I am currently running a Suse 9.1 machine with the latest kernel. I would like to install the original kernel in addition to the current one and choose between them at boot time. I have been having some difficulties with WMware, and the technical people there would like me try out the original kernel. I don't want to lose the current one. Can someone suggest the preferred way of installing the original kernel alongside the current one?

Thank you

are you using grub or lilo?

i've used 9.0 and now 9.2 and you probably have grub. back up your kernel and initrd. they should be in /boot/ and nameed:

vmlinuz-<blah>
initrd-<blah>

with <blah> being the kenel version number and such. just copy these some where on your computer for safe keeping. Now install the original kernel.

after you have the original kernel installed copy the 2 files back to /boot/ making sure they have a slightly diferent name then the original kernel and boot off the suse instaal cd. pick "install" then "repair existing linux system" then "expert tools" then "reinstall boot loader" this will reinstall grub now click "edit configuration files" and it will le t you edit menu.1st.

add these lines: (you might have to change this to get it to work for your system just make it look like the other entries in menu.1st on your system)


title SUSE LINUX My Kernel
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz-<blah> root=/dev/hda2 vga=0x317 selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/hda1 desktop elevator=as showopts
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd-<blah>


once again change blah to the names of the files you backed up. now finish reinstalling grub exit the repair utility and reboot. you should have a new entry on the startup menu to use your newer kernel.

By default Suse 9.1 uses grub. I guess I need all steps from using rpm to installing the original kernel without touching the current one.

You can simply install the previous kernel-rpm after you removed the current kernel from rpm database:
The current kernel will remain on the system and can be addressed directly from menu.lst (instead of using the symlinks /boot/vmlinuz use the true binary /boot/vmlinuz-<version>, the same with initrd)

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot I'll try it tonight. I must admit, it is sometimes much easier to handle a system without all the automated tools. Being forced to use 'yast' on a system has been driving me nuts. I tend to be a Slackware type person, and with one exception, the apt tools of Debian, I have found that the tools actually make things more difficult.