diff --git a/pkg/deploy/deploy.go b/pkg/deploy/deploy.go
index 02ad79e76482..3892a79d2273 100644
--- a/pkg/deploy/deploy.go
+++ b/pkg/deploy/deploy.go
@@ -271,7 +271,8 @@ func manageResource(ctx context.Context, cli client.Client, obj *unstructured.Un
 	if apierrs.IsNotFound(err) {
 		// Set the owner reference for garbage collection
 		// Skip set on CRD, e.g. we should not delete notebook CRD if we delete DSC instance
-		if found.GetKind() != "CustomResourceDefinition" {
+		// Skip on OdhDashboardConfig CR, because we want user to be able to update it
+		if found.GetKind() != "CustomResourceDefinition" || found.GetKind() != "OdhDashboardConfig" {
 			if err = ctrl.SetControllerReference(owner, metav1.Object(obj), cli.Scheme()); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go b/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
index 2675fa29c375..c81888b4e7f1 100644
--- a/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
+++ b/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
@@ -293,6 +293,10 @@ func UpdateFromLegacyVersion(cli client.Client, platform deploy.Platform, appNS
 		if err := deleteResource(cli, montNamespace, "statefulset"); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		// only for downstream since ODH has a different way to create this CR by dashboard
+		if err := unsetOwnerReference(cli, "odh-dashboard-config", appNS); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 		fmt.Println("creating default DSC CR")
 		if err := CreateDefaultDSC(context.TODO(), cli); err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -331,6 +335,10 @@ func UpdateFromLegacyVersion(cli client.Client, platform deploy.Platform, appNS
 			if err := deleteResource(cli, montNamespace, "statefulset"); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
+			// only for downstream since ODH has a different way to create this CR by dashboard
+			if err := unsetOwnerReference(cli, "odh-dashboard-config", appNS); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 			// create default DSC
 			if err = CreateDefaultDSC(context.TODO(), cli); err != nil {
 				return err
@@ -561,6 +569,34 @@ func removOdhApplicationsCR(ctx context.Context, cli client.Client, gvk schema.G
 	return nil
 }
 
+func unsetOwnerReference(cli client.Client, instanceName string, applicationNS string) error {
+	OdhDashboardConfig := schema.GroupVersionKind{
+		Group:   "opendatahub.io",
+		Version: "v1alpha",
+		Kind:    "OdhDashboardConfig",
+	}
+	crd := &apiextv1.CustomResourceDefinition{}
+	if err := cli.Get(context.TODO(), client.ObjectKey{Name: "odhdashboardconfigs.opendatahub.io"}, crd); err != nil {
+		return client.IgnoreNotFound(err)
+	}
+	odhObject := &unstructured.Unstructured{}
+	odhObject.SetGroupVersionKind(OdhDashboardConfig)
+	if err := cli.Get(context.TODO(), client.ObjectKey{
+		Namespace: applicationNS,
+		Name:      instanceName,
+	}, odhObject); err != nil {
+		return client.IgnoreNotFound(err)
+	}
+	if odhObject.GetOwnerReferences() != nil {
+		// set to nil as updates
+		odhObject.SetOwnerReferences(nil)
+		if err := cli.Update(context.TODO(), odhObject); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("error unset ownerreference for CR %s : %w", instanceName, err)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func deleteResource(cli client.Client, namespace string, resourceType string) error {
 	// In v2, Deployment selectors use a label "app.opendatahub.io/<componentName>" which is
 	// not present in v1. Since label selectors are immutable, we need to delete the existing