How to Install / Upgrade to Linux Kernel 4.5 in Ubuntu

Last updated: March 15, 2016

Linux Kernel

The Linux Kernel has reached the new stable 4.5 release. Linus Torvalds yesterday announced:

    So this is later on a Sunday than my usual schedule, because I just couldn’t make up my mind whether I should do another rc8 or not, and kept just waffling about it. In the end, I obviously decided not to,
    but it could have gone either way.

    We did have one nasty regression that got fixed yesterday, and the networking pull early in the week was larger than I would have wished for. But the block layer should be all good now, and David went through all his networking commits an extra time just to make me feel comfy about it, so in the end I didn’t see any point to making the release cycle any longer than usual.

    And on the whole, everything here is pretty small. The diffstat looks a bit larger for an xfs fix, because that fix has three cleanup refactoring patches that precedes it. And there’s a access type
    pattern fix in the sound layer that generated lots of noise, but is all very simple in the end.


Download and Install Linux Kernel 4.5:

NOT recommended for “normal” users! You MUST know what you’re going to do and how to revert the changes.

Ubuntu Kernel Team has made the binary packages for this kernel release, available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 4.5 (DEBs)

First check out your OS type, 32-bit, 64-bit, then select install below packages one by one:

  1. linux-headers-4.5.0-xxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-4.5.0-xxx-generic_xxx_i386/amd64.deb
  3. linux-image-4.5.0-xxx-generic_xxx_i386/amd64.deb

If you need a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio) then download & install below packages instead:

  1. linux-headers-4.5.0-xxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-4.5.0-xxx-lowlatency_xxx_i386/amd64.deb
  3. linux-image-4.5.0-xxx-lowlatency_xxx_i386/amd64.deb

For command line, download and install the kernel debs via:

For 64-bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-headers-4.5.0-040500_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-headers-4.5.0-040500-generic_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-image-4.5.0-040500-generic_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

For 32-bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-headers-4.5.0-040500_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-headers-4.5.0-040500-generic_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.5-wily/linux-image-4.5.0-040500-generic_4.5.0-040500.201603140130_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Uninstall Kernel 4.5:

Reboot computer and select boot with previous kernel (under Advanced Options) entry when you’re at Grub bootloader. Finally remove kernel 4.5 via command:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-4.5.0-* linux-image-4.5.0-*; sudo update-grub

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9 responses to How to Install / Upgrade to Linux Kernel 4.5 in Ubuntu

  1. Once you have installed the latest kernel version 4.5 & restarted your system Dont forget to remove the previous (old) kernel. You can easily do this using the Ubuntu Tweak tool. Using the janitor function. It does this safely.

  2. Not working on Elementary OS! Kernel 4.4 works great

  3. Why would any asshole advice someone to remove the older kernel? The new kernel wont get updates, the older would probably. And it’s a necessary backup!

    • Not to mention… The old kernel would get updates toward the new kernel… and the new one is the *newest version* so… why would it need updates yet… maybe my logic is skewed. haha I love Linux but man the community is rough. Be thankful for folks who take time to write help articles; After all, using Linux DOES come with a manual, but… have you read any? (i.e.; man ls) Even the simplest commands have archaic man pages. We’re all just doing what we can.

      Anyway, I digress. I just updated to 4.5 (and did NOT remove 4.4.xx) and booted successfully into it by holding/ wildly tapping shift on boot. No need to remove the other kernel, at least not for now. Hell, I’ll keep both and interchange if I want. But, more importantly, no more random freezes with 4.5… so far… :D

      Cheers!

      Pure Ubuntu Minimal 16.04 + Openbox + xdm + a little luck!

  4. I am missing: linux-image-extra-4.5.0-040500-generic
    Can these be found somewhere?

  5. I’m also missing linux-image-extra-4.5.0-040500-generic.
    Can anyone point us to the right location to find this package?
    Thanks.

    • There is no -extra- package available for 4.5 kernel in ubuntu. It can be found only for default kernel versions and updates. Manual kernel installation doesn’t have the extra package.

    • Have you had any trouble booting in? I haven’t so far, but of course this is day one…
      Directly copy and paste the wget lines into terminal (I have to use Shift+insert in my terminal), then
      sudo -dpkg -i *.deb
      Nothing seems to happen. Power off. Boot holding Shift, and select Linux with 4.5. Don’t remove 4.4 (like this fellow upstairs apparently did, which seems to have greatly upset him). Just boot into 4.5.

      Are you unable to do this? If the OP is unable to make any free time to help, I can try (although I’ve read several of his articles, and he is way[x10] more qualified to do so I think!)

      Cheers!

  6. Keeping the older kernel is advisable.

    sure you can update the kernel to a new stable version as per kernel.org but the thing is a lot of other software is dependent on the functions of the distributions packed kernel. (say a function thats currently active in package foo could be deprecated in the new kernel thus braking something

    unless there is some new functionality in the new kernel that you absolutely need you should stick with the supported kernel.

    also take the time to read change logs as the Ubuntu team does alot of back porting of new features which could make upgrading to the new kernel a moot point as those features may have already been merged.

    Hence the disclaimer of only doing this if you know what your doing.

    again this all goes back to keeping the old kernel around in case you do run into breakage as at least you have a point of retreat to fall back on