# [Solved] Accessing .config from /proc/config.gz

## Thomas2010

I renamed my .config file to .config.old so I could run 

```
make mrproper
```

 giving me a "clean slate" to build an updated kernel, but it got deleted. I should have used a different suffix. Anyways, I am sure I included the kernel options to save the .config file in the kernel but I do not know how to extract it. I tried 

```
/proc/config.gz /boot/kernel-2.6.39-r3
```

 and I got the message 

```
-bash: /proc/config.gz :No such file or directory
```

Does the error I got mean I did not include the option in my kernel? Is there a way for me to find out if I did include the options? What is the actual syntax and where would my .config file get extracted to if I can get it?Last edited by Thomas2010 on Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:57 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## DirtyHairy

If you included the configuration into the running kernel, /proc/config.gz exists, if you didn't, it doesn't. If the pseudofile exists, it just looks like a regular, gzipped file, so "gunzip /proc/config.gz" will create a "config" file in your current working directory.

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## Thomas2010

Thank you for your help. /proc/config.gz does not exist so it is back to the drawing board for me.

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## Jaglover

Next time try make clean or back up the .config first (good idea), make mrproper will return sources into pristine condition, everything gets removed.

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## javeree

Possiby you configured the config settings as a module. Then you don't see it until you load the module.

try

modprobe configs

[ -f /proc/config.gz ] && zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/src/linux/.config

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## Thomas2010

Since I lost everything I just started over and made sure I selected the options to create the config.gz file. My mistake was renaming the file .config.old instead of something else. I have had other copies of the .config file with names starting with .config and they were not deleted when I ran make mrproper.

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