How Do I Remove or Hide Old Kernel Versions, To Clean Up the Boot Me

grub2 - How do I remove or hide old kernel versions, to clean up the boot menu? - Ask Ubuntu

http://askubuntu.com/questions/2793/how-do-i-remove-or-hide-old-kernel-versions-to-clean-up-the-boot-menu[24/2/2014 01:26:04]

Questions Tags Tour Users Ask Question

Take the 2-minute tour

130

101

Every time I install a new Linux kernel, it gets left in the grub config, making the boot menu longer eachtime.

I know I can manually search through the installed packages and remove them.

Does Ubuntu provide any easier way to clean them up or keep them from showing in the boot list?

share improve this question edited Jan 28 at 21:46

As well as removing the old kernels, uncomment this line in /etc/default/grub if you want to get rid ofthe 'recovery' items in the menu: #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true" poolie Nov 29 '10 at 6:04

136

+100

11.10 and newer versions of Ubuntu

GRUB2 and its display of all kernelsThe latest versions of Grub2 installed in Ubuntu automatically display the latest kernel and hides the olderkernels that you may have installed.

If you do not see your grub - then remember to press Shift whilst booting.

As you can see, only the latest kernel is displayed.

If you select the option shown (press Enter ) then all the old kernels become visible and available to bootfrom.

Ask Ubuntu is a question and answer site for Ubuntu users and developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.

How do I remove or hide old kernel versions, to clean up the boot menu?

grub2 kernel

community wiki6 revs, 5 users 46%Hans

28 Answers ACTIVE OLDEST VOTES

event 2014 Community ModeratorElection ends in 2 days

asked 3 years agoviewed 109218 timesactive 26 days ago

Community Bulletin

Linked

6 Removing old kernel entriesin Grub

1 How to get rid of multiplelinux versions in grub bootmenu

2 How to remove old Linuxkernel modules tp_smapi?

19 How to remove kernels fromprevious release?

3 Why aren't old linux-imagesremoved when installing newkernel updates?

10 How to clean previouskernels after update?

23 How to remove old kernelversions automatically?

25 How to remove the unwantedentries from the boot menu?

2 How do you clean up yourGRUB 2 boot menu?

0 How can I delete my olderversions of Ubuntu?

see more linked questions

sign up

log in

tour

help

add comment

Ubuntu Community Ask! Developer Design Discourse Hardware Shop More



How to permanently delete ALL older kernels using the shellThis will remove ALL versions but the current:

Or you can run this command as a cron job, if you want this done automatically without confirmation:

However this is not wise, as you should ALWAYS have an old kernel or two to fall back to (just in casethe new one doesn't work with your system). At the very least, if you've just upgraded the kernel, rebootbefore deleting the older versions. Read on for a safer, more manual way.

How to permanently delete older kernelsFirst boot with the latest available kernel.

There are a number of ways to delete old kernels. Personally, I wouldn't touch Computer Janitor sincethis is acknowledged to break your computer with its suggestions.

synaptic

An alternative is Synaptic ( sudo apt-get install synaptic )

search for linux-image, right-click a kernel and choose complete removal and finally click the Applybutton to delete the kernel.

Repeat the search but this time for linux-header - you can delete the associated headers for the kernelimage chosen previously.

Synaptic though will not attempt to verify what you are trying to remove... you could inadvertently deleteyour newest kernel - or even delete all of your kernels via this tool leaving you with an unbootableUbuntu!.

Remember to check which kernel you are using type:

The result would be similar to:

sudo apt-get remove --purge $(dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d')

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

uname -r

Related

1 How to limit number ofkernels shown in boot menu?

5 How can I repair a newkernel version and omit thePrevious Linux versionsfrom GRUB?

2 My kernel won't boot. Whatsteps should I take?

1 Default kernel is missing fromgrub 1 menu

1 How to uninstall old versionsof the kernel?

5 How to set default bootkernel in Ubuntu / Grub?

1 Old kernel in grub and /bootbut not uninstallable

6 Removing old kernel entriesin Grub

0 Unable to boot Ubuntu withnew Kernel but it works finewith old kernel

0 Grub Menu opens on boot

Hot Network Questions

Why causality is preserved inspecial relativity?

Generate an understandablesentence

Spurious [?] vertical spaceintroduced by multicols

Program that creates largerversions of itself (quine-variant)

How to encrypt more than 16bytes using AES?

Why is the mouse cursorslightly tilted and not straight?

Searching for closest entry in atable

Create a resizable symbol?

Moduli of flag varieties

Troubleshooting a Misfire

My wireless/WiFi connectiondoes not work. What can I do?

My colleague often shuts downmy machine through the LAN -how do I prevent it?

Did I overstep my power asDM?

Can I mimic a C header thatredefines bool in C++?

Extracting the first 10 lines of afile to a string

I don't get this joke. Is it somekind of play on "water, too?"



Remember the result and the number - make sure you don't delete the corresponding image or header.

Ubuntu-tweak

IMHO, the best GUI tool is Ubuntu-Tweak

It is not available from the standard repositories. To install you need to use the author's PPA:

Choose the options shown by the arrows.

Select both the headers and image with the same version number.

It will not allow you to delete the current kernel you are booted with since the current kernel is notdisplayed.

RecommendationMy recommendation is to keep at least two or preferably three kernels including the latest. The reason forthe recommendation is that you will have at least one/two other kernels to boot with, if for what-everreason the latest kernel you are unable to boot with or introducing a regressed capability such as brokenwireless.

share improve this answer edited Jan 28 at 21:52

1 Removing old "linux-image*" packages using synaptic, worked well with 10.04 too. (I mention it becausethe title suggests it may only be for 11.10 and up) mivk May 17 '12 at 16:35

2 the -y switch at the end of the apt-get line is necessary, otherwise apt-get just asks for confirmationand since the input is a pipe, it just aborts. So it should end in: | xargs sudo apt-get purge -y Josh Aug 26 '13 at 16:30

I added another way without xargs so a confirmation is asked on the console before the kernels areremoved rubo77 Oct 30 '13 at 20:27

if you recommend to keep at least two kernels, you could have written your script to do exactly that ;) (Iwas just looking for a script that does that, but it seems that Ill have to write it myself) trzsmkus Nov8 '13 at 12:56

I tried the approach using Ubuntu Tweak as being the most appropriate (i.e., idiot-proof). Worked well. Bobble Dec 30 '13 at 17:02

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppasudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

community wiki5 revs, 5 users 79%fossfreedom

How can I handle versioningchanges when saving assets?

Why is the moment of inertiafor a hollow sphere higher thana uniform sphere?

Do eunuchs have somethingdistinctive so people can tellthem apart?

Why was the Treaty ofVersailles so harsh?

Why are salted hashes moresecure?

It was about weekend passes -menaing

How can I make this bruteforce faster?

A program that ends but neverends



show 1 more comment

52Open terminal and check your current kernel:

DO NOT REMOVE THIS KERNEL!

Next, type the command below to view/list all installed kernels on your system.

Find all the kernels that lower than your current kernel. When you know which kernel to remove, continuebelow to remove it. Run the commands below to remove the kernel you selected.

Finally, run the commands below to update grub2

Reboot your system.


13 When doing this in 10.04 and 12.04, I found update-grub was automatically run during the purgeprocess. aidan Jan 2 '13 at 0:45

17 bash's brace expansion can be used, e.g. sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.2.0-3{0..5}-generic (removes 30,31,..,35) ajo Mar 19 '13 at 9:04

It may seem obvious, but what this answer had that others did not is "find all kernels that [sic] lower thatyour current kernel." This is exactly the info I was looking for. Ziggy Oct 16 '13 at 9:55

34Removing Entries from Grub 2 Entries should be removed by editing or removing files in the /etc/grub.dfolder. The /boot/grub/grub.cfg file is read-only and should not normally require editing.

Too Many Kernels?

If you are not sure of the kernel you are currently using, in a terminal type uname -r.

Kernels removed via APT (Synaptic, "apt-get remove", etc.) will automatically update grub.cfg and nouser action is required.

A great tool for removing kernels (and menu entries) is Ubuntu-Tweak, a safe and easy-to-use GUIapp.

Install ubuntu tweak

Ubuntu-Tweak will be available under Applications > System Tools.

Remove Older Kernel Entries

Select "Package Cleaner" on the left and "Clean Kernel" from the right panel.

Press the "Unlock" button at the lower right, enter your password.

Select from the displayed list the kernel images and headers you wish to remove. The kernel in use isnot listed.

Press the "Cleanup" button at the lower right to remove the selected kernel images and headers.

Remove Operating Systems from the Grub menu

uname -r

dpkg --list | grep linux-image

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-x.x.x.x-generic

sudo update-grub2

community wiki2 revs, 2 users 95%penreturn

add comment



Other Operating Systems which have been removed from the computer will also be removed fromthe menu once "update-grub" is run as root.

Menu items are placed on the Grub2 menu by scripts. If you don't want other Operating Systems tobe entered in the menu, disable /etc/grub.d/30_osprober

Run this command to stop the script from runningsudo chmod -x /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

DISABLE_30_OS-PROBER='true' in /etc/default/grub

Remove Memtest86+ from the Grub Menusudo chmod -x /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+

Run the update-grub command to allow the changes to be incorporated in grub.cfg

Source

Note: After kernel updates a new entry is added to the GRUB menu.You can remove the older one if youwant.However, most experienced users will advise you to keep at least one spare entry in case somethinggoes wrong with an upgrade and you need to boot an older kernel version for troubleshooting purposes.

Alternate way to remove Kernel entries (prior to 10.04)

for GRUB not GRUB2

startupmanager You can find it under System>>Administration>>



You see in the second screenshot you can select how many kernels to show? I generally just keep it on 1,but when I get a kernel upgrade I always change it to 2 before restarting so I can select the older kernelif the new kernel has problems with my hardware. Once I know the new kernel is working well I change itback to 1.

share improve this answer edited Mar 26 '12 at 9:00

2 Actually, startupmanager dint give me a window like this on Ubuntu 10.04, instead it just gave a windowwith two tabs -> Boot options and Advanced.. and in advanced it dint have the option to limit the numberof kernels. So please update the answer for Ubuntu 10.04.(And thats why i down-voted this..) Sen Dec13 '10 at 5:12

any idea how "number of kernels to keep" can be defined on a machine that has no GUI installed (server)? sylvainulg Mar 28 '13 at 9:24

29Purely commandline, this will remove all but the current and second most current (via the "-2" in thehead command below):

share improve this answer edited Sep 17 '10 at 21:24

3 one-liner from there: dpkg -l linux-* | awk '/^ii/{ print $2}' | grep -v -e `uname -r | cut -f1,2 -d"-"` | grep -e [0-9] | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge Dmitry Paskal Aug 5 '12at 19:31

community wikikarthick87

OLD=$(ls -tr /boot/vmlinuz-* | head -n -2 | cut -d- -f2- | \ awk '"'"'{print "linux-image-" $0}'"'"' )if [ -n "$OLD" ]; then apt-get -qy remove --purge $OLDfiapt-get -qy autoremove --purge

community wikiKees Cook

add comment



@DmitryPaskal, You should add this as a new answer. saji89 Mar 12 '13 at 10:26

2 @DmitryPaskal As always, don't just copy-paste these without understanding them. On my machine thisone-liner also matches linux-libc-dev:amd64 which shouldn't be removed. jamesadney Mar 12 '13at 20:19

@Kees Cook, shouldn't the awk argument only be surrounded by single-quotes? If your intent is to prepend"linux-image-" to the piped lines, this only seems to work if you use awk '{print "linux-image-" $0}' . Mark Jun 12 '13 at 17:33

2310.04 GUI MethodComputer Janitor can clean up old kernels and I believe is installed by default in Ubuntu (but notKubuntu).

GRUB 1, if you're using that, has an option in /boot/grub/menu.lst to specify how many kernels itshould show at a maximum. GRUB 2, as far as I can tell, does not.


3 Computer Janitor should not be used - it is buggy and has now been dropped as a default applicationin natty/oneiric/precise. fossfreedom Feb 13 '12 at 16:04

1 Rather, install "Ubuntu Tweak" as described in another answer (its own ppa), which has its own "computerjanitor" (not to be confused with the "computer janitor" that temporarily was available in older ubuntuversions) michael_n Feb 4 '13 at 2:10

15In order to remove older Linux image kernels, first boot in the kernel you want to keep.

You can also check the kernel version using command uname -r so that you don't remove the wrongone by mistake.

Now go to synaptic package manager and search for linux-image and remove the older versionsexcept the one shown by upper command. Generally I prefer to go with the latest one.

Now when you restart you'll see a more clean grub menu.


This is probably the most basic method that will for users who have installs w/o Computer Janitor. BroamSep 17 '10 at 21:34

1 From Ubuntu 11.04 the grub menu only shows the current kernel by default, older kernels are hidden in the'Previous kernels' menu. This method will still work for cleaning out the older ones. Andy May 16 '11 at16:03

15To figure out what kernels and headers are installed use

You can then remove them one by one or together, just make sure to keep the most recent.

There are also some handy commands and scripts to automate the removal.

community wikimaco

community wikiAnurag

dpkg -l | grep linux-image

dpkg -l | grep linux-headers

add comment

add comment

add comment



http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1658648

The following claims to remove all unused kernels and headers:

If you don't ever need old kernels, set that command to run as a monthly cron job.

share improve this answer answered Oct 10 '11 at 14:25

14You can follow the Using the "unattended-upgrades" package section of Automatic SecurityUpdates article on Ubuntu Wiki to perform this.

You need to change the following line in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades file;

with

to automatically remove old packages, including kernels.

Also remove or comment the line

in the "NeverAutoRemove" section of the file /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove.


1 I did this but it was still collecting 3+ old kernels consuming 100's of MBs. So I added apt-get autoremove to my daily cron job that actually does the upgrades, since it doesn't always go through built-in update-manager. Marcos Aug 24 '12 at 12:01

12My one-liner to remove old kernels (this also frees up disk space)

Explanation (remember, | uses the output of the previous command as the input to the next)

dpkg --list lists all installed packages

grep link-image looks for the installed linux images

awk '{ print $2 }' just outputs the 2nd column (which is the package name)

sort puts the items in ascending order

sed -n '/'ùname -r`'/q;p' prints the lines before the current kernel

xargs sudo apt-get -y purge purges the found kernels

Unwinding the sed invocation:

-n tells sed to be quiet

ùname -r` outputs the current installed kernel release - we include it in backticks so that the

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/îi/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

community wikimikewhatever

//Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "false";

Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "true";

"^linux-image.*";

community wikisarimura

dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort | sed -n '/'ùname -r`'/q;p' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

add comment

add comment



output is includes as part of the command (you might also see this as $(uname -r)

/something/q says stop when you match 'something' (in this case, something is output of uname -r) - the / surround a regular expression

p is print

the ; is the command separtor, so /something/q;p says quit when you match something, else print

altogether, sed -n '/'`uname -r`'/q;p' is print the lines until it matches with the current kernelname.

If you're paranoid (like me), you can make the last part xargs echo sudo apt-get -y purge so thatthe command to purge the old kernels is printed, then you can check that nothing unexpected is includedbefore you run it.

Modified version to remove headers:

Note: the sed invocation is modified. "$(uname -r | sed "s/$[0-9.-]*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")" extracts only the version (e.g. "3.2.0-44") , without "-generic" or similar from uname -r

All-in-one version to remove images and headers (combines the two versions above):

share improve this answer edited Aug 19 '13 at 9:17

Terminal power . Awesome combination and explain. NikTh Mar 28 '13 at 21:54

Thank you! This does not remove the kernel headers. I enhanced your one-liner to remove the image andheaders of all kernels older than the active one. dpkg --list | grep 'linux-headers\|linux-image' | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -n | sed -n '/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$[0-9.-]*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/q;p' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge phiphi May 21 '13 at 11:53

@phiphi Note: your enhanced one-liner will only remove headers, but not images (because when sorted, allthe headers come first, and the sed cuts the list right before the first appearance of a matching versionnumber) -- thus the 'linux-image' in your grep statement is unnecessary. So, it is actually necessary to useboth one-liner versions. Mark Jun 12 '13 at 16:04

Updated the answer to include the "all-in-one" one-liner which combines both the image and header one-liners... Mark Jun 12 '13 at 16:12

Sorry, my oneliner doesn't work, you need two lines. if you make a list of both linux-header and linux-imageand uninstall until a current linux-header, you will not remove any linux-image. phiphi Aug 19 '13 at 8:51

10You could install ubuntu-tweak and then Go to Applications -> System tool -> ubuntu tweak and

dpkg --list | grep 'linux-image' | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -n | sed -n '/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$[0-9.-]*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/q;p' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purgedpkg --list | grep 'linux-headers' | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -n | sed -n '/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$[0-9.-]*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/q;p' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

echo $(dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort | sed -n '/'`uname -r`'/q;p') $(dpkg --list | grep linux-headers | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -n | sed -n '/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$[0-9.-]*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/q;p') | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

community wikiDavid Kemp

add comment



click package cleaner and clean kernels. it does not show the currently used kernel so you will always besafe.

share improve this answer answered Mar 3 '11 at 13:26

7You can uninstall the old kernels ( linux-image-... packages) using Synaptic, and that will removethem from the boot menu. Take care not to remove the running kernel (you can check its version with uname -r ).

Bear in mind that having a one or two older versions can help you troubleshoot, should something gowrong.

Alternatively, you can edit/remove the entries manually ( gksu gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg ), butthey will be re-generated when you update to a newer kernel. If you are thinking about removing recovery mode options - don't. They can come in handy if you break something which prevents you

from booting.

Refer to this page.

share improve this answer edited Nov 29 '10 at 6:30

Grub2 now builds it's grub entry everytime a new kernel is installed. with update-grub which will re-writeall those kernels. Marco Ceppi Dec 12 '10 at 18:47

5Personally, I like using Synaptic . It makes me feel more secure about what's going on. The only appI've used that has an option to remove old kernels is Ubuntu Tweak.

How to remove the kernels you are not using:

Open UbuntuTweak

Click on 'Package Cleaner' under 'Applications' in the left-hand pane

On the right side of the 'cleaning view' press 'Clean Kernels'

Select all kernels - I think the one in use is not listed but just in case check running uname -a in aterminal

community wikiAlaukik

community wikievgeny

add comment

add comment



share improve this answer edited Apr 8 '13 at 0:24

3The fastest/simpler way (Applicable at least since 12.04) possible that already comes with Ubuntu is apt-get . Do the following if you wish to remove all older kernel versions that are not in use (Except

the previous one that you are no using. This is to make sure that if the current kernel version fails insome way, you have a way to go back to a previous state). Do the following:

sudo apt-get autoclean

This will eliminate any old files (Including kernel versions) you may have. Note that if you have many oldversions, it will take a while since it has to make sure that removing the kernel version has no issues. Forme, removing the last 12 kernel versions took about 2 minutes. You can also do the following:

sudo apt-get clean

Which will eliminate everything downloaded and stored in the cache folder of apt. Lastly you have:

sudo apt-get autoremove

which would check for any unused packages and remove them if necessary. This is great for thoselibraries and dependency packages that are no longer needed byt any app installed.

share improve this answer answered Apr 8 '13 at 1:13

2ailurus has the feature of removing old kernels as well as unused configurations. I personally remove itmanually from synaptic. You can install ailurus from getdeb as well as ppa

share improve this answer answered Sep 17 '10 at 10:53

2An easy way to get rid of almost all obsolete packages, packages no longer in any package list, along withobsolete kernels is to do one of the following:

However, this will miss packages that are still recommended by other packages, and the -R/--without-recommends argument does not resolve this problem.

dselect after switching sort mode with 'o' will show all obsolete packages including the ones aptitudemisses, but some people don't like using it.

share improve this answer edited Apr 6 '13 at 3:03

1Next time, when removing old kernels open a Terminal and use this command: sudo apt-get autoremovelinux-headers-2.6.38-10-generic

You can use Synaptic to get the exact name of the kernel that you intend to delete. Just open Synapticand search for "linux-headers" and then select which kernel entry you want to remove. The relevant entrywill be tagged with "-generic" at the end.

community wikiAlan FL

community wikiLuis Alvarado

community wikisagarchalise

dpkg --purge $(aptitude search ?obsolete)

community wikiChris Cheney

add comment

add comment

add comment

add comment



To clear out any unused (left over) dependencies throughout the system use this command by itself:sudo apt-get autoremove

share improve this answer answered Oct 10 '11 at 13:39

dependencies are removed but I still have these files in /boot folder. Patryk Oct 10 '11 at 13:43

1here is a rough outline of what I did, careful as I am no expert in linux, be sure you know what you aredoing and have backed up any files you are modifying.

then find the entries you want to keep, we will highlight and copy them

you'll see a list of files like 10_linux and 30_os-prober

this will stop form auto adding all the linux entries into the grub boot menu.

open the custom boot menu file, then go back to grub.cfg (which should still be open in gedit), and copythe entries you want to keep... such as

paste them into 40_custom , and then save it.

makes it executable, then finally we update grub which will change the grub.cfg file:

Now, BEWARE, if you update your kernel or OS, your boot menu probably will not update... you'll have todo that manually. But doing this procedure will let you customize the boot menu a bit more, such asremove the kernel version and just put the ubuntu name... i.e. Ubuntu Lucid 10.04, etc...

Hope someone finds this helpful, as it took me a while to figure out... didn't see this solution anywhere...

share improve this answer edited Jan 8 '12 at 23:31

2 This answer seems like overkill. It's better to just remove old kernels. Scott Severance Jan 8 '12 at 23:32

I had read that extra kernels may be useful in the event of recovery situations. Also, this is a simple way toedit the text of the boot entry. So rather than saying "Ubuntu, Linux kernel x.x.xx-yy --text1 -text2 -t3 -t4 --t5 etc etc etc" (where the --text entries just denote some options/parameters I don't understand) you canchange it to "Ubuntu xx.yy" although I had a "{" bracket I couldn't get rid of. Joe Jan 9 '12 at 22:35

community wikiChad--24216

gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

cd /etc/grub.dls

sudo chmod -x 10_linux

gksudo gedit 40_custom

menuentry "My Default Karmic" { set root=(hd0,1) search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set cb201140-52f8-4449-9a95-749b27b58ce8 linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=cb201140-52f8-4449-9a95-749b27b58ce8 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-11-generic}

sudo chmod 755 40_custom

sudo update-grub

community wikiJoe

add comment



I keep the immediate previous kernel around until I've verified the the most current kernel works properly.If it works, it isn't going to stop working. So, after I've verified the most recent kernel (after a week or so),I have no reason to keep the old kernel around. If it doesn't work, then I have the latest known-goodkernel to fall back to. Actually, I'm currently running an old kernel due to a showstopper bug in the currentkernels. But that doesn't change my overall policy. You only need one known good kernel. Scott Severance Jan 10 '12 at 5:14

1Install the synaptic package manager and go down to the filters tab (I think filters, if not try all 5) andselect "local". This will show you orphaned packages on your system, such as the kernels. After youuninstall them, run update-grub . That command updates the list of boot options for grub.

If this fails, you can always try apt-get remove linux-image-version-generic .

share improve this answer edited May 29 '13 at 16:41

1The following string of commands will purge any installed linux kernels except the currently running one(grep -v uname -r ) and the lastest available kernel (dpkg -l | .... | tail -1):

I use this to keep desktop's boot volumes relatively clean, but in a server situation you'd probably want toexpand the logic and write some additional scripting to maintain a list of the last X kernels the server hasbooted.

Something like a startup script that does:

and then use:

share improve this answer answered Jun 30 '13 at 18:37

0I disabled the 10_linux boot file and put custom entries in 40_custom (copied/pasted from boot.cfg). Thatway you can edit the text of the entry carefully. Although updating your kernel may not update your40_custom file, so you may have to beware of that. Although it's easy to fix.

share improve this answer answered Jan 9 '12 at 22:39

0This is by far the best answer in my opinion:

http://tuxtweaks.com/2010/10/remove-old-kernels-in-ubuntu-with-one-command/

community wikiRelish

dpkg -l | grep -E linux-image-.*-generic | cut -d ' ' -f3 | grep -v `dpkg -l | grep -E linux-image-.*-generic | cut -d ' ' -f3 | tail -1` | grep -v `uname -r` | xargs apt-get -y purge

uname -r >> /root/bootedkernelscat /root/bootedkernels | sort -u | tail -3 > /root/bootedkernels # Keep the last 3 booted kernels

dpkg -l | grep -E linux-image-.*-generic | cut -d ' ' -f3 | grep -vf /root/bootedkernels | grep -v `dpkg -l | grep -E linux-image-.*-generic | cut -d ' ' -f3 | tail -1` | grep -v `uname -r` | xargs apt-get -y purge

community wikiAlexander Thompson

community wikiJoe

add comment

add comment

add comment

add comment



Follows the last command on the site above:

share improve this answer answered May 21 '13 at 15:52

0To have a bit more control over which versions to keep, explicitly select the ones you want to remove. Forinstance if you want to remove kernel versions 3.2.0.[49-53], use a simple for loop:

Adjust the list of kernel versions to fit.

share improve this answer answered Nov 8 '13 at 12:51

0Try this. Run it as root.

Save this script as, say ./keep-n-kernels.sh

Pass, as a command line argument, the number of most recent kernels you want to preserve.

Sample usage :

dpkg -l linux-* | awk '/îi/{ print $2}' | grep -v -e ùname -r | cut -f1,2 -d"-"` | grep -e [0-9] | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

community wikiBrunoJCM

for k in 49 51 52 53 ; do aptitude remove --purge linux-image-3.2.0-${k}-generic ; done

community wikiNeilNjae

#!/bin/bash

# pass n as a command line argument, and it will find all the installed# kernels and keep only the n most recent ones => uninstall all older ones

# dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/îi/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d'# this command gives the list of all packages EXCEPT for the latest kernel.# source : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/Documentation/RemoveOldKernels

n=$1

# find the installed kernel versions :# dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' 'linux-image-*' | grep . | sort -n# gives version numbers, one in each line# dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' 'linux-image-*' | grep . | sed 's/\...$//g' | grep -v '\...$'| sort -u# gives only the ones that appear in linux-image

# suffix, e.g. -generic-pae# the kind of kernel you boot intosuffix=$(uname -r | sed 's:^[0-9]\.[0-9]\.[0-9]\-[0-9]\{2\}::g')

command="apt-get purge "

for version in $(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' 'linux-image-*' | grep . | sed 's/\...$//g' | grep -v '\...$'| sort -u | head -n -${n})do command=${command}"^linux-image-${version}${suffix} "done

$command

add comment

add comment



If you want [AND AT YOUR OWN RISK], you can add a -y (or a force flag) to the apt-get command andmake it non-interactive.

share improve this answer answered Jan 28 at 20:47

-1Backup your GRUB configuration file which is in /boot/grub/grub.cfg which we will need if somethinggoes wrong.

Open Terminal CTRL+ALT+T. You need to be the root. For that :

Now we want to edit the file. For that:

You will get GEDIT window.

Now search for ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###.

After that line you will see the items of your GRUB.

So if we want to remove Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-30-generic from GRUB, Remove the redhighlited line in the image.

You should have got the idea of removing items from GRUB.

After editing the file save it.

Do as you like but be careful not to remove other lines.

**

NOTE

:**

When kernel is updated the /boot/grub/grub.cfg is recreated. So the older kernels will be visible again.You have to do this every time you run the command update-grub and after updating the kernel.

Source (my blog): How to remove a item from GRUB boot menu

share improve this answer edited Jan 30 '13 at 13:18

# ./keep-n-kernels.sh 4 # launch the apt-get command to remove all but the 4 most recent kernels

community wikiSankalp

sudo -i

gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

community wikiSubin

add comment



2 Thanks for the edit. Ubuntu has used GRUB2 since 9.10, so it's unlikely any solution that would work forany version since then would fail for any other version. (Thus, if this works for 10.04, it probably works forlater versions too.) Unfortunately, because it's GRUB2, this will probably not work at all, or at leastnot for very long. The file you're editing, /etc/grub/grub.cfg is automatically recreated when update-grub runs--and it is run every time there is a kernel update (and for some other updates).

Eliah Kagan Jan 30 '13 at 13:10

-1Based on a previous answer by David Kemp, the following script will purge all headers and images exceptfor the last 2 versions.

share improve this answer edited Jun 12 '13 at 18:42

Any reason why this was downvoted? Did it not work for someone? When copying/pasting make sure youaren't wrapping long-lines when you paste. I have had no problems with it working. Mark Jan 24 at 20:56

-1will remove old kernels and keep the last three versions. This works since at least ubuntu 13.04, butmaybe also since 12.04.

The following guide is for you if you want to keep more (or less) than the last three versions, use anolder version of ubuntu, or otherwise want to have more control over the process.

This is a pure command line solution.

First generate a list of all installed kernel versions except the currently running kernel:

Alternatively generate a list of all installed kernel versions except the last two:

#!/bin/sh# This script assumes that the installed linux-image and linux-headers packages# share the same versions (i.e. if a linux-image version number is installed,# the corresponding linux-headers package will also be installed, and vice# versa.)

SECONDTOLASTVER=$(dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -r -n | sed '/^[^0-9]\+$/d' | sed 's/^.*-$[0-9\.]\+-[0-9]\+$.*/\1/' | uniq | sed -n 2p)

# get a list of package names matching the argument passed to the function, and# return only those package names which should be removedget_pkgs_to_remove_matching () { if [ -n "$SECONDTOLASTVER" ]; then echo $(dpkg --list | grep $1 | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort | sed -n '/'"$SECONDTOLASTVER"'/q;p') fi}

echo $(get_pkgs_to_remove_matching linux-image) $(get_pkgs_to_remove_matching linux-headers) | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

community wikiMark

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

dpkg-query -W -f='${Package}\n' | grep -f



Examine the list. Make sure the the kernel versions you want to keep are not part of the list. Use thecommand uname -r to see the version of the currently running kernel.

If you are happy with the results you can use apt-get to remove the packages.

First a dry run (using the first generator as example):

Then a real run:

If you want to automate the process then add the --yes parameter:


-2Here's the script I use to keep 2 kernel packages installed (i.e. the current one and the previous one). Italso removes the initrd-VERSION-generic.old-dkms files left around by DKMS, which can fill-up a smallboot partition.

The script:


-3in addition to the above answers you could try to remove the kernel image + system.map + config filesmanually. grub looks for those files in the /boot directory.

remove any files not related to the kernel version(s) you use. if you are using only the latest version, let'ssay 3.2.0-25, it should be safe to remove all 2.6.* and 3.0.* versions. so you type ls -alF /boot/2.6. tosee what's there and remove those. same with all the other versions except the one(s) you are using.

NB: when updating the kernel it may be good policy to keep the version that previously worked best for

sudo apt-get --dry-run purge $( dpkg-query -W -f='${Package}\n' | grep -f



about help badges blog chat data legal privacy policy jobs advertising info mobile contact us feedback

TECHNOLOGY LIFE / ARTS CULTURE /RECREATION

SCIENCE OTHER

Stack Overflow

Server Fault

Super User

Web Applications

Ask Ubuntu

Programmers

Unix & Linux

Ask Different (Apple)

WordPress Answers

Geographic InformationSystems

Database Administrators

Drupal Answers

SharePoint

User Experience

Mathematica

Photography

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Seasoned Advice(cooking)

Home Improvement

more (13)

English Language &Usage

Skeptics

Mi Yodeya (Judaism)

Travel

Christianity

Mathematics

Cross Validated (stats)

Theoretical ComputerScience

Physics

MathOverflow

Stack Apps

Meta Stack Overflow

Area 51

Stack Overflow Careers

you


2 This seems likely to break things, particularly when 3rd party modules have been installed. leonardo Apr1 '13 at 15:24

Your Answer

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged orask your own question.

question feed

community wikireplier

grub2 kernel

add comment

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Stack Exchange



Webmasters

Game Development

TeX - LaTeX

Electrical Engineering

Android Enthusiasts

Information Security

more (14)Arqade (gaming)

Bicycles

Role-playing Games

more (21)

more (7)

site design / logo 2014 stack exchange inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredrev 2014.2.21.1389

Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

askubuntu.comgrub2 - How do I remove or hide old kernel versions, to clean up the boot menu? - Ask Ubuntu

Vhbi11cC10aGUtYm9vdC1tZW51AA==: form1: q:

Vhbi11cC10aGUtYm9vdC1tZW51AA==: form119: input1: post-text: display-name: m-address:

Date post:	28-Sep-2015
Category:	Documents
Upload:	koulis123
View:	248 times
Download:	0 times

How Do I Remove or Hide Old Kernel Versions, To Clean Up the Boot Me

Documents