How to check ubuntu version
How to check ubuntu version
Ubuntu Documentation
Checking your Ubuntu Version
There are two ways to check which version of Ubuntu you are running. You can either check from within Unity, or put in a short command line in the Terminal.
In Unity
Unity is the default desktop environment since Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). Please note that this method will only show a partial version number. If you need a full version number like 14.04.1 LTS instead of 14.04 LTS you will need to use the terminal method.
Open System Settings
Click on Details
Your version will be shown under the Ubuntu logo.
In the Terminal
This method will work no matter which version of Ubuntu or desktop environment you are running.
Open the Terminal (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+T)
Your version will be shown on the Description line.
CheckingYourUbuntuVersion (последним исправлял пользователь blenderudit3d 2014-11-18 13:52:51)
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How to Check Your Ubuntu Version
Home » SysAdmin » How to Check Your Ubuntu Version
Updated on January 12, 2022.
Ubuntu is a free, open-source Linux-based operating system, which has a long list of release versions. Finding out which Ubuntu version is running on your system can be important when troubleshooting issues or searching for installation guides.
In this tutorial, learn how to check the Ubuntu version running on your machine.
There are two (2) simple ways to determine the Ubuntu version installed on your server. Check the version in the terminal window or use Ubuntu’s default graphical interface.
Check Ubuntu Version via Command Line
If you prefer using the terminal, you can determine the Ubuntu version installed on your machine in seven (7) different ways.
Note: The first method is not convenient if you’re running Ubuntu on a Docker image. Try one of the other methods instead.
Check Ubuntu Version with lsb_release Command
1. Open the terminal (use the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut).
2. Type in the following command and hit Enter:
The output displays the current version of Ubuntu. In the example seen in the image above, it is Ubuntu 18.04 (codenamed Bionic Beaver).
3. To display only the description line, use the -d tag:
Show only the description information by adding the -s tag to shorten the output:
4. Add the -c tag to display the codename line as well:
5. Show only the release number by combining the -r and -s tags:
Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/lsb-release Command
Alternatively, you can use the command:
Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/*release Command
To get more in-depth information about the Ubuntu release, you can also use the command:
The command is platform agnostic. On Ubuntu, the file’s name is os-release and the following command uses the full file name:
Check Ubuntu Version with hostnamectl Command
Another command that also gives you information about the Ubuntu version is the hostnamectl command:
Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/issue Command
The /etc/issue file contains the text which displays when a user connects via SSH. Use the cat command to fetch the contents:
For a cleaner output, use:
Check Ubuntu Version Using screenfetch
The screenfetch utility is a Bash script for generating useful and visually pleasing OS information.
1. Install screenfetch using the apt package manager:
2. The installation asks for confirmation. Press Y to continue.
3. When the installation completes, run the command:
The output displays system information, including the Ubuntu version.
Check Ubuntu Version using neofetch
1. Install neofetch with the apt package manager:
2. Run the command:
The OS section displays the Ubuntu version.
Check Ubuntu Version via Graphical Interface
You can quickly identify the Ubuntu version running on your system through the graphical interface.
1. First, select Activities in the top left corner.
2. In the search bar, enter Settings and click on the icon once it appears in the results.
3. In the System Settings window, click on the Details tab.
The Details section displays which Ubuntu version number you have, along with other information about your operating system.
The image above indicates that the system running on the machine is Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS (codenamed Bionic Beaver). LTS is an acronym that stands for Long-Term Support, meaning it’s a major version supported for up to 10 years.
Other Ubuntu LTS releases include:
After reading this article, you should know how to check which Ubuntu version you are running. Next, explore or even update the central core of the operating system, the Linux kernel.
How to Check the Ubuntu Version
This guide will show you how to check the version of Ubuntu installed on your system.
Ubuntu Version
Ubuntu has two types of releases: stable and LTS. Most of the time, LTS (Long-Term Support) releases are prioritized. This is the “enterprise-grade” release of Ubuntu that is supported until the next LTS release comes out. In the case of normal stable releases, they are not supported for such a long term.
Now, we will talk about Ubuntu version numbering. Ubuntu version numbers follow the “YY.MM” structure. For example, Ubuntu 18.04 was released in April 2018.
For a better and more in-depth understanding of the Ubuntu release cycle, check out the official Ubuntu page on release cycles. There are various tools that you can use to check the version of the current Ubuntu installation you are currently using. Depending on the tool’s UI, this function will be divided into two categories: CLI (Command-Line Interface) and GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Check Ubuntu Version using CLI
lsb_release
The lsb_release function is a dedicated tool that comes with Ubuntu (and various other distros) to report distro-specific information.
To check the Ubuntu version, run the following command. This command returns a comprehensive report on your system.
If you are not interested in the more elaborate report, use the “-d” flag to narrow it down to the system version only. Issue the following command to do so:
neofetch
Neofetch is a lightweight and customizable bash script for grabbing system info. Compared to lsb_release, the output of neofetch is more vibrant and charming. Moreover, neofetch offers a ton of options to customize the information it reports.
First, install neofetch on Ubuntu. It is available directly from the default Ubuntu repositories.
Want to change the ASCII distro icon? Use the “–ascii_distro” flag, followed by the target distro, as follows:
If the ASCII image is not important to you, then you can remove it from the output.
There are tons of available options that neofetch supports. If you are interested, you can check out the neofetch customization wiki at GitHub.
screenfetch
Similar to neofetch, screenfetch is another tool that leverages bash script to report information about your system. Unlike neofetch, however, screenfetch comes with fewer features. If you are looking for simplicity, then screenfetch is probably the way to go.
Like neofetch, screenfetch is also available from the default Ubuntu repositories. Fire up the terminal and install screenfetch.
To remove the ASCII distro logo, use the “-n” flag.
To obtain the ASCII distro logo only as the output, use the “-L” flag.
System Files
There are also certain files that contain information about the system. The contents of these files will reveal information about the Linux distro you are running on your system.
The /etc/issue file contains a system identification text. The first portion of the content is what we will be looking at. Run the following command to retrieve the /etc/issue file:
Another file to check out is the /etc/os-release file. This file contains a lot of information about the system. However, it is only available on Ubuntu 16.04 or newer systems.
hostnamectl
The hostnamectl command is a tool that is dedicated to query and modify the system hostname and related settings. However, this command can also be used to check the version of Ubuntu that your system is running. For this method to work, you must be running Ubuntu 16.04 or a newer version on your system.
Issue the following command in the terminal:
Check Ubuntu Version Using GUI
If you are not interested in running commands in the terminal, then worry not! Since Ubuntu 18.04, GNOME is the default desktop environment. GNOME offers a very simple way of checking the system information.
First, launch GNOME “Settings.”
From the left panel, scroll down and select “About.”
Everything you need to know about your system, including the version of Ubuntu that it is currently running, should be right here.
Final Thoughts
While the Ubuntu distro is updated every few months or years, the individual packages that comprise the distro are updated more frequently. It is important to keep your Ubuntu system up-to-date with all the latest stable packages. This ensures the best system stability and security. Learn how to update all packages on Ubuntu here.
About the author
Sidratul Muntaha
Student of CSE. I love Linux and playing with tech and gadgets. I use both Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
How to Check your Ubuntu Version
In this guide, we will show you how to check the version of your Ubuntu installation.
If you are using an Ubuntu system for the first time, it can be helpful to know what version of Ubuntu you are running.
This is helpful as different Ubuntu versions can utilize and support different software that makes configuring the system slightly different.
Canonical pushes out a new release of Ubuntu every six months. These releases can feature anything from minor to significant changes.
Every two years, Canonical will mark a release for long-term support. These versions remain supported for 5 years and are what most servers should be utilizing.
Within this guide, you will learn how you can use the command line or the graphical interface to determine what version of Ubuntu you are running.
Table of Contents
Checking the Ubuntu version using the Command Line
Using the command line there are a variety of ways that you can check the version of Ubuntu.
This section will show you four different ways of working out the Ubuntu version that is simple to use.
Alternatively, you can search for the “terminal” application within the activities screen.
Using lsb_release to Retrieve the Version of Ubuntu
For the first method, we are going to show you how to utilize the lsb_release tool.
The lsb_release software will display information about the current operating system, such as its codename, description, and release version.
Being part of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) means that this tool should be available on most newer versions of Ubuntu.
This tool is probably the most straightforward way to check Ubuntu’s version when using the terminal.
1. To use the lsb_release tool to output the Ubuntu version, we can use the following command.
2. From this command, you should end up seeing something like we have below.
This text tells you all you need to know about your current Ubuntu version.
Distributor ID: – Typically, this value is the name of the operating system provider.
As we are running an Ubuntu operating system, this value should be “ Ubuntu “.
Description: – In the case of Ubuntu, the description usually holds the long- form version name.
In our example above, you can see that we are running Ubuntu 20.04.1, which is an LTS (Long term support) release.
Release: – Ubuntu uses the release value to only reference the major version number.
The value of this for our example is “ Ubuntu 20.04 ”
If you were running an older version of Ubuntu, such as 18.04.5 LTS, this value would be “ Ubuntu 18.04 “.
Codename: – The final version information this tool gives us is the release codename.
Each major release of Ubuntu is given a codename. Typically the Ubuntu team likes to utilize an animal name as part of their codename.
For example, Ubuntu 20.04 is called Focal Fossa, and Ubuntu 18.04 is called Bionic Beaver.
Viewing the Contents of the lsb-release File
The lsb_release tool is basically a fancy way of displaying the contents of a file stored within the /etc/ directory.
If you wanted you can retrieve your Ubuntu version by outputting this file to the command line.
1. Using the cat command, we can print the /etc/lsb-release file to the terminal.
Use the command below to output the contents of the file to the terminal.
2. Below is an example of what you should see displayed in the terminal.
If you have used the lsb_release command before, you will notice that the results are similar.
Retrieving the Ubuntu Version From The /etc/issue File
Most distributions like Ubuntu come with a file called “ issue ” stored in the “ /etc/ directory.
This file is often used to contain a system identification that is printed before the login prompt.
We can use this system identifier to check our Ubuntu version.
1. Use the following cat command to display the contents of the “ /etc/issue ” file.
2. From the output of this command, you should see something like the following.
You can see that this text file will typically include the full version name, including the minor version and the LTS designator.
Using /etc/os-release to Check the Ubuntu Version
If the previous two files didn’t get what you needed, we could try looking at the contents of the “ /etc/os-release ” file.
This file was introduced as a part of the systemd system and service manager.
As Ubuntu only started using systemd in version 16.04, this method will only work for newer releases.
1. We can make use of the handy cat command to get the contents of the file.
Run the following command on your Ubuntu device to output the version information from the file.
2. By using this command, you should see the following version information appear.
This command provides the most amount of information about your operating system, even additional bits of information such as the support URLs.
The two values that you will be most interested in is “ PRETTY_NAME ” and “ VERSION_ID “.
The “ PRETTY_NAME ” value will provide you the full version name, including whether you are using an LTS release.
The “ VERSION_D ” value will only tell you the major version of Ubuntu you are using.
Retrieving the Version Using hostnamectl
Our final method for retrieving the version of Ubuntu using the command line is to utilize the hostnamectl tool.
This tool will only provide the information we need on Ubuntu 16.04 and newer, so please try the other methods first.
Typically this tool is used to provide you information about your system’s hostname, but it also provides information such as your Ubuntu version.
1. Using the hostnamectl command is simple.
All you need to do is type the following into the terminal.
2. From this command, you should end up getting a result as we have below.
The only thing that we are interested in from this is the “ Operating System: ” value.
From our example above, you can see that we are currently running Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.
Checking the Ubuntu Version on Desktop
It is also possible to use the desktop interface to work out what Ubuntu version you are running.
There are some telltale signs of what version you are running just by looking at the interface.
For this section we will show you how you can find the exact version using the desktop interface in Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04.
If one section doesn’t look quite right to you, try the other section.
Using the Ubuntu 20.04 Interface
For our first guide, we will show you how to utilize the Ubuntu 20.04 desktop interface to find your exact version number.
These steps should be somewhat similar for most releases of Ubuntu.
1. To retrieve the full Ubuntu version number, we need to get to the settings.
Start by clicking on the top-right of the menu bar.
2. Once you have the panel open, we can load up settings.
Click the “ Settings ” option to proceed.
2. Now that we are in the settings dialog, you need to change to the “ About ” tab (1.).
You can find this tab by looking in the left sidebar. You may have to scroll down as this option is located at the bottom.
Once you are on the “ About ” page, you can see the current version of your operating system by looking at the value for “ OS Name ” (2.).
Using the Ubuntu 18.04 Interface
This section will show you the simple steps to getting the full release name when using an 18.04 based release of Ubuntu.
1. First, we need to get to the settings menu.
One of the easiest ways to get to this is by clicking in the top right corner of the taskbar.
2. You should have a dropdown box that appears.
To open the “ Settings ” menu, click the spanner and screwdriver icon.
3. Now that we have the settings menu opened, we need to change to the “Details” tab.
Locate “ Details ” in the left sidebar and click it.
4. This screen should open directly to the about page.
Here you should be able to see the full name for the release of Ubuntu that you are running.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by this stage, you will have a good understanding of how you can check the version of Ubuntu that you are running.
The version number is easily retrievable using both the command line and the graphical interface.
If you have run into issues with finding out what release of Ubuntu you are running, please drop a comment below.
Also, be sure to check out our other Linux and Ubuntu guides.
How can I find the version of Ubuntu that is installed?
I installed some version of Ubuntu on my VMware, but I don’t know what version exactly it is. How can I find it out?
16 Answers 16
Your version of Ubuntu can be determined by opening System Settings and then opening the System Info or Details (from 12.04) section:
This page will also tell you whether you have the 32- or 64-bit version of Ubuntu installed, as well as what processor and graphics you have, the amount of RAM installed, and your disk capacity.
You can get this info from a terminal with the command:
[Note: for versions before 11.10, e.g. 11.04 this is not available this way, but see Roland’s answer below for workable option (basically use the ‘System Monitor’ icon instead]
In Ubuntu 11.10 onwards, the version of Ubuntu installed can be found by entering System Settings > System Info (in newer versions like 14.04 LTS, this tab might be called Details instead):
This page will also tell you whether you have the 32- or 64-bit version of Ubuntu installed, as well as what processor and graphics you have, the amount of RAM installed, and your disk capacity.
«LSB» means Linux Standard Base, a joint project of several Linux distributions. Its goal is to develop and promote a set of open standards that will increase compatibility among Linux distributions.
On the command line:
If you like a GUI more than the command line, the System page on System Monitor gnome-system-monitor application should give you more than enough information. Release name, architecture variant, cores in the system, RAM available, and the space available on the root file system.