How to resolve «Failed to download repository information»?
The above does not work for me. I notice when running «apt-get update» the concatenated string contains the IP for this device (in my case 10.1.1.4), NOT the nameserver (10.1.1.1). It is then unable to connect.
I’d like to add this as an answer to this protected question, but don’t have the rep here yet. Anyway, I ran into this problem. In my case I had forgotten I had added a file to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for a 3rd party package from https://z.litestack.com/v1/repo/ubuntu/ . That URL ceased to resolve (superseded by instructions at zerovm.org/download.htm), so apt-get would always end up tripping over that. sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zerovm-precise.list fixed it for me.
6 Answers 6
Try cleaning up your apt-cache and running any updates
sudo apt-get clean sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade If you still have issues, then change your repo mirror: Open Update Manager or Software Updater, then click Settings > Ubuntu Software tab, then select Other from the Download From menu and click the Select Best Server button. Once finished, the best server will show up selected (highlighted), so just click the Choose Server button. Now try updating/upgrading again.
You rock! This fixed my VMware Ubuntu! I was kind of freaking out that I’ll have to re-install it but this worked great.
I tried this on Ubuntu netbook edition (10.10). When I tell it to Select Best Server, it goes through all 361 of them and then concludes, «No suitable download server was found. Please check your Internet connection.» Yet, I can access the internet just fine.
sudo apt clean was the ticket. I had to remove some items from my /etc/apt/sources.list that were failing too.
«Software Updater» will give same error message for issues like:
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/crass/ufraw/ubuntu/dists/raring/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found Solution: Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software -> Click on offending entry and hit Remove (OR simply un-check so its ignored yet visible for later)
Another way to un-check the bad entries is to
cd /etc/apt grep -r some_string * which will return the file containing string ufraw so then edit that file and comment out the line mentioning string ufraw
This shuts off updates to the package linked to this file . the symptom will go away . problem often due to using a package not yet customized for the version of OS you are on
This is the correct answer; the problem is that the error message does not indicate which entry is the offending one. 🙁 But yes, once you can figure that out, works like a charm!
Worked for me, too. I ran into this problem when I installed the blueman and bluez5 packages to support my Microsoft BT mouse. Clearing the checkboxes next to these packages on the «Other Software» tab in Software & Update fixed it.
That was it, «cdrom» was the offender (I’m running a virtual machine), unchecked it and the problem went away
For me there was an error telling me which package was the culprit on running sudo apt update in the terminal, disabling that one seemed to work
This is the same issue I’m also facing with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. My device is connected to a ‘metered connection'(I’m thinking the issue is because I have set this connection as metered. Not sure though). But I have found a way to update even after this error.
- Click on the ‘settings’ option below that error message and it will open the ‘software & Updates’.
- Now just close the ‘Software & Updates’ window and you will see the updates are available for download and installing.
I don’t know the reason behind this error. If someone could add upon this it will be helpful. But this definitely works. I have done this for more than two weeks.
Assure cdrom is unchecked then cut and paste entire set of below commands
sudo apt-get clean cd /var/lib/apt sudo mv lists lists.old_`date '+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S'` sudo mkdir -p lists/partial sudo apt-get clean sudo apt-get update I had the same issue when upgrading from 18.10 to the newest version. In my case the reason was that I had some packages marked as kept back. This is what I did.
$ sudo apt upgrade Reading package lists. Done Building dependency tree Reading state information. Done Calculating upgrade. Done The following packages have been kept back: libodbc1 0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 2 not to upgrade. I simply removed them along with their dependencies:
$ sudo apt remove libodbc1 Reading package lists. Done Building dependency tree Reading state information. Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. The following packages will be REMOVED freetds-bin libodbc1 Then the following sequence of commands led me to the successful upgrade:
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade sudo apt dist-upgrade sudo do-release-upgrade How to fix broken repository information?
I have the small red cross icon in my indicator applet, and upon hovering it says that An error occurred while checking for updates. Because of this, I can’t edit the selected repositories through synaptic, which refuses to open the dialog and instead just tries to update the package list.
Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [197B] Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick Release.gpg Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick Release.gpg Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/elementaryart/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/elementaryart/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/multiverse Translation-en Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/multiverse Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/restricted Translation-en Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/restricted Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/universe Translation-en Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates Release.gpg Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/main Translation-en Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick Release Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/nikount/orta-desktop/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/nikount/orta-desktop/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/stk/dev/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/stk/dev/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/tiheum/equinox/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/tiheum/equinox/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/multiverse Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/restricted Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/restricted Translation-en_GB Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick/main Sources Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/universe Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security Release.gpg Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/main Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick/main i386 Packages Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/multiverse Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/restricted Translation-en Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/restricted Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/universe Translation-en Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick Release Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates Release Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security Release Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Get:2 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [197B] Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/restricted Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/universe Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/multiverse Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/universe i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick/multiverse i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/main Sources Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable/main Translation-en Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/restricted Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/universe Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/multiverse Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/main i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/universe i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/multiverse i386 Packages Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_GB Get:3 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347B] Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/main Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/restricted Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/universe Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/multiverse Sources Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/main i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/universe i386 Packages Get:4 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347B] Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com maverick-security/multiverse i386 Packages Get:5 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [1,076B] Get:6 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [735B] Fetched 4,899B in 4s (1,060B/s) Reading package lists.