Q. I have multiple versions installed and I need to save disk space. I am using Cent OS Linux. How can I delete or remove a Linux kernel from my Linux distribution ?
A. Linux Kernel and related files are stored in following locations:
=> /boot - Stores actual kernel and related file such system man and initrd images,
=> /etc or /boot/grub - Stores grub.conf file (most distro use /boot/grub these days).
=> /iib/modules/KERNEL-VERSION/* - Linux device drivers (modules)
If kernel is installed using binary package system such as rpm, yum, up2date, apt-get etc you can remove with following commands:
Rpm based distro - Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora Core/Suse Linux
First find out all installed kernel version with following command:
# rpm -qa | grep kernel-smp
or
# rpm -qa | grep kernel
Output:
kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.EL kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.0.3.EL kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.0.8.EL
I've total 3 different kernel installed. To remove kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.EL type command:
# rpm -e kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.EL
OR
# rpm -vv -e kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.EL
.deb based distro - Debian or Ubuntu Linux
Again find out all installed kernel version:
$ dpkg --list | grep kernel-image
Output:
ii kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386 2.4.27-10sarge1 Linux kernel image for version 2.4.27 on 386 ii kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 2.6.8-16sarge1 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.8 on PPro
Now remove kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386 with apt-get command itself:
# apt-get remove kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386
OR
$ sudo apt-get remove kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386
If you have custom compiled kernel you need to remove following files/dirs:
- /boot/vmlinuz*KERNEL-VERSION*
- /boot/initrd*KERNEL-VERSION*
- /boot/System-map*KERNEL-VERSION*
- /boot/config-*KERNEL-VERSION*
- /lib/modules/*KERNEL-VERSION*/
- Update grub configuration file /etc/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst to point to correct kernel version.
Caution: Removing working kernel may result into unstable / non- bootable Linux server system.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
i want to remove linux from my system but unable to do so…i formatted the hard disk my making it a slave.but still linux kernel is there and i m getting error message “kernel panic-not syncing:attempted to kill init”..can someone know the solution to completely remove the linux
you better to use 911 cd. it helps you to completely remove the red hat os.
My Ubuntu system only returns searches by “linux-image”, not “kernel-image”.
This is most likely due to changes made since this was written.
Can any one tell me how to delete a file in Linux
can any one tell me how to delete linux kernel(vmlinuz).
and how to ovrride linux kernal with vista kernal.
@sailon:
Try using synaptic or remove linux-images-xxx
can any one tell me how to delete linux kernel(vmlinuz).
and how to ovrride linux kernal with vista kernal.
I have just successfully removed a Centos 5.4 v2.6.18 kernel that I installed yesterday. This kernel was installed using “make install”. After deleting /boot/*KERNEL-VERSION*, I found that I had two stale links in /boot:
System.map -> /boot/System.map-*KERNEL-VERSION*
vmlinuz -> /boot/vmlinuz-*KERNEL-VERSION*
I replaced these links with links to the files that match the default kernel in grub.conf
I have installed kernel2.6.32. After that I am enable to boot the system using the kernel 2.6.32. So I want to remove the kernel2.6.32. But i ont know how to remove kernel from the system. please help me!!!!!!!
i have make a partition on my windows and i want to remove linux 5.0 so is possible without formatting. I f possible then how, can u tell me its very urgent?
thanks
how to clean user space…?
i tried to compile linux-2.6.26 module after make menucofig executed it shows user space full warning please tell me some answer……!
advance
i dele my grub.conf file by mistake in linux & i want to recover that file how can i do this
In recent versions of Ubuntu its apt-get remove linux-kernel-
sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar, worked like a dream, I am in your debt. Thank you.
Thanks for this, it helped me run through the removal of current kernel by switching the student to edit grub to from entry , and then remove the current one so he could actually see the “New Kernel” update stuff.