How to Change the Default Kernel on Fedora

We will use grubby — a command line tool used to modify bootloader configuration files, to check and change the default kernel on Fedora.

Install grubby

We can install grubby if it isn’t already present:

sudo dnf install grubby

List all installed kernels

To get the index number of all the installed kernels:

sudo grubby --info=ALL | grep -E "^kernel|^index"

The output should be something like this:

index=0
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.15.10-200.fc35.x86_64"
index=1
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.15.10-lqx1.0.fc35.x86_64"
index=2
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.15.8-200.fc35.x86_64"
index=3
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.15.8-lqx1.0.fc35.x86_64"

Change the default kernel using index

Now we can change the default kernel by using the index number:

sudo grubby --set-default-index=1

Verify the default kernel

Verify that the right kernel has been set as default:

sudo grubby --default-title

The output will be the default kernel title:

Fedora Linux (5.15.10-lqx1.0.fc35.x86_64) 35 (Workstation Edition)

Cover Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay