How to install a kernel on an offline RHEL 8/9/10 system?

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Issue

  • How to install a kernel on an offline RHEL8/9/10 system?
  • How to install a kernel on an air-gapped RHEL8/9/10 system?

Resolution

To install a kernel on an offline RHEL system:

  • Download the following RPM packages (all must be the same version):

    • RHEL 8: kernel, kernel-core, kernel-modules
    • RHEL 9/10: kernel, kernel-core, kernel-modules, kernel-modules-core

  • Transfer the RPMs to the target system and navigate to their directory.

  • Install packages as root using dnf command:

    For RHEL 8:

    # dnf install kernel-<version>.rpm kernel-core-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-<version>.rpm

    For RHEL 9/10:

    # dnf install kernel-<version>.rpm kernel-core-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-core-<version>.rpm

  • Alternatively, install packages as root using rpm command:

    For RHEL 8:

    # rpm -ihv kernel-<version>.rpm kernel-core-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-<version>.rpm

    For RHEL 9/10:

    # rpm -ihv kernel-<version>.rpm kernel-core-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-<version>.rpm kernel-modules-core-<version>.rpm

  • If dependencies are missing, download required dependency RPMs, copy them to the same directory and retry the installation.

  • Reboot to activate the new kernel: Why reboot is required for new kernel?

Notes:

  • Optional kernel packages (install if needed): kernel-devel, kernel-headers, kernel-tools, kernel-tools-libs
  • Systems can maintain multiple kernel versions, only one kernel loads at boot: How to check active kernel version
  • Please refer to How to download RPM for instructions on how to download packages.

Diagnostic Steps

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