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Migrating an existing Talos cluster to Talos Enterprise Linux is an in-place upgrade. The migration changes the image source from the public Image Factory at factory.talos.dev to the Enterprise Image Factory at factory.siderolabs.com, while preserving the existing machine configuration and cluster state. This guide explains how to migrate Talos Linux and Omni-managed clusters and verify that a node is running Talos Enterprise Linux. You must have a valid Enterprise Image Factory account. If you cannot log in, contact support.

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Migrate with SaaS Omni

Once your account is provisioned on Enterprise Image Factory, Omni switches each cluster to enterprise images on its next upgrade. No manual action is required beyond triggering an upgrade; any schematic change will do, including bumping the Talos version, adding or removing a system extension, or changing kernel arguments. Until the cluster is upgraded, its machines continue running open-source Talos Linux. Enterprise images are available for Talos 1.13 and later. Clusters running earlier versions remain on open-source Talos Linux images until they reach that threshold. Installation media downloaded through the Omni UI or omnictl media download always comes from your provisioned factory and is automatically enterprise. Disk images, such as AWS AMIs and pre-installed metal images, downloaded through Omni are already enterprise on first boot. Open-source Talos Linux ISOs initially appear as non-enterprise in the machine list, but when you create a cluster from one, Omni pulls the enterprise installer, installs it to disk, and reboots the node into Talos Enterprise Linux.

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Migrate with talosctl

If you manage Talos machines without Omni, migration is a two-step process: add your Enterprise Image Factory credentials to the machine configuration, then run an upgrade targeting an enterprise installer image. The RegistryAuthConfig document used in Step 1 is supported from Talos 1.12. Enterprise images require Talos 1.13 or later.

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Step 1: Add credentials to the machine configuration

Follow Manage Enterprise Image Factory Credentials to generate an API token and obtain the machine configuration patch for your organization. Once you have the patch, apply it to each node:
The patch sits in the machine configuration and does nothing until an upgrade is triggered.

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Step 2: Run the upgrade

Run talosctl upgrade and pass an enterprise installer image from factory.siderolabs.com: The schematic ID must come from Enterprise Image Factory — IDs from the public Image Factory are not valid here, as the owner is embedded in the ID. Use the wizard at factory.siderolabs.com or follow Download images and artifacts to get yours.
Talos uses the credentials in the machine configuration to authenticate against Enterprise Image Factory, pulls the installer image, installs it, and reboots the node into Talos Enterprise Linux. Repeat for each node in the cluster.

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Verify a node is running Talos Enterprise Linux

After an upgrade, confirm a node is running Talos Enterprise Linux by checking its version name:
In the output, look for the name field in the spec. Talos Enterprise means the node is running Talos Enterprise Linux. Talos means it is still running open-source Talos Linux.