Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, has announced the release of Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia”. The new update is available for download for fresh installs and the upgrade is available in the Mint Update tool too.
The fact that the upgrade is already available at the same time as the ISO is a bit unusual because the ISOs usually land first with upgrades being enabled a week or so later. With that said, the beta period has been about twice as long as usual.
Linux Mint 21.3 is going to be the last release before the next major version, Linux Mint 22. It is based on Ubuntu 22.04 like other Linux Mint 21.x releases and is supported until 2027.
By upgrading to Mint 21.3, the main benefits you’ll see are improvements to the Mint-developed software such as Cinnamon. The previous versions of Mint 21.x will still get updates until 2027 so there is absolutely no need to upgrade if you don’t care that much about the Mint desktop improvements as you’ll still get security updates.
The main changes in this update include full support for Secure Boot and better compatibility with a wider variety of BIOS and EFI implementations, Hypnotix improvements, and the inclusion of Cinnamon 6.0 which includes Action Spices that add options to Cinnamon’s right-click menus. Cinnamon 6.0 also includes initial Wayland support but the team doesn’t plan to fully support it until 2026.
Of course, there is a big collection of new wallpapers to choose from when you upgrade to Mint 21.3. These will be one of the main attractions for upgrading for some people as the desktop wallpaper is a prominent feature of any computer.
To download Mint 21.3, just head over to the announcement post and scroll down to the download links, the torrent link or World mirrors are probably ideal for most people. If you want to upgrade, open up Mint Update and apply all the latest updates, then head to Edit and choose Update to “Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia”.