Guide to how to remove a kernel version manually (bad updates)

[fedormorozov]

I am quite a beginner in Linux, but I encountered myself with a problem which seems to affect more people here in the forums. So I expect my post will be helpful.

I updated my kernel to 2.6.27-11 to 2.6.27-14 in Ubuntu Intrepid and found myself with a dissapeared wireless driver for which I worked a lot to find and install (it was the famous Broadcom 4311 which every Linux hates so much). As I didn't want to repeat all the procedures to get that driver working in the new kernel, I still could access to the system with the first kernel, but it was a little bit messy (hitting ESC at the beginning and selecting the previous kernel, ...). So, I decided to delete the new kernel. In the forums I saw how to do this, but the methods were too messy and some of them didn't helped to me. Finally, I deleted the kernel manually.

So, this is the way I make it:

- Delete these files on /boot/:
abi-(version to delete)-generic
config-(version to delete)-generic
initrd.img-(version to delete)-generic
System.map-(version to delete)-generic
vmcoreinfo-(version to delete)-generic
vmlinuz-(version to delete)-generic

You have to do it as a root ($ sudo rm /boot/(file name) in the console)


Then, open and edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst:

$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Delete the lines which correspond to the kernel version you want to remove. In my case it was:

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-14-generic
uuid d5ab5952-b449-4952-97b8-3d1b30751eb6
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-14-generic root=UUID=d5ab5952-b449-4952-97b8-3d1b30751eb6 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-14-generic
quiet

Save the file and reboot the system. After this, the kernel should be removed completely.


Hope this helps to someone who is in a similar situation. Good luck to everyone!

[darkrose0510]

or

sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.27-14-generic

would do it too.

[prashant4239]

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.27-14-generic