pop!_OS 22.04, or install the Pop!_OS 24.04 ISO instead.
Why the old COSMIC package instructions no longer fit
The older workflow treated COSMIC as an experimental desktop beside a GNOME-based Pop!_OS release, with package wildcards and instructions around GDM, Wayland, NVIDIA rules, and a separate COSMIC greeter.
That setup adds configuration steps that the reader task does not require because Pop!_OS 24.04 carries COSMIC as part of the release and its installer and release-upgrade tooling handle the desktop transition together.
Check the result after installation or upgrade
After rebooting, log in normally and open COSMIC Settings. The Desktop section exposes wallpaper, appearance, panel, dock, window management, and workspace controls, which confirms that you are using the integrated COSMIC session.
If the upgrade does not complete, use the pop-os/upgrade issue tracker or the Pop!_OS Mattermost community listed by the COSMIC project. Do not revive the old package recipe to work around a release-upgrade problem.
Conclusion
For COSMIC on Pop!_OS, choose the operating-system release rather than a separate desktop package. Install Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS for a fresh system, or move an existing Pop!_OS 22.04 installation through the supported release upgrade after making a backup.
Read the COSMIC project repository before you begin if you need the maintained release notes and support links.