How to see linux kernel version

How To Find Which Linux Kernel Version Is Installed On My System

I am a new proud Linux user. My question to you is – how do I check Linux Kernel version? How do I find my Linux Kernel Version installed on my PC? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Introduction : The Linux kernel is the central (core) component of Linux operating systems. Its responsibilities include managing the system’s resources and the communication between hardware and software components. It also maintains the security of your system. Hence, finding out the version information is a good idea for patching and other sysadmin management tasks.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	No
Requirements	None
Est. reading time	1m

Commands to find your Linux Kernel Version

To check Linux Kernel version, try the following commands:

1. uname -r : Find Linux kernel version
2. cat /proc/version : Show Linux kernel version with help of a special file
3. hostnamectl | grep Kernel : For systemd based Linux distro you can use hotnamectl to display hostname and running Linux kernel version

Let us see all commands and examples in details.

How to check kernel version on Linux server/desktop/laptop

You need to use then uname command to print certain system information including kernel name. Type the following command to print kernel version number:
$ uname -r
Sample outputs:

So my Linux kernel version is 4.15.0-39, where:

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• 4 : Kernel version
• 15 : Major revision
• 0 : Minor revision
• 39 : Patch level or number
• generic : Linux distro/kernel specific additional info

Understanding uname command options

To print certain system information you use uname command. It has the following options:

-a, OR —all	print all information
-s, OR —kernel-name	print the kernel name
-n, OR —nodename	print the network node hostname
-r, OR —kernel-release	print the Linux kernel release
-v, OR —kernel-version	print the kernel version
-m, OR —machine	print the machine hardware name
-p, OR —processor	print the processor type or “unknown”
-i, OR —hardware-platform	print the hardware platform or “unknown”
-o, OR —operating-system	print the operating system

Find Linux kernel using /proc/version file

Another option is to type the following cat command:
$ cat /proc/version
Sample outputs:

How to find your Linux Kernel version using hostnamect

Type the hostnamectl command along with grep command:
$ hostnamectl
$ hostnamectl | grep Kernel

Related media

This tutorial is also available in a quick video format:

Conclusion

You learned three diffent commands to display and show Linux kernel version on screen. For more info see the following pages too:

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How to Check Kernel Version in Linux in Command Line

Home » SysAdmin » How to Check Kernel Version in Linux in Command Line

Want to find out which kernel version you are running?

The Linux kernel is much like the central brain of the operating system. Although it is open-source – meaning anyone can view and modify the code – the Linux kernel is built with multiple protocols to ensure stability and security.

This guide will walk you through how to check the Linux kernel version of your distribution.

• A system running Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS, or another version)
• A terminal window / command line (Ctrl–Alt–T, Ctrl–Alt–F2)

4 Commands to Find Linux Kernel Version

uname Command

Launch a terminal window, then enter the following:

The system will return a numeric code, for example:

Each number, separated by a dot or hyphen, is part of a code:

• 3 – This is the main kernelversion
• .10 – This is the major releaseversion
• .0 – This is the minor revisionlevel
• -957 – This is the level of patches and bug fixes

The uname command includes additional options that you can use to get more information about your kernel. Simply add an option after the command:

• -a – Display all information
• -o – Display the operating system (usually GNU/Linux)
• -r – Display kernel release
• -v – Display kernel version (usually includes the base OS and time the kernel was compiled)

For a full list of uname commands, enter

Note: Your kernel version will likely be different than this example. At the time of writing this article, the latest version is Linux kernel 5.0.

hostnamectl Command

The hostnamectl command is typically used to display information about the system’s network configuration. It also displays the kernel version.

To check the kernel version, enter the following:

The second-to-last line should read:

Display the /proc/version File

To display the proc/version file, enter the command:

The cat command displays the contents of the /proc/version file. This will output the Linux kernel version first, along with additional data about your operating system.

dmesg Command

The dmesg command is used to print the message buffer of the kernel. This is usually used to read messages from device drivers, but it can also be used to find the kernel version.

Enter the command:

The | (pipe) symbol is usually on the same key as the symbol, just above the enter key.

The commands work as follows:

• dmesg – read the contents of the kernel buffer
• | – pipe the command into the next command
• grep – search for a particular string of characters, and display lines that contain them
• Linux – the exact string of characters that grep should search for (capitalization matters)

The first line of output displays the Linux kernel version.

Note: When updating your kernel, it is recommended that you choose a release version that’s compatible with your version of Linux. Your package manager will typically give you kernel versions that are tested and verified.

This guide showed you several different ways to check the Linux kernel version. Since you’re only reading the output of a file, you shouldn’t need sudo privileges.

The Linux kernel has a modular design. Functionality is extendible with modules or drivers. Learn how to use the modprobe command to add or remove modules on Linux.

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3 Ways to Check Linux Kernel Version in Command Line

Last updated October 29, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 25 Comments

Brief: Wondering which Linux kernel version your system uses? Here are several ways to check your kernel version in the Linux terminal.

You may find yourself in a situation where you need to know the exact Linux kernel version being used on your system. Thanks to the powerful Linux command line, you can easily find that out.

Quick way to check Linux kernel version

You can use the following command to get the Linux kernel version:

uname -r

There are other ways to get even more detailed information about kernel. Read the rest of the article to learn it in detail.

In this article, I’ll show you various methods for finding out your kernel version and tell you what those numbers actually mean. If you prefer videos, here’s a quick one. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux tips.

How to find Linux kernel version

I am using Ubuntu while writing this article. But these commands are generic and can be used on Fedora, Debian, CentOS, SUSE Linux or any other Linux distribution.

1. Find Linux kernel using uname command

uname is the Linux command for getting system information. You can also use it to find out whether you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit system.

Open a terminal and type in the following command:

The output will be something similar to this:

This means that you’re running Linux kernel 4.4.0-97, or in more generic terms, you are running Linux kernel version 4.4.

But what do the other digits mean here? Let me explain:

• 4 – Kernel version
• 4 – Major revision
• 0 – Minor revision
• 97 – Bug fix
• generic – Distribution-specific string. For Ubuntu, it means I’m using the desktop version. For Ubuntu server edition, it would be ‘server’.

You can also use the uname command with the option -a. This will provide more system information if you need it.

The output of the command should like this:

Let me explain the output and what it means:

• Linux – Kernel name. If you run the same command on BSD or macOS, the result will be different.
• itsfoss – Hostname.
• 4.4.0-97-generic – Kernel release (as we saw above).
• #120-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 19 17:28:18 UTC 2017 – This means that Ubuntu has compiled 4.4.0-97-generic 120 times. A timestamp for the last compilation is also there.
• x86_64 – Machine architecture.
• x86_64 – Processor architecture.
• x86_64 – Operating system architecture (you can run a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit processor).
• GNU/Linux – Operating system (and no, it won’t show the distribution name).

But I’ll save you from information overload. Let’s see some other commands to find your Linux kernel version.

2. Find Linux kernel using /proc/version file

In Linux, you can also find the kernel information in the file /proc/version. Just look at the contents of this file:

You’ll see an output similar to what you saw with uname.

You can see the kernel version 4.4.0-97-generic here.

3. Find Linux kernel version using dmesg commad

dmesg is a powerful command used for writing kernel messages. It’s also very useful for getting system information.

Since dmesg provides an awful lot of information, you should normally use a command like less to read it. But since we’re here just to check the Linux kernel version, grepping on ‘Linux’ should give the desired output.

The output will have a few lines but you should be able to identify the Linux kernel version there easily.

How do you check your Linux kernel version and other information?

Of the three ways discussed here, I use uname all the time. It’s the most convenient.

What about you? Which command do you prefer for getting Linux kernel information?

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

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Find Linux / UNIX Kernel Version Command

H ow do I find out what kernel version I am currently running under Debian Linux or any other Linux distribution using a shell prompt? How do I find out Unix kernel version? How can I find out my Linux / UNIX kernel version using the ssh command?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Linux or Unix
Est. reading time	3 mintues

1. Linux Kernel version and name.
2. Print the Unix machine hardware name.
3. Find out about server processor type.
4. Display the operating system and more.

uname command to display the Linux or Unix kernel version

This command works under all Linux distributions and other UNIX-like operating systems such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, HP UX, OS X and friends. Type the following command to see running kernel version:
$ uname -r
Output taken from Linux based system:

• 2 : Kernel version
• 6 : The major revision of the kernel
• 22 : The minor revision of the kernel
• 14 : Immediate fixing / bug fixing for critical error
• generic : Distribution specific sting. For example, Redhat appends string such as EL5 to indicate RHEL 5 kernel.

Another common usage is as follows:
$ uname -mrsn
Output taken from Linux:

Here is another output from RHEL 8:

My RHEL 8 kernel version

Outputs from my OS X Unix desktop

Outputs from OpenBSD Unix server

For example, at the prompt, I type the following on AIX unix to print OS name:
uname
Sample outputs:

Common uname options

Option	Description
-a	Behave as though the options -m, -n, -r, -s, and -v were specified.
-i	Write the kernel ident to standard output.
-K	Write the FreeBSD version of the kernel.
-m	Displays the machine ID number of the hardware running the system.
-n	Write the name of the system/node to standard output.
-o	This is a synonym for the -s option, for compatibility with other systems.
-p	Displays the architecture of the system processor.
-r	Displays the release number of the operating system.
-s	Write the name of the operating system implementation to standard output.
-v	Write the version level of this release of the operating system to standard output.

How to find the kernel version with /proc/version file ( Linux only command )

You can also obtain kernel version from /proc/version file by using cat command as follows:
$ less /proc/version
$ more /proc/version
$ cat /proc/version
Sample outputs:

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Related media

See how to use uname and other commands to find the kernel version on Linux or Unix-like oses:

Package management tools ( Linux only command )

You can list all installed kernel and its version with the following command under RHEL / CentOS / Suse / Fedora Linux :
$ rpm -q kernel
Output:

If you are using Debian / Ubuntu , try:
$ dpkg —list | grep linux-image
Output:

Conclusion

We have shown you how to find the version of the Unix and Linux kernel running on your server/desktop/laptop/workstion from the command line. See uname man page here and here for more info.

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Category	List of Unix and Linux commands
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File Management	cat • cp • less • mkdir • more • tree
Firewall	Alpine Awall • CentOS 8 • OpenSUSE • RHEL 8 • Ubuntu 16.04 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
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OpenVPN	CentOS 7 • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Debian 8/9 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
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Processes Management	bg • chroot • cron • disown • fg • glances • gtop • jobs • killall • kill • pidof • pstree • pwdx • time • vtop
Searching	ag • grep • whereis • which
Shell builtins	compgen • echo • printf
Text processing	cut • rev
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WireGuard VPN	Alpine • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Firewall • Ubuntu 20.04

Comments on this entry are closed.

In Solaris uname -r will give you the solaris release level.
some other usefull options with uname are

uname -s [Operating system]
SunOS

uname -r [Release version]
5.8

uname -v
Generic_117350-27[OS version]

uname -a
SunOS hostname 5.8 Generic_117350-27 sun4u sparc

the last two words describes h/w name and processor respctl[equivalent to -m and -p),

I log on to different RedHat based servers, Can you please update on how to differentiate between Centos, RedHat, Oracle Linux (i.e. RedHat based distributions) sitting remotely.

# uname -a (doesn’t help)
# cat /etc/redhat-relaese (its changed to RedHat as some softwares don’t get installed otherwise.

Quite useful for beginners and mediocre persons.

i need linux fonts

cat /etc/redhat-release
this will give you redh hat version or centos version

this command return the Centos version

Newbie here….kind of got thrown in Linux admin for Centos at work due to staff reduction. Confused about something (well lots of things, but can’t seem to find the answer to this particular question).

]# rpm -qa kernel
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.15.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.19.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.28.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL
kernel-2.6.9-78.0.22.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.11.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.16.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.23.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.25.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.29.1.EL
kernel-2.6.9-78.0.5.EL
kernel-2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
kernel-2.6.9-78.0.13.EL
kernel-2.6.9-89.0.18.EL

]# uname -a
Linux xxx 2.6.9-78.0.22.EL #1 Thu Apr 30 19:03:25 EDT 2009 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

Why does rpm -qa show kernel-2.6.9-89.0.xxxxx installed but uname -a shows 2.6.9-78.00.22.EL?

I know this probably really stupid question – sorry 🙁

Send me all shell and kernel cammond of linux or unix

Life is so easy huh? 🙂

Send me all the words in the english language and their uses ( I dont claim that this line is original 😉 )

hahaha…lol…AMukh…ur reply is perfect….life is not that easy

Thank you very much all friend

Utility uname don’t have any info about OS version, only OS platform. uname -p gives
GNU/Linux… No info there are in environment variables. But I need the info like that
openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64)… How to solve this problem? I don’t want to set some environment variable manually…

can you install linux on a computer that has another operating system already installed

Yes, this is possible.

use any VM to install multiple os on same machine

I have installed “Linux mint” I want to know the complete info of my Linux version installed like Linux version kernel version

Thank U Very Much senior and all

xcuse me bro..
i wanna install fedora on VMWARE for running shell and c programming but my vmware is not listing out fedora OS .. what i should do …
It listing out “Linux Kernel 2.6.10” Is it similar to fedora ? Can i run shell scripts and c programz .

how to get the OS manufacturer,OS version,OS serial number and number of registered users on linux machine

sudo cat /etc/passwd | grep /bin/bash
UID’s 1000 and above are valid users plus UID 0 for root

dpkg –list | grep linux-image
ii linux-image-2.6.38-11-generic 2.6.38-11.50 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86/x86_64
rc linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic 2.6.38-8.42 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86/x86_64
ii linux-image-3.0.0-12-generic 3.0.0-12.20 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
ii linux-image-3.0.0-16-generic 3.0.0-16.29 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
ii linux-image-3.0.0-17-generic 3.0.0-17.30 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
ii linux-image-generic 3.0.0.17.20 Generic Linux kernel image

what does it mean 32 or 64 bit ?

when give uname -a o/p is
Linux xxxxx 3.0.0-17-generic #30-Ubuntu SMP Thu Mar 2 17:34:21 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

when i do file on some executable it tells it 32 bit.
ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped

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