Ubuntu – How to ensure I am running the current stock kernel

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At some point, I installed a new kernel, for no particular purpose but to try.

I am having some problems, and would like to ensure that they are not caused by the kernel I installed.

How can I generally find out whether I'm using the newest available official kernel? If I'm not, how can I then change (up- or downgrade) to the latest official version?

(I'm using Ubuntu 12.04, running kernel 3.3.0-030300-generic)

Best Answer

  • Use uname -r to find your running kernel version/variant
    • For example, 12.04 stock 64-bit returns 3.2.0-29-generic
  • Note that stock/official kernels only have 2 or 3 digits after the "points", e.g. -29 here.
  • The mainline/custom kernels have six digits, so the 030300 you are running is NOT a stock kernel
  • You can update to the latest stock kernel by running sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic or ...generic-pae, depending on what your uname -r output shows you
  • You can choose kernels at boot from the GRUB menu, just keep Shift pressed down
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