How To Install Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Linux Kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking Unix-like operating system. It is the main component of a Linux operating system and is the core interface between the computer’s hardware and its processes. Good news for Ubuntu users Linus Torvalds has announced Linux 5.17 and it comes with security fixes, new features, and improvements in hardware support.

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 the step-by-step installation of Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• First and foremost, make sure you have a stable internet connection, as you will need to download the required kernel packages.
• Disable Secure Boot if it is enabled on your system, as the mainline kernel is unsigned and may not boot properly with Secure Boot active.
• Always a good practice to back up your important data before making any significant changes to your system. This will ensure that you can restore your files in the unlikely event of a problem during the installation process.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install update-manager-core

Step 2. Installing Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04.

By default, Linux Kernel 5.17 is not available on the Ubuntu base repository. Now we download the latest package from the mainline Ubuntu kernel PPA:

cd /tmp
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.17/amd64/linux-headers-5.17.0-051700_5.17.0-051700.202203202130_all.deb
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.17/amd64/linux-headers-5.17.0-051700-generic_5.17.0-051700.202203202130_amd64.deb
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.17/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.17.0-051700-generic_5.17.0-051700.202203202130_amd64.deb
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.17/amd64/linux-modules-5.17.0-051700-generic_5.17.0-051700.202203202130_amd64.deb

Once done, now begin the installation using the dpkg -i command:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Running the command above will install the Linux 5.17 kernel on your Ubuntu distribution, so wait until the installation process is complete and then reboot your computer:

reboot

After logging back into your system, confirm the booted Kernel by using the below commands:

sudo uname -r

Output:

5.17.0-051700-generic

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Linux Kernel. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Linux Kernel 5.17 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Ubuntu website.