Raspberry Pi has released a new Raspberry Pi OS update dated October 6, 2026, bringing a set of desktop refinements, Control Centre improvements, file manager fixes, and an updated Linux kernel 6.18.50 LTS.
One change concerns the desktop dock and taskbar. Switching between them no longer resets the system’s appearance settings. Changing their size or position in Control Centre now correctly adjusts the desktop’s top and bottom margins. Plus, the default dock configuration has been updated with battery and Squeekboard widgets.
Control Centre receives several refinements of its own. Tooltips have been added to explain the purpose of widgets in the Widget panel, while the Screens panel now applies system file changes immediately after confirmation instead of waiting until the panel is closed.
Raspberry Pi also added a hook that refreshes the shortcut list in the Shortcuts panel whenever defaults reload. Some potential segmentation faults during Control Centre panel initialization have been fixed.
The update also improves removable storage handling. The ejecter plugin can now automatically mount encrypted drives. A configuration conflict that allowed both PCManFM and the ejecter plugin to attempt automounting devices has been resolved.
Moreover, dropping files onto list views works again in PCManFM, and pressing the mouse forward or back buttons in list view no longer unexpectedly opens the rename dialog.
The Raspberry Pi OS panel and menus also received many fixes. These address crashes in the icon menu when using text search or certain menu categories. They also fix incorrectly positioned child menus, popup windows appearing partly off-screen, and keyboard shortcuts opening the wrong menu when the pointer was outside the application window.
System tray handling has improved as well. Closing one tray icon no longer causes all tray icons to disappear. Icons now render correctly on scaled displays.
Several smaller visual changes are included. Raspberry Pi menu icons have been replaced with higher-quality versions, and inactive window title bars now use a color matching their window backgrounds.
Additionally, the shutdown dialog no longer includes a dedicated screen-lock button and now reminds users of the keyboard shortcut for locking the screen.
Other fixes cover LibreOffice launchbar icons remaining visible after applications close, wallpapers failing to load when filenames contain spaces, notifications crashing when updated before display, and panel menus pushed off-screen when Squeekboard is hidden.
Under the hood, the October 6 Raspberry Pi OS release ships with Linux kernel 6.18.50 LTS.
For more details, see the changelog. You can download the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS from the project’s website. It continues to support a wide range of devices, including the Raspberry Pi 3B, 3B+, 3A+, 4B, 400, 5, 500, 500+, CM3, CM3+, CM4, CM4S, CM5, and the Zero 2 W.
Users can update an existing Raspberry Pi OS installation from the terminal by running sudo apt update, followed by sudo apt upgrade. However, Raspberry Pi recommends using sudo apt full-upgrade for system updates because it handles dependency changes that a regular upgrade may not apply.
