In this tutorial, we will show you how to check the Ubuntu version from the command line. As a system administrator, the first question you should ask yourself after getting a new Ubuntu server to manage is what version of Ubuntu am I running? The version of the operating system in use on our server is important as it is critical that we have all the latest updates to ensure that the server is secure. There are a few ways to check your VPS hosting is using what version of Ubuntu. With the commands below you can choose one of them to find out which Ubuntu version is running on your system.
This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo
‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step check Ubuntu version.
Prerequisites
- A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
- It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
- A
non-root sudo user
or access to theroot user
. We recommend acting as anon-root sudo user
, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.
Check Ubuntu Version
There are several ways on how to check what version of Ubuntu is running on your system. Below you can find multiple examples on how to determine the Ubuntu version.
The first place to look for the Ubuntu version is to look inside /etc/issue
the file. From terminal run command:
$ cat /etc/issue Ubuntu Focal Fossa \n \l
To obtain a Ubuntu release number check content of /etc/lsb-release
file:
$ cat /etc/lsb-release DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=16.04 DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu Xenial Xerus
Additional information regarding the Ubuntu version can be found within /etc/os-release
:
$ cat /etc/os-release NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION="20.04 (Focal Fossa)" ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04" VERSION_ID="20.04" HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/" SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/" BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/" UBUNTU_CODENAME=Focal Fossa
Furthermore, the following command will provide you with a neat output of your current Ubuntu version:
$ lsb_release -da No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu Xenial Xerus (development branch) Release: 20.04 Codename: Focal Fossa
For more information on Ubuntu, releases visit the Ubuntu Releases page.