How to Install Kernel 7.x on Rocky Linux 10

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Kernel is the central component of an operating system that manages hardware resources and enables communication between software and hardware. It handles memory management, process scheduling, device drivers, and system calls.

Prerequisites

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• Access to the Rocky Linux 10 command line terminal.
• Root privileges or Sudo privileges.

Step 1 - Check the Current Kernel Version

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Use the following command to display the currently running kernel version:

uname -r

Output:

6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64

Step 2 - Enable ELRepo Repository

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Import the ELRepo GPG key and install the ELRepo repository package:

rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
dnf install -y https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-10.el10.elrepo.noarch.rpm

Verify the repository is enabled and list available kernel packages:

dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="elrepo-kernel" list available

Output:

ELRepo.org Community Enterprise Linux Kernel Re 460 kB/s | 596 kB     00:01
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:01 ago on Wed 10 Jun 2026 05:07:16 PM UTC.
Available Packages
kernel-ml.x86_64                        7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-core.x86_64                   7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-cross-headers.x86_64          7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-devel.x86_64                  7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-devel-matched.x86_64          7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-doc.noarch                    7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-headers.x86_64                7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-modules.x86_64                7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-modules-extra.x86_64          7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools.x86_64                  7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs.x86_64             7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs-devel.x86_64       7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
libperf.x86_64                          7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
libperf-devel.x86_64                    7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
perf.x86_64                             7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
python3-perf.x86_64                     7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
rtla.x86_64                             7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel
rv.x86_64                               7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo       elrepo-kernel

Step 3 - Install Kernel 7.x

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Run the following command to install the latest mainline kernel:

dnf --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel install kernel-ml -y

Output:

  Dependencies resolved.
  ================================================================================
   Package              Arch      Version                  Repository        Size
  ================================================================================
  Installing:
   kernel-ml            x86_64    7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo     elrepo-kernel     27 k
  Installing dependencies:
   kernel-ml-core       x86_64    7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo     elrepo-kernel     58 M
   kernel-ml-modules    x86_64    7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo     elrepo-kernel     53 M

  Transaction Summary
  ================================================================================
  Install  3 Packages

  Total download size: 111 M
  Installed size: 161 M
  Downloading Packages:
  (1/3): kernel-ml-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64.rp  64 kB/s |  27 kB     00:00
  (2/3): kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x  14 MB/s |  53 MB     00:03
  (3/3): kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_  14 MB/s |  58 MB     00:04
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Total                                            25 MB/s | 111 MB     00:04
  ELRepo.org Community Enterprise Linux Kernel Re 3.0 MB/s | 3.1 kB     00:00
  Importing GPG key 0xEAA31D4A:
   Userid     : "elrepo.org (RPM Signing Key v2 for elrepo.org) <secure@elrepo.org>"
   Fingerprint: B8A7 5587 4DA2 40C9 DAC4 E715 5160 0989 EAA3 1D4A
   From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-v2-elrepo.org
  Key imported successfully
  Running transaction check
  Transaction check succeeded.
  Running transaction test
  Transaction test succeeded.
  Running transaction
    Preparing        :                                                        1/1
    Installing       : kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64             1/3
    Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64             1/3
    Installing       : kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64          2/3
    Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64          2/3
    Installing       : kernel-ml-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64                  3/3
    Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64             3/3
    Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64          3/3
    Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64                  3/3

  Installed:
    kernel-ml-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64
    kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64
    kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64

  Complete!

Step 4 - Verify the Default Kernel

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By default, the newly installed kernel will be set as the default boot kernel.

Verify the default kernel:

grubby --default-kernel

Output:

/boot/vmlinuz-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64

List all installed kernels:

rpm -qa | grep kernel

Output:

  kernel-modules-extra-matched-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-tools-libs-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-modules-core-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-core-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-modules-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-modules-extra-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-tools-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-6.12.0-124.21.1.el10_1.x86_64
  kernel-ml-core-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64
  kernel-ml-modules-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64
  kernel-ml-7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64

Step 5 - Reboot the Server

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Reboot the server to boot into the new kernel:

reboot

Step 6 - Verify the Running Kernel Version

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After the reboot, verify the active kernel version:

uname -r

Output:

7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64

You can also verify using:

uname -sr

Output:

Linux 7.0.12-1.el10.elrepo.x86_64

The system is now running the latest Kernel 7.x provided by ELRepo.