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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{ 9 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
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?