Prerequisites
- A system running Ubuntu
- Access to a user account with sudo or root privileges
- A terminal window/command line (Ctrl–Alt–T)
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.
How to Check Ubuntu Version in Terminal
If you prefer using the terminal, you can determine the Ubuntu version installed on your machine in three (3) different ways.
Check Ubuntu Version with lsb_release –a
Command
- Open the terminal (use the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut).
- Type in the following command and hit Enter:
lsb_release –a
The output displays the current version of Ubuntu. In the example seen in the image above, it is Ubuntu 18.04 (codenamed Bionic Beaver).
Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/lsb-release
Command
Alternatively, you can use the command:
cat /etc/lsb-release
Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/*release
Command
To get more in-depth information about the Ubuntu release, you can also use the command:
cat /etc/*release
Check Ubuntu Version with hostnemctl
Command
Another command that also gives you information about the Ubuntu version is the hostname
command:
hotnamectl
Check Ubuntu Version from 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:
- Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa)
- Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) which has an end of life in April 2021
- Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)