How to upgrade the Kernel in Debian 11 "Bullseye" or LMDE5.

Updating your Linux kernel is necessary if you need to add functionalities or device support, patch bugs, or increase system performance.

These instructions should apply to previous versions as well:

Debian 11 "Bullseye" and LMDE5 comes with Linux kernel 5.10 and it is maintained and constantly updated by the Debian team. However, you might want to update to the latest Linux kernel available to get the latest drivers, fixes and updates.

Note: Remember to enable modules you might need. For example if you are going to use Snap, remember to load loop and squashfs kernel modules.

To install Kernel 5.19:

Note: I take no responsibility for loss of data or income, always backup your data first, before trying to upgrade a system. This worked just fine for me on LMDE5.

Latest Linux kernel: v5.19
Size: 199MB

First we need to download the tar.gz-file. ( I assume you have wget installed ).

Open a terminal window:

First find out which Linux kernel you have installed on your system:

uname -r

Press Enter.

Mine was 10.5.xx

Now download the latest Linux kernel:

wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.19.tar.gz

Press Enter and wait for it to download.

Next we need to download the kernel signature:

wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.19.tar.sign

Press Enter.

Extract the kernel you downloaded by running the following command:

sudo tar xvzf linux-5.19.tar.gz

Press Enter.

Now go into that folder:

cd linux-5.19

Press Enter.

Update the configuration file by running this command:

sudo cp -v /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config

Press Enter.

Now we need to install the needed packages to compile the Linux kernel:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-source bc kmod cpio flex libncurses5-dev libelf-dev libssl-dev dwarves -y

Press Enter.

To configure the Linux kernel: Add or remove device support, run the following command:

sudo make menuconfig

Press Enter.

Once you finished hit the <Save> button.

Next:

Press Exit button to return to the terminal window.

Disable modules you do not need and create a .config file based on your kernel’s current configuration:

sudo make localmodconfig

Press Enter.

Now, start compiling the new kernel by running the command shown in the following image. This process may take several minutes.

Type the following command:

sudo make bzImage

Press Enter.

Install the kernel modules by running the following command:

sudo make modules && sudo make modules_install

Press Enter.

Finish installing the new Linux kernel ( as root ):

make install

Press Enter.

Next step is to Update GRUB to incorporate the latest kernel:

sudo update-grub

Press Enter.

Now re-boot the system for it to take effect.

After re-boot:

uname -r

Press Enter, to see that you are using the latest kernel !