Multiple Options in grub

[Leonard Chatagnier]

--- On Tue, 11/3/09, vijay shanker <vijay.shad at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: vijay shanker <vijay.shad at gmail.com>
> Subject: Multiple Options in grub
> To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 11:06 PM
> Hi all;
> 
> There is something i need to share and ask for your
> comments
> 
> I have been using UBUNTU for many years; But still a
> partial user; dont have a in depth knowledge.
> 
> On my box i first installed ubuntu 8. And when it was
> announced to release of 9.0.24, i upgraded to
> the latest version of ubuntu. And Now i am upgraded to
> 9.10
> 
> 
> Now when my box boots it gives me a lot of
> options to
> choose. -----------------Ubutntu 9.10
> , karnel 2.6.31-14-generic
> 
> Ubutntu 9.10 , karnel 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery
> mode)Ubutntu 9.10 , karnel
> 2.6.26-16-genericUbutntu 9.10 , karnel
> 2.6.26-16-generic (recovery mode)Ubutntu 9.10 ,
> karnel 2.6.28-15-generic
> 
> Ubutntu 9.10 , karnel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery
> mode)Ubutntu 9.10 , karnel 2.6.26-7-generic
> (recovery mode)Ubutntu 9.10 , karnel
> 2.6.26-7-generic (recovery
> mode)---------------
> 
> 
> Of course, i choose top one form thee
> list.

That's usually the best choice.
 
> Can any body describe the situation for me? Is
> there any way i can go and configure the options? 

It appears you have kernels(not karnels) from the earlier version you upgraded from.  Not sure how it happened though as don't know exactly how you upgraded.

 Does my
> system has 4 kernels as options; if yes i must remove all
> old kernel?
> 
Yes, you have all the kernels shown installed.  You do not have to remove any of them and it's always advisable to keep at least one of the latest old kernels in case the latest kernel fails and you can't boot from it. You then can boot up from the other kernel and make repairs.
If you must trim the list down you can purge the oldest kernels or edit /boot/grub/menu.lst assuming you have the ext3 file system and grub-legacy installed instead of ext4 and grub2 installed.
To purge a kernel do:

sudo aptitude purge <kernel name> or use synaptic package manager to completely remove the kernel.
Better run sudo update-grub after removing the kernels to update menu.lst.

To edit /boot/grub/menu.lst then do:

sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

Then comment out the kernels you don't wan't to see.
This wont remove the old kernels but you wont see them on grubs startup selection.  Also run sudo update-grub after modifying/editing menu.lst.

If there is something you don't understand then post back with your questions as you can make the system unbootable by modifying menu.lst incorrectly.

If you are using ext4 and grub2, it's more complicated but can be done.  Let the list know if you are using grub2.

Leonard Chatagnier
lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net