diff --git a/CHANGELOG.mdx b/CHANGELOG.mdx
index cd0f169829dd..a37977b912d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.mdx
+++ b/CHANGELOG.mdx
@@ -16,6 +16,14 @@ https://github.com/RasaHQ/rasa/tree/main/changelog/ . -->
 
 <!-- TOWNCRIER -->
 
+## [3.5.17] - 2023-12-05
+                        
+Rasa 3.5.17 (2023-12-05)                         
+### Improvements
+- [#12851](https://github.com/rasahq/rasa/issues/12851): Added `username` to the connection parameters for `RedisLockStore` and `RedisTrackerStore`
+- [#1493](https://github.com/rasahq/rasa/issues/1493): Telemetry data is only send for licensed users.
+
+
 ## [3.5.16] - 2023-08-30
                         
 Rasa 3.5.16 (2023-08-30)                          
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8b39c1d1c925..bb30d27384ab 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ prepare-tests-windows:
 # It will retry the installation 5 times if it fails
 # See: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/blob/main/images/win/scripts/ImageHelpers/ChocoHelpers.ps1
 prepare-tests-windows-gha:
-	powershell -command "Choco-Install wget graphviz"
+	powershell -command "Install-ChocoPackage wget graphviz"
 
 test: clean
 	# OMP_NUM_THREADS can improve overall performance using one thread by process (on tensorflow), avoiding overload
diff --git a/changelog/12851.improvement.md b/changelog/12851.improvement.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 0fea8ac19d52..000000000000
--- a/changelog/12851.improvement.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Added `username` to the connection parameters for `RedisLockStore` and `RedisTrackerStore`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog/1493.improvement.md b/changelog/1493.improvement.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f2b43d85714f..000000000000
--- a/changelog/1493.improvement.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Telemetry data is only send for licensed users.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7ac463e8f321..f81a76aecdc2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ exclude = "((.eggs | .git | .pytest_cache | build | dist))"
 
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "rasa"
-version = "3.5.16"
+version = "3.5.17"
 description = "Open source machine learning framework to automate text- and voice-based conversations: NLU, dialogue management, connect to Slack, Facebook, and more - Create chatbots and voice assistants"
 authors = [ "Rasa Technologies GmbH <hi@rasa.com>",]
 maintainers = [ "Tom Bocklisch <tom@rasa.com>",]
diff --git a/rasa/version.py b/rasa/version.py
index 4772ad3c8ae1..3e07bfa6efb2 100644
--- a/rasa/version.py
+++ b/rasa/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # this file will automatically be changed,
 # do not add anything but the version number here!
-__version__ = "3.5.16"
+__version__ = "3.5.17"