Score:0

How might one remove old Linux kernels by manually deleting files and directories *on a mounted system drive*?

cn flag

I have a machine that isn't booting (even into GRUB). I suspect that it is not booting because of a lack of hard drive space in some partitions. I have the hard drive of this machine mounted using a USB live distribution. How would I manually delete files and directories such that older kernels are removed?

raj avatar
cn flag
raj
It seems unlikely that a machine won't even boot into GRUB due to lack of disk space. It is however possible that GRUB (re)configuration failed previously due to lack of disk space and therefore the machine doesn't boot. Just freeing the disk space will not fix the issue, GRUB reconfiguration would be probably necessary.
cc flag
You can just rm the unwanted kernels and ramdisks, but then the package manager will complain when you try to properly remove the package. Replace the removed files with zero length files, and keep the package manager happy. As noted, wont necessarily fix things.
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Boot into a LiveUSB's "Try Ubuntu" environment and confirm that space is really a cause, and exactly which partition has such a problem. Don't guess. Prove your suspicions before acting, or you might make things worse. While booted into the "Try Ubuntu" environment is also a good time to backup your data.
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.