Transitioning from Beta Channel After Release?

[Richard Wells]

I am using a portable copy of NVDA 2026 Beta 6. I am thinking of
installing it, before I do, I have a question. I know that the release
candidate is the same as the final release. This would not be true of
the beta. Is it possible to transition from the beta to the release
version without removing it and installing it again?

[joseph....@gmail.com]

Hi,
Beta to release (stable) version: this is essentially a downgrade, so you must override whatever beta version you have when installing the release version over it. However, I would caution against doing so for 2026.1 beta because you are downgrading from 64-bit to 32-bit NVDA which can cause unpredictable behavior.
Cheers,
Joseph

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[Gene Asner]

I don't know if there is any way to cause the beta or rc versions to
upgrade to the new production version when it is available. The beta
and rc versions don't upgrade, by default to the production version.
Production versions update for new production versions, betas update to
new betas or rcc versions.

But why install the beta? Why not wait until the production version is
released and, if you have an installed production version now, update
that version?

I never install beta or rc versions. I may try them, but if I want
access to things like the task manager or device manager, I use the
installed version. I also use the installed version because I have no
problems with add-on compatibility and I can test compatibility with
betas and lose no functionality because the betas and rc are portable.

Also, if there is no reasonable way to upgrade from a beta or rc version
to a production version, if you stay with the rc, you won't get any
incremental updates of the production version. You will be stuck on the
first production version of the year.. If you use an installed beta or
rc version.

Gene

[Quentin Christensen]

Just to be clear, I believe the OP was saying they would like to upgrade from the last 2026.1 beta to the 2026.1 Release candidate when it comes out, to the 2026.1 stable version when it comes out.

The beta WILL prompt to update to the release candidate.  While it won't prompt to then update to the stable version when it comes out (as you noted, they are identical in all but version) - there is no problem with you installing NVDA 2026.1 stable over NVDA 2026.1 RC (or beta or anything earlier).

In all those cases - updating from the beta to RC automatically, and then manually installing the stable version over the top - that is fine, you can do that without uninstalling and without losing your settings etc.  The only problem, as Joseph suggested - is if you try to downgrade to an earlier release.  That is not recommended, and particularly so if going from a 2026.x build to a 2025.x build.

Kind regards

Quentin

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NV Access

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