The hardware enablement stack for Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS has arrived, delivering Linux kernel 6.17 and other updates to long-term support users. This release enhances compatibility with newer hardware while maintaining stability for the current version. Installation is straightforward via standard update tools.
On February 5, 2026, the Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS hardware enablement (HWE) update became available in the repositories, allowing users of the current long-term support release to access a newer Linux kernel and graphics drivers. This stack includes Linux kernel 6.17, which introduces better power management for recent Intel CPUs, SmartMux support for AMD hybrid laptops, initial support for RDNA 4 graphics, improvements for Framework laptops, and enhanced stability for Wi-Fi 7 connections.
Complementing the kernel, Mesa 25.2.7 provides production-ready NVK as an open-source NVIDIA Vulkan driver, replaces Clover with Rusticl for OpenCL, achieves full Vulkan 1.4 compliance on Intel and AMD hardware, and includes fixes for games such as No Man’s Sky and Borderlands 4. Additionally, Wayland Protocols 1.45 adds staging protocols for transparency effects and a pointer warp API, which some applications can already utilize, with broader adoption expected over the LTS lifecycle.
Users running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS can apply the update through the Software Updater or via the apt command in the terminal. Those on Linux Mint 22.x may access it through the Update Manager, and it could extend to other distributions derived from Ubuntu 24.04. Notably, while upstream support for Linux kernel 6.17 ended in December 2025 after three months, Canonical's team will maintain fixes and security patches until December 2026.
The update will also integrate into the full Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS ISO, scheduled for release on February 12, 2026. A subsequent HWE stack is planned for August 2026, incorporating the Linux 6.20/7.0 kernel and Mesa components from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, with support aligned to that release's duration even on older systems.
