Remove old Ubuntu kernels

Introduction

Over time, old kernels take up more and more space in the boot partition

The culmination of this process is the error

the volume boot has only 0 bytes disk space remaining

Although Ubuntu usually warns about the lack of space in advance

Solving this problem is usually not difficult.

Usually this helps:

sudo apt --purge autoremove

You can study the details further in this article.

List of installed kernels

You can get a list of all kernels by running

dpkg --list | egrep -i --color 'linux-image|linux-headers'

ii linux-headers-5.10.0-1044-oem ii linux-headers-5.10.0-1045-oem ii linux-headers-5.11.0-25-generic ii linux-headers-5.11.0-27-generic ii linux-headers-5.11.0-34-generic ii linux-headers-5.4.0-81 ii linux-headers-5.4.0-81-generic ii linux-headers-5.4.0-84 ii linux-headers-5.4.0-84-generic ii linux-headers-5.6.0-1056-oem ii linux-headers-5.8.0-34-generic ii linux-headers-5.8.0-53-generic ii linux-headers-5.8.0-63-generic ii linux-headers-generic ii linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 ii linux-headers-oem-20.04b rc linux-image-5.10.0-1029-oem rc linux-image-5.10.0-1033-oem rc linux-image-5.10.0-1038-oem ii linux-image-5.10.0-1044-oem ii linux-image-5.10.0-1045-oem ii linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic ii linux-image-5.11.0-27-generic ii linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic rc linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic rc linux-image-5.4.0-54-generic rc linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic rc linux-image-5.6.0-1020-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1036-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1039-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1042-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1047-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1048-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1050-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1052-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1053-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1054-oem rc linux-image-5.6.0-1055-oem ii linux-image-5.6.0-1056-oem rc linux-image-5.8.0-34-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-38-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-41-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-43-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-44-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-45-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-48-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-49-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-50-generic ii linux-image-5.8.0-53-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-55-generic rc linux-image-5.8.0-59-generic ii linux-image-5.8.0-63-generic ii linux-image-generic-hwe-20.04 ii linux-image-oem-20.04b 5.10.0-1044.46 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.10.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.10.0-1045.47 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.10.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.11.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.11.0-27.29~20.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.11.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.11.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.4.0-81.91 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0 5.4.0-81.91 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.4.0-84.94 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0 5.4.0-84.94 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.6.0-1056.60 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.6.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.8.0-53.60~20.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.8.0-63.71~20.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 5.4.0.84.88 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers 5.11.0.34.36~20.04.13 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers 5.10.0.1045.47 amd64 OEM Linux kernel headers 5.10.0-1029.30 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.10.0-1033.34 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.10.0-1038.40 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.10.0-1044.46 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.10.0-1045.47 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.11.0-27.29~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.4.0-42.46 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.4.0-54.60 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.4.0-59.65 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.6.0-1020.20 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1036.39 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1039.43 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1042.46 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1047.51 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1048.52 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1050.54 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1052.56 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1053.57 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1054.58 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1055.59 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.6.0-1056.60 amd64 Signed kernel image oem 5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-41.46~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-43.49~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-44.50~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-45.51~20.04.1+1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-48.54~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-49.55~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-50.56~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-53.60~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-55.62~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-59.66~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.8.0-63.71~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic 5.11.0.34.36~20.04.13 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image 5.10.0.1045.47 amd64 OEM Linux kernel image

If you only need the installed kernels

dpkg --list | grep -i -E --color 'linux-image|linux-kernel' | grep '^ii'

ii linux-image-5.10.0-1044-oem 5.10.0-1044.46 amd64 Signed kernel image oem ii linux-image-5.10.0-1045-oem 5.10.0-1045.47 amd64 Signed kernel image oem ii linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic 5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic ii linux-image-5.11.0-27-generic 5.11.0-27.29~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic ii linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic 5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic ii linux-image-5.6.0-1056-oem 5.6.0-1056.60 amd64 Signed kernel image oem ii linux-image-5.8.0-53-generic 5.8.0-53.60~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic ii linux-image-5.8.0-63-generic 5.8.0-63.71~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic ii linux-image-generic-hwe-20.04 5.11.0.34.36~20.04.13 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image ii linux-image-oem-20.04b 5.10.0.1045.47 amd64 OEM Linux kernel image

Number of kernels

dpkg --list | egrep -i --color 'linux-image|linux-headers' | grep '^ii' | wc -l

Number of installed kernels

Check the free space on the disk

df -H

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on udev 17G 0 17G 0% /dev tmpfs 3.4G 2.7M 3.4G 1% /run /dev/mapper/nvme0n1p3_crypt 502G 429G 48G 91% / tmpfs 17G 27M 17G 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 5.3M 4.1k 5.3M 1% /run/lock tmpfs 17G 0 17G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup /dev/loop0 105M 105M 0 100% /snap/core/11606 /dev/loop1 59M 59M 0 100% /snap/core18/2074 /dev/loop2 105M 105M 0 100% /snap/core/11420 /dev/loop3 59M 59M 0 100% /snap/core18/2128 /dev/loop6 69M 69M 0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515 /dev/loop5 230M 230M 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/72 /dev/loop4 230M 230M 0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66 /dev/loop7 133M 133M 0 100% /snap/slack/44 /dev/loop8 34M 34M 0 100% /snap/snapd/12704 /dev/loop9 34M 34M 0 100% /snap/snapd/12883 /dev/loop11 69M 69M 0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514 /dev/loop10 54M 54M 0 100% /snap/snap-store/547 /dev/loop12 54M 54M 0 100% /snap/snap-store/542 /dev/loop13 130M 130M 0 100% /snap/slack/43 /dev/nvme0n1p2 992M 896M 45M 96% /boot /dev/nvme0n1p1 536M 8.8M 528M 2% /boot/efi tmpfs 3.4G 21k 3.4G 1% /run/user/125 tmpfs 3.4G 91k 3.4G 1% /run/user/26167

You can see that the boot partition is almost full.

Outdated kernels can be removed with the command

sudo apt --purge autoremove

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: linux-headers-5.10.0-1044-oem* linux-headers-5.11.0-25-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-81* linux-headers-5.4.0-81-generic* linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-25* linux-image-5.10.0-1044-oem* linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic* linux-modules-5.10.0-1044-oem* linux-modules-5.11.0-25-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.11.0-25-generic* linux-oem-5.10-headers-5.10.0-1044* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 11 to remove and 22 not upgraded. After this operation, 890 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y (Reading database ... 551121 files and directories currently installed.) Removing linux-headers-5.10.0-1044-oem (5.10.0-1044.46) ... Removing linux-headers-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... Removing linux-headers-5.4.0-81-generic (5.4.0-81.91) ... dpkg: warning: while removing linux-headers-5.4.0-81-generic, directory '/lib/modules/5.4.0-81-generic' not empty so not removed Removing linux-headers-5.4.0-81 (5.4.0-81.91) ... Removing linux-hwe-5.11-headers-5.11.0-25 (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... Removing linux-image-5.10.0-1044-oem (5.10.0-1044.46) ... /etc/kernel/prerm.d/dkms: dkms: removing: nvidia 450.119.03 (5.10.0-1044-oem) (x86_64) -------- Uninstall Beginning -------- Module: nvidia Version: 450.119.03 Kernel: 5.10.0-1044-oem (x86_64) ------------------------------------- Status: Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel. nvidia.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.10.0-1044-oem/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. nvidia-modeset.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.10.0-1044-oem/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. nvidia-drm.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.10.0-1044-oem/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. depmod... DKMS: uninstall completed. I: /boot/initrd.img.old is now a symlink to initrd.img-5.10.0-1045-oem /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools: update-initramfs: Deleting /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-1044-oem /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub: Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub' Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg' Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/oem-flavour.cfg' Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-34-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-34-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-27-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-27-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-25-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-25-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-63-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-63-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-53-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-53-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-1045-oem Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-1045-oem Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-1056-oem Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.6.0-1056-oem Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings done Removing linux-modules-extra-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... Removing linux-modules-5.10.0-1044-oem (5.10.0-1044.46) ... Removing linux-oem-5.10-headers-5.10.0-1044 (5.10.0-1044.46) ... Removing linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... /etc/kernel/prerm.d/dkms: dkms: removing: nvidia 450.119.03 (5.11.0-25-generic) (x86_64) -------- Uninstall Beginning -------- Module: nvidia Version: 450.119.03 Kernel: 5.11.0-25-generic (x86_64) ------------------------------------- Status: Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel. nvidia.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.11.0-25-generic/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. nvidia-modeset.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.11.0-25-generic/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. nvidia-drm.ko: - Uninstallation - Deleting from: /lib/modules/5.11.0-25-generic/updates/dkms/ - Original module - No original module was found for this module on this kernel. - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version. depmod... DKMS: uninstall completed. /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools: update-initramfs: Deleting /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-25-generic /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub: Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub' Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg' Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/oem-flavour.cfg' Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-34-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-34-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-27-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-27-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-63-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-63-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-53-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-53-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-1045-oem Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-1045-oem Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-1056-oem Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.6.0-1056-oem Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings done Removing linux-modules-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... (Reading database ... 445162 files and directories currently installed.) Purging configuration files for linux-modules-extra-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... Purging configuration files for linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... rmdir: failed to remove '/lib/modules/5.11.0-25-generic': Directory not empty Purging configuration files for linux-modules-5.11.0-25-generic (5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1) ... dpkg: warning: while removing linux-modules-5.11.0-25-generic, directory '/lib/modules/5.11.0-25-generic' not empty so n ot removed Purging configuration files for linux-modules-5.10.0-1044-oem (5.10.0-1044.46) ... dpkg: warning: while removing linux-modules-5.10.0-1044-oem, directory '/lib/modules/5.10.0-1044-oem' not empty so not r emoved Purging configuration files for linux-image-5.10.0-1044-oem (5.10.0-1044.46) ...

Check

You can check the result of the cleanup with df and grep

df -H | grep boot

/dev/nvme0n1p2 992M 657M 283M 70% /boot
/dev/nvme0n1p1 536M 8.8M 528M 2% /boot/efi

It was 96% full, now it is 70%

dpkg --list | egrep -i --color 'linux-image|linux-headers' | grep '^ii' | wc -l

Six kernels were removed

Article author: Andrei Olegovich