Package 'vim' has no installation candidate

Question

I installed ubuntu inside windows 7 using VMware. I wanted to execute a c program in ubuntu.

when I tried I got like this,

b@ubuntu:~/examples$ vim a.c
The program 'vim' can be found in the following packages:
 * vim
 * vim-gnome
 * vim-tiny
 * vim-gtk
 * vim-nox
Try: sudo apt-get install <selected-package>
b@ubuntu:~/examples$ sudo apt-get install vim
[sudo] password for b:
Reading package lists... Done
Building Dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package vim is not available, but is referred to by another Package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obseleted, or 
is only available from another source

E: Package 'vim' has no installation candidate
I tried apt-get install vim

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13:Permission denied)
E:unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

when I tried to do su it asked me for a password . When I typed the root password its not accepting it and says "Authentication Failure"

I could not install the Vim package. Is there any way I can install it? Please suggest me. How do I regain my root paswword.

And run apt-get update and look for any errors while you're at it. — , Feb 05 '12 at 18:29
@Shane MAdden: After giving the command apt-get update i'm getting the following errors Reading package lists... header E:Encountered a section with no package: header E:Problem with mergelist /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_maverick_universe_binary-i386_Packages E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. — Angus, Feb 07 '12 at 10:48
Possible duplicate of How do I fix a “Problem with MergeList” or “status file could not be parsed” error when trying to do an update? — karel, Dec 20 '18 at 15:39

score 17 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 16 '14 at 05:40

17

The same problem occurred with me when I was trying yo install vim on my ubuntu 12.04.
I tried the following and it worked for me: -
sudo apt-get update
and after that
sudo apt-get install vim
After running these commands, it started working correctly.

answered Jan 16 '14 at 05:40

Pratik Singhal

425
1
4
16

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 05 '12 at 10:29

3

When you are prompted for a password after sudo command, you have to enter YOUR password not root password. From the command prompt, the username appears to be b, so b password should be supplied. Of course, this is valid only if b user is allowed to sudo (such as being a member of admin group in ubuntu).

answered Feb 05 '12 at 10:29

Khaled

1,662

I tried as u said but its not taking the password i typed. when i installed ubuntu in vmware all i gave was only one password. and now its not letting me to login as root also. Is there a way to change the root password. – Feb 05 '12 at 11:52
2

The root account is disabled by default in Ubuntu. When you installed you should have created a regular user account (e.g. 'jsmith'). That account will have rights to run programs via sudo (with jsmith's password, not root's). – Feb 05 '12 at 20:11

Package 'vim' has no installation candidate

2 Answers2