codename, release , id , distribution and LSB version. arch command is used to print the computer architecture. This command will list Linux distribution name and release version information. We select and review products independently. If you're using Windows, type systeminfo into the command line and press [Enter]. As with everything in Linux there are multiple ways to get things done, so were going to show you a few different tricks and you can pick the one that you like the best. Knowing the Linux version can help in troubleshooting unexpected behaviors or errors. Open a command prompt or elevated command prompt. Each one is accessible with the shortcut keys Ctrl Alt F1 to Ctrl Alt F6. With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! It works in the . The following mixture of distribution-specific and generic data values are returned: Name: This is the distribution, but if it isn't set, this might just say "Linux.". When you purchase through our links we may earn a commission. If you were running 32-bit Linux, which you really shouldnt be doing on a server, it would say i386 or i686 instead. You must have sudo privileges or log in from the root user account on your system. Just type neofetch in the terminal and it will display the Linux logo in ASCII form: 2. 1. lsb_release -a. Over the last decade, Lowell has personally written more than 1000 articles which have been viewed by over 250 million people. Upon reboot, the computer opens a command-line option similar to the one above. Here are some of the simplest ways of checking the operating system version. On Ubuntu/debian based systems the command is available by default. The lsb_release command prints out distribution specific information about a linux distro. 9 Commands to Check CPU Information on Linux, 5 commands to check memory usage on Linux, 16 Commands to Check Hardware Information on Linux, Top 3 Commands to check Wifi Information on Ubuntu / Linux - iwconfig, iwlist, nmcli, 10 Commands to Check Disk Partitions and Disk Space on Linux. If the uname command does not function, enter uname -a to obtain version information. The file os-release contains a whole lot of information about the system. We will welcome your queries. Check network status using ifconfig command in Linux. Writes about Computer hardware, Linux and Open Source software and coding in Python, Php and Javascript. I am a self-motivated information technology professional with a passion for writing. (Deprecated command) talk. LSB Stands for Linux Standard Base, we can check the Linux Operating System (OS) using lsb_release command $ lsb_release -a. Here are a few commands that will make switching a snap: When you are connected to a WSL instance, the File > Open Folder command will show the Linux file system along with a Show Local command to open the Windows File System dialog. To use the latter, type the following command: cat /etc/os-release. $ lsb_release -v No LSB modules are available. One way is to look at the /etc/issue file. (see screenshots below) Substitute <Username> with the name of the user you want to run this WSL . Blobrana cat /etc/os-release. Layer 4: The transport layer. There is also a bash script at the Unix.com link someone wrote to automate checking. On Linux, environment variables store system-related data required by processes and apps to function properly. This file will only be available if the OS uses the systemd as the init system. 4.25 (4 Votes) 0 Layer 3: The network/internet layer. Checking OS version using /proc/version $ egrep '^(VERSION|NAME)=' /etc/os-release, Nmap: Scan Ports To Detect Services and Vulnerabilities, SMTP Commands: Essential SMTP Commands and Response Codes. Method 3: The another method to verify if GUI installed on your Linux system is to check the contents of /usr/share/xsessions/ directory with ls command: $ ls /usr/share/xsessions/ Sample output on Ubuntu Linux GUI system: Note that the lsb specific command and files are not present on CentOS by default. The more strict-minded types will probably note that you can use uname -i to show whether you are using 32-bit or 64-bit (useful in a script), but its better to just get used to using -a to show you everything at once. Method 3: Using "cat" and "find" commands. Click on Apps. Join 425,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. If you use the command below, you will see some of your system information, including the most recent version of Linux. Similar to lsb_release and hostnamectl, uname is another tool to report various info about the machine and operating system. Linux is a powerful operating system thats free and open-source. How To Use Linux find Command To Locate . We've learned multiple ways to check the Linux distro with the command line. You should be able to determine the operating system you are running by the systeminfo commands output. Your email address will not be published. It can also print a host of info on the system and operating system. Having a basic understanding of your system is always a good idea for a variety of reasons. A simpler approach to make a portable command would be like this. you must specify the directory path when using the du command. From the above article, we have learned how to check the details about the name and installed Version of Linux Mint. To set the default WSL Linux distro in Windows 10, Open a new command prompt. Linux Hint LLC, [emailprotected] Or you can pick the terminal by accessing the main menu. Contents. To run screenFetch and display Linux distribution logo art in terminal and system information, after installing the utility, you simply need to run the following command: screenfetch The GitHub. [duplicate] 5 5.How To Know Which Linux Distribution You Are Using? Whats actually happening here is that on Ubuntu there is a /etc/os-release file, but on some other versions there might be something like /etc/redhat-release or another name entirely. No LSB modules are available. It contains information in the format of a newline-separated list of various variables. LHB Community. To check the version number, we will be using the lsb_release command which is used to print distro specific details. The redhat-lsb-core packages have to be installed to make lsb available. 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You can determine which version of Linux you are using by typing: -o into the operating system name field and -r into the kernel release field. So in this post we are listing out some common commands that are used to detect distro specific information on linux. For a quick view of the distro and system features, we suggest hostnamectl or rpm -qi <distro name>-release (in case of using a distro from the RHEL family). Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter. It's a text-only version of what lies underneath all the advanced graphical elements. Run a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Distro from Command Prompt. Generally, each variant is known as a Linux distribution (also known as Linux distro). If you'd like to know which version of the Linux kernel you're using, type the following command into the terminal and press enter: uname -a The command uname -a shows the version of the Linux kernel you're using and additional details. Layer 2: The data link layer. Most Linux distributions use a graphical user interface (GUI), making them beginner-friendly. There's no context to this, just the version number. The Linux kernel youre using is now available for download. Prior to starting How-To Geek, Lowell spent 15 years working in IT doing consulting, cybersecurity, database management, and programming work. Also Read: How To Check CPU Usage/Utilization in Linux system. 1309 S Mary Ave Suite 210, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 This includes the distro name and version. You may have already heard the name of the big ones like Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, Fedora, Arch Linux, SUSE, etc. You can easily see that version number by opening a terminal and typing in the following: This will give you output like the following, in which we can see that were using the 3.15.4 kernel version. Here are some examples that fine-tune the content of os-release to print only specific details. To reveal the information about the released Version, distributor details, and codename, then you need to execute the following command: Afterexecuting the above command, you will achieve the following information on the terminal window: Type the following command to view the information about Linux Mint: The following installed distribution details will display on the terminal screen: Or you can also execute the following command to check the installed version of Linux Mint on your system: You will see the following detailed information about the Linux Mint version: As we have discussed above, various Desktop environment managers are available for all Linux Mint distributions. For example, to check /home/user/Documents enter: . For example, the flag -v or kernel-version will print the kernel version. If the lsb_release command is not available, you can also check the /etc/issue file. tailf. Hence, using the command line, you have more options to get details about the installed Linux Mint distribution. Finding the distribution and version of the distribution is as easy as you have found out. Type the following command into the terminal and then press enter: The asterisk in the code ensures that the command will apply to all distributions and shows you the installed version. This guide will walk you through how to check the Linux kernel version of your distribution. CentOS/Fedora based systems contain similar files but with different names. To install a distribution other than, or in addition to, the Ubuntu default, use this command: wsl --install -d <DistroName> Linux is a free and open source operating system. There are six consoles available. The "top" command is another way to check memory size in Linux. To use this command, simply type "top" at the command prompt. rpm yum apt-get zypper +many more Though this is by no means foolproof as the vendor could use anything they want. Click on the start menu, the following application list menu will display on the system. If thats the case, then we have to take advantage of a very rudimentary method of checking OS information. The above command will report only the source, used space, and available space for the /dev/sda drive. You can also use it to find out whether you're using a 32-bit or 64-bit system. Knowing the name and version of a distro is vital for users and administrators. Example 2: Using lsb_release command. size . Each of these methods will give you some basic information about the system, including the name and version of the distribution. Unregister or uninstall a Linux distribution Mount a disk or device Deprecated WSL commands The WSL commands below are listed in a format supported by PowerShell or Windows Command Prompt. By using the * in the command were just outputting the contents ofany of them to the console. Hes been running the show since creating the site back in 2006. Works well on most distros. This guide will demonstrate how to check the OS version from the command line on Linux. On a typical Ubuntu system the contents look like this, On a typical CentOS system the output looks as follows. Its also important when a new version of the Linux distro is released. Linux Mint 20 is the most growing Linux distribution and has a number of available graphical user interfaces that may vary from one user to the other. When it is a virtual machine, it will appear under the Product section. There are several ways on how to check what version of CentOS is running on your system. lsb_release -a. Arch command prints things such as "i386, i486, i586, alpha, arm, m68k, mips, sparc, x86_64, etc. Its generally shown before youre prompted to log in to your account. We can use the below command to check the Linux Operating System (OS) ~$ cat /proc/version. The easiest and simplest way to see the Linux distribution name and the version number is also the one that works on almost every type of Linux. Execute the following command on the terminal to view the kernel details: The following output should display on the terminal window: One more popular command which is available on Linux Mint is the lsb_release command that provides much flexibility to select which piece of information is important for you to include in the Version checking task. In this article, we will learn how to check the installed Linux distribution name and Version on Linux Mint 20. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Its really useful to know exactly what you are dealing with, and luckily its also pretty easy. Suse, OpenSUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Arch, Fedora, RHEL all are common Linux distribution names. This will print out information about the os and kernel version. Use screenFetch to display Linux distro logo in ASCII art screenFetch is another way to display Linux distribution logo in the terminal. Recent systems use systemd. The information is important in numerous situations like installing new apps or features, troubleshooting, etc. Again, there's a handy command to find that information. Open a terminal and type in the following command: uname -r. The output will be something similar to this: 4.4.-97-generic. Just use any Linux distro you like and go to console mode. Interestingly, the file located at /etc/os-release will take precedence over /usr/lib/os-release. Ubuntu is a next version of Debian and easy to use for newbies. Almost all of these methods should apply to any Linux distro. Find Linux kernel using uname command. Checking OS version using /etc/*release Click the Apps & features page on the right side. This command displays a list of all running processes, along with information on their CPU and memory usage. This method works best on modern Linux distributions. To learn more, see the Command reference for WSL for a list of WSL commands, Comparing WSL 1 and WSL 2 for guidance on which to use for your work scenario, or Best practices for setting up a WSL development environment for general guidance on setting up a good development workflow with WSL. Click on the system settings icon from the list, which is also highlighted in the below-given screenshot. All Rights Reserved. 2. We hope it was beneficial and informative. Installing Linux distros using Command Prompt. cat /etc/os-release how to find distro name Question: I am trying to determine what flavor of linux server is running. To print the version number of your Ubuntu, run the following. Here, the flag -a tells lsb_release to print all the info about the OS it can provide. In this screenshot you can tell that were running the x86_64 version of Linux, which means 64-bit. This will show you the kernel version that your system is running. The reason because of which platform.linux_distribution does not identify some distributions is the non-standardized way distributions provide version-related information on themselves. Log in, to leave a comment. The /proc/version file contains information about the kernel and some indication about the distro. The most important way to determine the name and release version of a Linux distribution is to use cat /etc/os-release, which is used on almost all Linux systems. We have discussed two different ways, i.e., by using a command line and by using a graphical user interface, through which a user can display the information about the installed Linux distribution. 4 Ways to Check CentOS Version in Linux Command Line. Sebastian Smolorz 75 points lsb_release -a. To set a Linux distro as the default on Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, use these steps: Open Start on Windows 10. Distributor ID: Debian Description . The current default WLS distro is labeled (Default). The lsb_release tool provides certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and distro-specific info. This guide demonstrates how to check the version of the Linux operating system running on the machine. The -a flag specifies the software to print all details i.e. A Tech Enthusiast, Blogger, Linux Fan and a Software Developer. The 'ls' in the above command stands for 'list' and cpu is the CPU. Therefore . lsb_release -a. Type one of the following commands to install Ubuntu . To check which version of Ubuntu you are running, open the System Settings application from the Dash, and select Details from the left-hand sidebar. To see this info, you can use less or cat. Many Linux distributions (often called simply distros) include a large variety of free software, allowing anyone to create a fully functional system completely free of charge. uname -r This will output the version number for your distro's Linux kernel. CentOS is a great OS when comes to server software because they have longer support cycle and great stable . For the same CentOS system that you saw above, hostnamectl provides the following details: It works on almost all Linux system. This includes the kernel version, as well as the name and version of the distribution. Method 1: Check name and Version in Linux Mint 20 through the command line Some users prefer to use the command line instead of the graphical user interface in Linux systems. This command prints out a lot of information about the distribution, but the version number is usually the second line. Open the Linux terminal with the keys [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [T] or by using the search function. It really just gives you a place to start. Ubuntu) try lsb_release -a or cat /etc/*release or cat /etc/issue* or cat /proc/version. To check the os and kernel version in linux, you can use the uname -a command. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The easiest method is still the cat /etc/issue command, but this is a nice extra. As you can see below, the Product keyword can be greped into hwinfo. This file will only be available if the OS uses the systemd as the init system. Checking OS version from /etc/os-release You can check the name and installed Linux distribution version using the following two different ways: Lets discuss each method one by one in detail. Required fields are marked *. Just open up a terminal and type in the following: cat /etc/issue The following window will display on your system: From the above screenshot, you can get the details about the currently installed operating system, cinnamon version, Linux kernel, and other system resources like processor, memory, hard drive, and graphics card. The following table shows all system information if you use -a with uname command. You can check your Ubuntu version quickly using the command line (also known as the terminal). By clicking the Start button, you can access the computers properties; then, by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties, you can access the search box. We review the best software and pc hardware to help our readers find the best solution for their needs. If one option fails, the command moves to the next one, until one of them works. You can use any one of the following method to find out your Linux distribution and name: Advertisement /etc/*-release file - Print Linux distribution name and version. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); BinaryTides on Facebook Checking OS version using uname - HowtoForge 6 6.What's my OS? However, the output is a bit more disorganized compared to hostnamectl output. 11. To completely remove a Linux distro on WSL, use these steps: Open Settings. In either case, the choice of one method depends on our goal. Cygwin, it is a Unix/Linux environment for Windows that can be used to have all that tools that windows lacks: bash, sed, awk, grep, vi, tail, ps, and many more. If youre using Linux as your desktop operating system, you probably are very aware of what version you are running, but what if you need to connect to somebodys server and do some work? In this article, we will explain how to find out which version of openSUSE Linux distribution installed and running on a computer. Run the below-mentioned command on the terminal that will display the installed Linux Mint version: After executing the above command, the following output will show on the terminal: The most common utility or command that is available for almost all Linux systems is hostnamectl. It displays detailed information about the currently running operating system. Method 5: Using "battery-level-cli" Program. The version of a Linux operating system is an important piece of information. I am a technical writer and love to write for all Linux flavors and Windows. Most modern computers are usually 64-bit systems. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the result, and click Run as administrator. You can search the file that contains more information about the installed Linux Mint version, and that is available for all Debian based Linux/GNU distributions. Find available WSL distros by executing the following command: wsl --list --all, or simply wsl -l --all. Generally, lsb_release is used in the following format. Share Improve this answer answered Jul 13, 2014 at 14:55 djikay 10.3k 8 42 51 Sort By memory Usage per-process in the interactive menu press Shift+f to enter the interactive menu Linux Open a terminal program (get to a command prompt) and type uname -a. There are a few different ways to find the distribution version in Linux. Sometimes, you need to meet a few system requirements while running an application on your system. Method 4: Using lsb_release tool. If and when you want to return to the GUI desktop again, you use Ctrl Alt F7. From all the information, as mentioned above, I hope now you can find the installed Version of any Linux distribution. 7. Install PowerShell Copy wsl --install linux check version command line; linux check ubuntu version terminal; linux command line check ubuntu version; linux command to know the linux version; linux command to get the server os details; linux command to find the OS distro; linux command line get version; linux command to check system version; linux command to check linux version and . We can also tell uname to print only specific detail. how to find distro name. Follow the growth of a log file. Here, cat will read and print the content of all the files that match the pattern. The file /etc/issue stores system identification information. uname is the Linux command for getting system information.