Remove older Linux kernels in Linux Mint with these steps

I have used Ubuntu and Linux Mint and haven't seen both of them remove older kernels and they start piling up on your system and grub boot list. Although it is a good practice to keep a few of the older versions of kernel to restore functionality if a kernel update breaks something. It is not necessary to have all of them being of no use.



The first and the easiest way of clearing out the kernel is through the update manager where you can see the list of kernels you want to install or remove. You can go to the view menu and then click on "Linux Kernels" to see all the kernels available. The kernels that are installed already are displayed as installed and the others have the option to install them.

It's recommended to keep 2-3 past kernel updates which were working perfectly with your system if you may need to go back. Then delete all the older kernel updates before that with the remove button. You will have to do this one by one but you'll not have to install any other application to do this. You will be prompted to enter your password to remove the kernels.

Another way of removing kernel is using a tool that does this automatically for you. Just install the application through APT and use a single command to get rid of old kernels with ease.



The application you have to install is byobu
sudo apt install byobu
Then use this command to clean the old linux kernel installations
sudo purge-old-kernels
This will however remove all but your current kernel installation, so be sure you want to do this.