List or Check Installed Linux Kernels

October 11, 2007in CentOS, Debian / Ubuntu, Linux, RedHat and Friends, Suse, Ubuntu Linux last updated October 11, 2007

Q. How do I list all installed kernel on Linux operating system? How do I find out current kernel version?

A. You can use standard package listing command to list installed kernels.

RedHat / CentOS / RHEL / Fedora Linux user

You need to use standard rpm command to list installed software. Type the following command at shell prompt:
$ rpm -qa kernel
Output:

kernel-2.6.18-4.1.15.el5
kernel-2.6.18-8.1.14.el5
kernel-2.6.18-8.1.10.el5

To list / display current kernel

Type the following command:
$ uname -r $ uname -mrs
Output:

Linux 2.6.18-8.1.14.el5 x86_64

Debian / Ubuntu Linux user

Use dpkg command to list all installed kernel, enter:
$ dpkg --list | grep linux-image
Output:

ii  linux-image-2.6.20-15-generic        2.6.20-15.27                           Linux kernel image for version 2.6.20 on x86/
ii  linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic        2.6.20-16.32                           Linux kernel image for version 2.6.20 on x86/
ii  linux-image-generic                  2.6.20.16.28.1                         Generic Linux kernel image

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

10 comment

Alamgir says:
June 12, 2009 at 12:53 pm
thanks ! important information.
Reply Report comment
krishan kumar singh says:
October 7, 2009 at 5:37 pm
hi,
it’s working thanks for information
Regards
krishan kumar singh
Reply Report comment
jaydeep says:
July 19, 2010 at 9:10 am
hey that works for Ubuntu…!
Reply Report comment
visitor says:
September 4, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Hi,
how to edit the boot order manually in Debian to choose a specific installed kernel to be the default one?
Thanks.
Reply Report comment
1. Erathiel says:
  January 16, 2014 at 8:32 am
  You need to modify the bootloader configuration. If you haven’t been playing with your installation you’re using GRUB, so search for GRUB configuration tutorials.
  Reply Report comment
  1. visitor says:
    January 16, 2014 at 9:12 am
    yes,
    I just want to know the grub.cnfg path to edit it in Debian.
    Reply Report comment
rohit says:
July 28, 2014 at 8:54 am
hi, i am new to linux. i want to know what happens to the older kernel when i install a new kernel? does it overwrite? also explain me how do i find the path/location for both older and newer kernels! please help!
Reply Report comment
1. Fernando says:
  September 1, 2014 at 3:30 pm
  @rohit, newer installed kernels do not overwrite existing kernels unless you delete them explicitly. So you can always choose to boot with the proved old one :-)
  As for the kernels location, it depends on where do you install them… In my case I always create a /boot partition, so there you could find all those kernels…
  Best of luck!
  Reply Report comment
Wyatt says:
February 18, 2015 at 3:19 pm
What if you have manually compiled and installed kernels that aren’t in the package manager?
Reply Report comment
Shraddha says:
July 10, 2015 at 6:22 pm
Thanks for posting this! Helpful
Reply Report comment

nixCraft