Ubuntu
gnome-utils package

Updating GRUB after Ubuntu update

Asked by Murukesh Mohanan

When GRUB loads, it shows me every version of ubuntu I've had on my system. I first installed version 2.6.31-14-generic, and later updated it to 2.6.31-17-generic, following which GRUB listed 4 ubuntu options, one for each version, and one for each version's recovery mode. Now, today when I updated it to 2.6.31-19-generic, it shows 6 ubuntu options. Not that it seems to cause any problem, but it does seem a bit confusing to see so many options. And all the options work perfectly, and each time the version number shown by the System Monitor tallies with the one I selected. Can anyone help me understand what's going on?

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Ubuntu gnome-utils Edit question
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Bhaskar Kandiyal
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zvacet (ivicakolic) said : 		#1

In synaptic search box type linux-image and remove 2.6.31-14-generic kernel.It is, in general,good to have two kernels,because if latest doesn´t work as it should you can always boot in previous one.After removing type in terminal

sudo update-grub

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Best Bhaskar Kandiyal (bkandiyal) said : 		#2

Hi,
The versions that GRUB lists are Linux kernel versions and not Ubuntu versions.
GRUB lists all installed kernel's and gives you an option to choose which kernel to boot from.

Whenever there is a new kernel available in the repositories, the update manager prompts you to install it as new kernel's contain improvements and bug fixes over old kernels.
What the update manager doesn't do is uninstall the previously installed kernel's and therefore GRUB shows the old kernel's as well.

You can safely uninstall the previous (old) kernel versions from Synaptic (System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager), search for linux-image-<version> (Replace <version> with the kernel version you wish to uninstall) eg: linux-image-2.6.13-4 etc.

Or from the command line: sudo apt-get purge linux-image-<version>

Before uninstalling the old kernel's, be sure to check whether the *new* kernel that has been installed, works without any problems.

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Murukesh Mohanan (murukesh) said : 		#3

Thanks Bhaskar Kandiyal, that solved my question.