apt update and Ubuntu Software get stuck

Question

I have just installed Ubuntu 20.4 LTS. I performed the installation without Wifi connection, as this lead to the installer becoming unresponsive. Yet without Wifi connection the installer went on just fine.

With the fresh-install, two issues have arisen.

Opening the Ubuntu Software application prompts it becomes stuck while saying "Software catalog is being downloaded".
When using the Software Updater, it gets stuck stating "Waiting for packagekitd to stop".

I tried stopping packagekitd with the following command:

systemctl stop packagekit

Then, after running the Software Updater again, it got stuck on "Downloading from security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu no.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu"

I am sure the "no." above comes from the fact that I am situated in Oslo.

Would anyone have any ideas for a beginner like me to look for solutions?

It seems I have to rely on the software updater in order to install programs (such as sublime-text), hence this is really stopping me from starting to use Linux at all. Any help would be appreciated.

Here is the output of sudo apt update:

Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock. It is held by process 1489 (packagekitd)
N: Be aware that removing the lock file is not a solution and may break your system.
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/

And the output of sudo apt upgrade:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libdrm2:i386 libexpat1:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386 libglvnd0:i386
  libx11-xcb1:i386 libxcb-dri2-0:i386 libxcb-dri3-0:i386 libxcb-glx0:i386
  libxcb-present0:i386 libxcb-sync1:i386 libxdamage1:i386 libxfixes3:i386
  libxshmfence1:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apport apport-gtk bind9-dnsutils bind9-host bind9-libs ghostscript
  ghostscript-x gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0 gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 gnome-shell
  gnome-shell-common libcurl3-gnutls libgs9 libgs9-common
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libmysqlclient21 libnss3 libsane libsane-common
  libsmbclient libsnmp-base libsnmp35 libssh-4 libwbclient0
  libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libwhoopsie0 ppp python3-apport python3-problem-report
  python3-software-properties samba-libs sane-utils software-properties-common
  software-properties-gtk whoopsie
35 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 36,7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 175 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 libssh-4 amd64 0.9.3-2ubuntu2.1 [170 kB]
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 libcurl3-gnutls amd64 7.68.0-1ubuntu2.2 [231 kB]

At this point the process is stuck showing 1% [2 libcurl3-gnutls 0 B/231 kB 0%]

Update:

I have now learned I can kill the process locking up sudo-update, and I have tried changing servers (in Software & Updates).

When I run sudo apt update, the following is produced

Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease    
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease [98,3 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [107 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease [111 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]       
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [718 kB]
13% [5 Packages 0 B/718 kB 0%]

..the updater gets stuck.

Please edit your question with the output of sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade — Nmath, Aug 25 '20 at 22:41
I see at least two possible issues. First, your package lists aren't being updated because another process has it locked (or at least this was the case when you ran the command this time) If you can't kill the process manually, You can usually fix this issue by rebooting and then try sudo apt update again. You need this to run successfully to get updated package lists in order to make changes to your software. The other possible issue is that you also have broken/orphaned packages. You should follow the advice and clean those up with sudo apt autoremove, before installing new software. — Nmath, Aug 26 '20 at 08:53
I am able to kill the lock process, but then the updater gets stuck anyway. I have tried rebooting and it only reproduces the same exact behavior. Using sudo apt autoremove does indeed remove a couple of packages, but the updater reproduces the same "stuck" issue. — tutentaten, Aug 26 '20 at 09:06
A few more questions, please add info for each: 1) Are you sure that the device has a stable connection to the internet? ex. Are you able to resolve webpages in your browser? 2) Do you have an explanation for the need for i386 packages? 3) You said this is a new install, but it really doesn't look like it... Did you "manually" install any software on your system? (ex. did you download and run .deb packages, build software from source, or install software in any other way than through the package manager AND after successfully getting updated package lists?) — Nmath, Aug 26 '20 at 09:26
It's weird that you also get stuck during the installation if you choose to download updates during the install. I am grasping at straws but perhaps the installation media is corrupted? You should definitely verify the sha256sum of your ISO and compare it to the published checksum on cdimage.ubuntu.com and maybe re-flash the ISO. (While you're at it make sure you have Ubuntu 20.04 .1 , which is the point release that will save you a few months of updates) — Nmath, Aug 26 '20 at 09:37
I just now verified the sha256sum per intructions from the Ubuntu official home page. I also verified that I have installed Ubuntu 20.04.1. Is it possible that my hardware specs are so that they work fine except for server connection or something (I've no clue, just asking) — tutentaten, Aug 26 '20 at 10:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '20 at 09:55

I found the answer. My problem was that I had an UTM firewall interrupting the connection to the security.ubuntu.com and archive.ubuntu.com (regardless of the server mirror). Using another Wifi network completely resolved the issue.

Thanks for the help.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 25 '20 at 22:45

0

Go to Show Applications and then seach for Software & Updates
In 20.04 the window you get when you click that has...
Download from: and then a dropdown menu to choose a different server.
Note that you might get another error due to a previously broken package but if so just post the error.
(Also note that you want Software & Updates NOT Software Updater but you can run that afterwards.)

answered Aug 25 '20 at 22:45

darth_epoxy

689

Changing the server in Software & Updates to main server prompted, upon closing the application, a message saying: "The information about available software is out-of-date. to install software and updates from newly added or changed sources, you ave to reload the information about available software. You need a working internet connection to continue.". I then hit "Reload" (other option is "close") which prompts a Cache Refresh window. This window unfortunately get stuck as well. – tutentaten Aug 26 '20 at 08:16
Did it prompt you for your root password? The cache update gui bit does take a while and it has been buggy in my 20.04 experience. Try sudo apt-get update and see if it goes for the main server. – darth_epoxy Aug 26 '20 at 08:29
I cannot remember if it asked for root password.. though I think it did. Running sudo apt-get update produces Reading package lists... Done E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock. It is held by process 1481 (packagekitd) N: Be aware that removing the lock file is not a solution and may break your system. E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/ – tutentaten Aug 26 '20 at 08:32
After stopping packagekit with the command from the original post and running sudo apt-get update, I can verify that the websites have changed from .no domain to something else, presumably the domain of the main server. – tutentaten Aug 26 '20 at 08:45
OK so is still locked up? Blame that apt-fast command and never use it again :) But yuou can find lock answers here https://askubuntu.com/questions/15433/unable-to-lock-the-administration-directory-var-lib-dpkg-is-another-process – darth_epoxy Aug 26 '20 at 13:11
The problem ended up being a router configuration issue that I was completely unaware of. Thanks for the help anyway:) – tutentaten Aug 28 '20 at 10:57
Unfortunately this approach didn't fix my software updater. Thanks anyway. – Ryan Aug 20 '23 at 14:10

apt update and Ubuntu Software get stuck

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