# I can't get rid of this kernel for this notebook and set default

**URL:** <https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/i-cant-get-rid-of-this-kernel-for-this-notebook-and-set-default/38034>\
**Category:** JupyterLab\
**Tags:** help-wanted\
**Created:** [October 16, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/i-cant-get-rid-of-this-kernel-for-this-notebook-and-set-default/38034 "2025-10-16T08:37:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Joao\_Pimentel\_Ferrei](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/joao_pimentel_ferrei/32/13325_2.png) [@Joao\_Pimentel\_Ferrei](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Joao_Pimentel_Ferrei)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/i-cant-get-rid-of-this-kernel-for-this-notebook-and-set-default/38034/1 "2025-10-16T08:37:08Z")

</div>

Somehow I created some kernel associated with conda environment (I guess) and now I’m stuck to this kernel and can’t change it (I want to change to default kernel)

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/jupyter/original/3X/1/1/1134865008518de5b23c39ae2d419489dabd2842.png)

I tried editing the notebook but it was already set as I wanted

`“metadata”: {`  
`“kernelspec”: {`  
`“display_name”: “Python 3 (ipykernel)”,`  
`“language”: “python”,`  
`“name”: “python3”`  
`},`  
`“language_info”: {`  
`“codemirror_mode”: {`  
`“name”: “ipython”,`  
`“version”: 3`  
`},`

Furthermore this kernel is not even listed

`$ jupyter kernelspec list`  
`Available kernels:`  
`python3 /home/jovyan/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/python3`  
`xpython /opt/conda/share/jupyter/kernels/xpython`  
`xpython-raw /opt/conda/share/jupyter/kernels/xpython-raw`

I also tried to open the **Command Palette** → type **“Select Kernel”** → pick **“Python 3 (ipykernel)”**, but didn’t work either

I also listed

`$ ll ~/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/`  
`total 12`  
`drwxr-sr-x 3 jferreira users 4096 Oct 15 17:29 ./`  
`drwxrwsr-x 4 jferreira users 4096 Oct 16 10:23 ../`  
`drwsrwsr-x 2 jferreira users 4096 Oct 15 17:29 python3/`

but can’t find that strange kernel