Find which Ubuntu Linux Version you are running

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There are times ubuntu users and admins want to find which version of ubuntu linux version is running on their machines.This is very useful for those who is helping their customers and they want to know which version they are running and if you took over new system admin job you want to know which version is running on your servers or desktops.

Find or identify which version of ubuntu Linux you are running

You can find in different ways in ubuntu

Solution 1

cat /etc/issue

The file /etc/issue holds the version of Ubuntu installed on your system

Solution 2

lsb_release -a

or

cat /etc/lsb-release

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10 Responses

  1. Chris Shannon says:

    I’m wondering about whether I’ve launched the 32 bit version or the 64 bit version?? any ideas? I now have both loaded on triple boot with windows.
    Thanks.
    Chris

  2. laringo says:

    Another way, from 2 starting points:

    a) From the web browser’s address bar: ghelp:about-ubuntu
    b) From the run dialog (Alt + F2): gnome-help ghelp:about-ubuntu

    Both of them have the same effect as using the Main menu->System->About Ubuntu:

    They open the “Display application and GNOME system help” in a page giving the same information as https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/about-ubuntu/C/index.html (in the language in which you are using Ubuntu).

    My question is: in which folder of the filesystem is this help page stored?

  3. laringo says:

    The answer to my question:
    /usr/share/gnome/help-langpack/about-ubuntu

    … then the folder of the language your Ubuntu uses
    … then open the file about-ubuntu.xml

  4. laringo says:

    The default help page (in English of the USA I think):
    /usr/share/gnome/help/about-ubuntu/C/about-ubuntu.xml

    This one cannot be opened with firefox but yes with gedit (it’s a template with variables).

  5. Sasxios says:

    To know if the installed Ubuntu is of 32 or 64 bits:
    uname -m
    If it shows i686 or i386 it means 32 bits.
    If it shows x86_64 it means 64 bits.

    If the CPU is of 32 bits Ubuntu must be of 32 bits.
    If the CPU is of 64 bits it can work in 64 or 32 bits. So we can choose: Ubuntu can be of 32 bits or of 64 bits.

    To know if the CPU is of 32 or 64 bits:
    a) grep -w lm /proc/cpuinfo
    If we see lm in red is of 64 bits. Otherwise is of 32 bits.
    b) sudo lshw | grep “description: CPU” -A 12 | grep width
    It says clearly what we want to know.

  6. Sasxios says:

    Another way to know if the installed Ubuntu is of 32 or 64 bits:
    getconf LONG_BIT

  7. Sasxios says:

    NB: In the command …
    sudo lshw | grep “description: CPU” -A 12 | grep width
    the quotation marks have to be vertical (straight), not typographic (curly). I put them straight but they become curly here. Just replace them.

  8. Sasxios says:

    I hope the quotation marks to be vertical this time (I’m using the HTML code for them: ampersand number sign 34 semicolon):
    sudo lshw | grep "description: CPU" -A 12 | grep width

  9. shalla says:

    common people, cant you do this out of geek speak?!

    in plain english what do i need to do to find out which version of ubuntu has been installed on my laptop… 32 or 64

    i am not a tech, i dont know what any of the above messages mean or how to reproduce them

    i just want an easy “stupid person” answer, why is it so difficult?

  10. Vampire1408 says:

    @shalla

    go to the terminal by pressing Ctrl Alt T and that’s your ubuntu version of Windows’ Command Prompt. TO run any commands you normamly need to be in admin mode, or “sudo”. Copy some stuff from above like “uname -m” and it should show a message

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