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I have two kernels installed on my system. 3.16... and 3.19.3...I'm running Ubuntu 14.10 and it came with the 3.16...kernel. I decided to try the latest possible kernel (3.19.3...), but I sometimes get errors and the system feels unstable. I see no reason to keep this new kernel. Is there any issue I might run into if I choose to boot into the older kernel, and then remove the newer one using say, Synaptic? Will I run into issues once I reboot, or will Ubuntu just boot automatically into the older kernel with no fuss?

Any advice on the proper procedure and what methods to best achieve my goal would be appreciated. Thanks.

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3 Answers 3

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You can remove kernels the same way you remove other packages, as long as you are not booted in that kernel.

To get a list of the kernels you have installed, use dpkg -l with a grep as in:

dpkg -l | grep linux

There you will see the list of packages that got installed.

Then use the remove command of apt-get

sudo apt-get remove linux-...<name as shown by dpkg -l>

The headers do not need to be removed, the linux-image-... are the actual binaries that need removal.

Note that apt-get should automatically re-run the necessary commands to update grub and the startup RAM disk.

Of course, if you use apt-get update + apt-get upgrade (or the auto-upgrade which does the same), the newer kernel will get re-installed...

I think you can prevent re-installation, but I do not know the command for that.

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  • Thanks! I cannot seem to upvote your answer without 15 reputation points (which I unfortunately don't have at the moment). I appreciate the answer though.
    – Wes Haq
    May 10, 2015 at 20:12
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This is very simple. First you need to know a few things about the kernel you want to remove. You gotta have its full name (For example, 3.19.0-15-generic). You can find this by booting with 3.19 kernel, opening Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and running the command

uname -r

Take note of the output. Reboot with 3.16 kernel and open Terminal again, running the commands

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-$(uname -r)
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-$(uname -r)
sudo update-initramfs -d -k $(uname -r)
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo update-grub

And it is done! The next time you see GRUB, 3.19 kernel will not be there anymore.

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  • Thanks! I cannot seem to upvote your answer without 15 reputation points (which I unfortunately don't have at the moment). I appreciate the answer though.
    – Wes Haq
    May 10, 2015 at 20:12
  • No trouble, I'm here to help you!
    – Eduardo Cola
    May 10, 2015 at 20:24
  • @WesHaq Hello Wes! You can select this as the solution by clicking the icon to the left.
    – mchid
    Jan 14, 2018 at 18:09
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    Running sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-$(uname -r) will uninstall the currently running kernel. Do not do this.
    – Cerin
    Jul 27, 2018 at 15:58
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Login using older kernel.
My targeted version was: 5.13.0-28
Run this command

sudo apt-get remove --purge linux-image-5.13.0-28-generic linux-image-5.13.0-28-lowlatency linux-headers-5.13.0-28-generic linux-headers-5.13.0-28-lowlatency linux-modules-5.13.0-28-generic linux-modules-5.13.0-28-lowlatency linux-hwe-5.13-headers-5.13.0-28
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