A "failed to fetch" error occurs when apt-get update is run. How do I fix this?
I was facing the same problem and figured the easiest solution is to reset the sources of /etc/apt/sources.list
. To do so, follow these steps:
Obtain the release of your Ubuntu version, type into the console:
lsb_release -r
Go to http://repogen.simplylinux.ch/ to generate a new
sources.list
- Select your country & release
Check the first 12 boxes:
- Generate and copy your new list
Backup the old file to sources.list.old
mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.old
You can now either open vi to save the new list by doing:
vi /etc/apt/sources.list (Paste and save using `:wq`)
Or by copying and pasting into your terminal the "curl" command (including a unique URI for your updated source list) as it is presented under "Sources List" on the repogen output page.
G2G, retry running
apt-get update
Edit /etc/resolv.conf
. In a Terminal window run
sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf
and add the line
nameserver 8.8.8.8
and save. Then do
ping www.google.com
If this succeeds then run the following commands
sudo apt-get --download-only --reinstall install resolvconf
sudo dpkg --purge --force-depends resolvconf
sudo apt-get install resolvconf
If resolving now fails then right-click on the network indicator in the bar at the top of the desktop, click Edit Connections
, select your connection, Click Edit
| IPv4 Settings
. Change Method from Automatic (DHCP)
to Automatic (DHCP) addresses only
and enter 8.8.8.8
in the Additional DNS servers
field. Click Save...
. Verify that /etc/resolv.conf
now contains a line nameserver 8.8.8.8
and that you can still ping www.google.com
.
sudo apt-get update
finally worked! I just realized that the problem was not on the system but instead how the system connects and retrieves data from the internet. I just configured my Network settings and changed the proxy detection to Manual
and filled in the HTTP
, HTTPS
, FTP
, and Socks Host
blanks the proxy that I use. When I updated again, this error output happened at first:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/)
Well, not exactly like the same but similar to it (I copied above from here). But when I tried updating again, it finally worked(the reason I posted the error output above and not the exact output I saw) and I can now choose a different mirror server. If the Network proxy configuration was really the reason for my woes, well, I kinda felt stupid for such basic mistake.
Anyway, thanks everybody for your help! :)