1. An OS may havemultiple kernels with different versions installed. Find out which version youare using:
root@symantec-virtual-machine:~# uname -r
3.8.0-22-generic
2. Find out whichOS you are using:
root@symantec-virtual-machine:~# cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 13.04 \n \l
Or
root@symantec-virtual-machine:~# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 13.04
Release: 13.04
Codename: raring
3. Find out 32 or 64bit OS
root@symantec-virtual-machine:~#arch
x86_64
4. Sometimes you needto select the correct kernel version every time system boot. To avoid thiseffort, you can modify/boot/grub/menu.lst (RedHat,Suse, CentOS, Oracle) or/boot/grub/grub.cfg (Debian,Ubuntu).
Find set default=in /boot/grub/grub.cfg,changethe corresponding number between quotes to the one you want. For example,set default=”1” for the second ‘menuentry’ kernel. (the first‘menuentry’ is 0, and so on). Please note that some menuentry are nested as a sub-menuentry, so the order may not correspondto number. Editing grub.cfg may be needed.
Find default=in /boot/grub/menu.lst,changethe corresponding number to the one you want. For example,default=1 for the second ‘title’ kernel. (the first ‘title’ is 0,and so on)
When you edit these two files, make a snapshot FIRST.
5. Some terms: ‘i686’,’i386’ or ‘i586’ means 32 bit, ‘x86_64’ means 64 bit.