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every time I call software updater it offers me a bunch of files for which it wants me to enable Ubuntu Pro. I do NOT want Ubuntu Pro. IMO, there should be a button for "NEVER Install Ubuntu Pro - Stop Bothering Me", but the only buttons offered are "Enable Pro" and "Remind Me Later", neither of which expresses my will and desire. Is there a way to get rid of this unbearable new nag?

My computer is a Lenovo T440 laptop.

~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Release:        22.04
Codename:       jammy

Using Lubuntu.

HEKTO
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DanW58
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    You should file this as a feature request to Canonical themselves. https://askubuntu.com/questions/28440/where-can-i-send-feature-requests – Terrance Jan 01 '24 at 19:51
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    Bug filed: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/2047778 – DanW58 Jan 01 '24 at 22:03
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    -1: Too much complaining before finally asking the question. We are your fellow peer users from around the world who volunteer to help. We are not the folks who wrote that software, so please don't spew opinions at us. Happy to retract the downvote when edited to a more neutral tone, a useful question for future readers. – user535733 Jan 02 '24 at 00:07
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    Just curious, why don't you want pro? Pro is the only way to get some security updates. Something about the original developers stopped providing updates or something along those lines. I disabled Live Patch though. – GlenM Jan 01 '24 at 23:57
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    user535733: I frankly did not know you were my peer fellow users; I never had any idea how this site works; and every time I put a question here somebody slaps me on the face for one arcane reason or another. Secondly, if you had left it at the first sentence, I'd happily change the question; but then you added blackmail... – DanW58 Jan 02 '24 at 00:16
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    GlenM, I just smell a rat with this whole Pro thing. Like they want to make it appear like I am CHOOSING to install it, but not really having an option. Why are they doing this? Why don't they just make it simply an upgrade like any other upgrade? I smell a trap of some sort. Plus, I am beyond sick and tired of all things "security". I don't want any more security; I'm fed up. – DanW58 Jan 02 '24 at 00:18
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    @DanW58 Pro has a free mode. Unfortunately, this issue has been brought up numerous times by the community and it has been heavily requested to allow users to disable the notices, however there's been no movement on it, and the Security team has a valid reason for pushing the esm-apps repository because for older releases sometimes a full security patch of a software requires more than standard update policy allows, and more rapid movement that ESM permits. This has been brought up with Canonical by the Ubuntu Community Council numerous times, and is on my agenda to raise in 2024 as well – Thomas Ward Jan 02 '24 at 00:24
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    Thanks, Thomas; thanks for the perspective; I wasn't aware of any of this. Glad to hear it's being discussed, at least. – DanW58 Jan 02 '24 at 00:44
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    Same problem here. It's really starting to get on my nerves. I understand Ubuntu Pro is for servers, but not needed for personal computers. I like my operating system to work for me, not the other way round. – Norbert S Jan 24 '24 at 08:32
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    Does this answer your question? Remove Ubuntu Pro From Update Screen – Daniel T Jan 25 '24 at 12:40

1 Answers1

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Run the following command to disable the Update Ubuntu Pro option in the Software Updater.

sudo pro config set apt_news=false

Disabling apt news turns off a feature that displays news and messages related to security updates, features, services, and Ubuntu Pro subscriptions within the apt command output. This command affects both apt command output in the terminal and the Software Updater application.

While sudo pro config set apt_news=false effectively disables apt news within the terminal, it doesn't completely eliminate all Ubuntu Pro-related notifications. You can get rid of these reminders temporarily until a software upgrade overwrites it by editing the Ubuntu Advantage client configuration file as follows.

sudo nano /etc/ubuntu-advantage/uaclient.conf

Add the following lines to the end of the file, including the proper indentation before apt_news: false:

ua_config:
  apt_news: false

If uaclient.conf already has a line in it that says ua_config: then just add a line that says apt_news: false after it instead, including the proper two space characters indentation.

  apt_news: false

Save and exit (press Ctrl+O, then Enter, then press Ctrl+X).

Run sudo pro refresh config to enable the change.

sudo pro refresh config
karel
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  • I tried the "sudo pro config set apt_news=false" command, and I got what I perceive as a partial success. Software Updater did allow me to install a number of updates not related to Ubuntu Pro; but after two sets of such updates, a third set again presented the unfair choice of "Enable Ubuntu Pro" or "Remind me Later"; and no choice to have Ubuntu Pro off my face for good. But it's an improvement; before running this command Software Updater had become entirely useless, with nothing to do unless I gave in to Pro. – DanW58 Jan 25 '24 at 18:11
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    Thanks, Karel, but it's still the same. I think it is because there are package updates on offer that require Pro; this config change probably does not reject all files that require Pro; does it? I get the same screen as before, with a bunch of upgrades, a notice saying I need Pro to install them, and the two buttons: [Enable Pro] and [Remind Me Later]. – DanW58 Jan 27 '24 at 01:28
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    This had no effect. On the UI, still seeing the unwanted Enable Pro button and the Pro software list. – Ken Jan 27 '24 at 03:57