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In Linux Mint you install everything from its software repositories (sources). It's therefore very important, that you have no wrong or defective repositories in your sources list.
Are you unsure whether the software sources of your system are all reliable? Or are you having problems with Update Manager because of your software sources? Below you'll find a how-to for establishing a list with absolutely reliable sources, which should work well.
Note (1): this page is only meant for Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia!
Note (2): this is an emergency measure. Only replace your sources list when it's necessary; namely when you have a polluted list with wrong or defective sources in it. Don't do it for any other reason!
Note (3): With this, you won't undo the damage that your system might have suffered from the use of wrong software sources. The only thing that you do now, is preventing new damage.
1. Launch Software Sources (Menu button - Administration - Software Sources).
Is it impossible to launch Software Sources? Then skip this and proceed with item 3 below.
a. Down below, on the right, click the button Restore the default settings
b. Then click the tab PPAs - untick all PPA's that are mentioned there.
c. Then click the tab Additional repositories, and untick all sources mentioned on that page.
d. Finally, click the OK button to update the APT cache.
Close Software Sources. With that, the job's (practically) done!
You have disabled all software sources that you possibly have added yourself, but that was the intention in the first place. You now have a clean sources list, but.... you'll get no more updates for software that you've installed from sources that you've added yourself (like PPA's).
2. If you've installed web browser Google Chrome, you'll get no more updates now for Chrome. Because Chrome has it's own software source.
In order to receive new Chrome versions anyway, you can simply enable the Chrome source again (it's on the tab Additional repositories in Software Sources).
You're done!
3. Is it impossible to launch the application Software Sources? Then proceed as follows:
a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
b. Use copy/paste to transfer the following line into the terminal, in order to avoid errors (this is one line!):
xed admin:///etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
Press Enter.
c. Delete everything in that text file, and then copy/paste the following new blue text into it:
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com virginia main upstream import backport
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ jammy partner
#deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
d. Save the changes and close the file. This is the default sources list for Mint 21.3, with only one addition: a disabled source for Google Chrome (which you can enable at wish).
e. Then in the terminal:
sudo apt-get update
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
f. Then in the terminal (use copy/paste) in order to install all updates:
sudo mintupdate-cli upgrade -r
Press Enter.
g. Reboot.
Want more?
Do you want more tips and tweaks? There's a lot more of them on this website!
For example:
Speed up your Linux Mint!
Clean your Linux Mint safely
Avoid 10 fatal mistakes
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