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Delete old linux kernels from ubuntu boot menu.

When you update your ubuntu sometimes Linux kernel is also updated to the latest one.

That’s fine! But the problem is when you update your kernel, the old kernel version is not deleted and is kept installed in the system. But you don’t need those old Kernel versions.

And the most annoying problem is with time when you update your Kernel many times , Your boot selection option before booting ubuntu is clustered with old kernel versions of ubuntu.

So here is how to delete or De-install old kernel from your ubuntu and boot option , or The Grub Boot menu.

So first of all we need to Remove the old Kernel from your system.

To do that First of all find which version of Kernel you are using currently.

To find that go to terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) , Type the following command and press enter.

uname -r

This command will show your current ubuntu kernel version in use. Let us suppose it is 2.6.35-24 for now.

Now you need to De-install all other kernel versions from your system except the one you are using now , or you can also delete the kernel version you don’t want and keep others.

To delete the kernel Go to:

“System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager”

Search for old Ubuntu Kernel Version from the Search Box that appears in the Synaptic package Manager , Like if you want to delete kernel version 2.6.35-23 then type it in the search box and the package manager will show all the packages that are related to “2.6.35-23” the one with green box is the installed one. So to delete those Linux kernels Right click in it and click on “Mark for Removal” as shown in the picture below:

delete old linux kernel

So , Mark for removal all linux kernel version files that you dont want to keep in your system or want to delete , (But Be sure you want to delete them and it is not the current Kernel you are using) After you mark all the linux kernel that you want to delete for removal click on the “Apply” button at the top as shown in figure above.

It might take some time to De-install the old kernels ; after the removal of old kernels Now you need to update the ubuntu Grub boot menu to include only the Ubuntu with Kernel versions that you haven’t De-installed and the windows OS if you have any.

So to Update the Grub Boot Menu and to include only the Kernel that you haven’t De-installed and windows:

Go to Terminal , Type following command and press enter:

sudo update-grub

The command will automatically detect other Operating systems like Windows , Kernel versions of Ubuntu and update the grub Boot menu list to contain only those options which aren’t De-installed..

Now restart and see the new grub boot menu which is clean and don’t contains unnecessary old ubuntu kernel versions.