Disable Automatic Updates on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux

In this short tutorial you will learn how to disable automatic package updates on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux.

In this tutorial you will learn:

• How to disable Automatic Updates from GUI Desktop
• How to disable Automatic Updates from command line

Disabled Automatic Updates on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux Server/Desktop

Software Requirements and Conventions Used

Disable Automatic Updates on Ubuntu 20.04 step by step instructions

Warning:Disabling automatic updates comes with a security risk. Once automatic updates are disabled, use $ sudo apt update and $ sudo apt upgrade to keep your system updated manually.

There are some situations when you may want to disable automatic updates. For example if you receive these error messages:

Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/

The above is a result of a triggered automatic updates procedure where apt locked down the /var/lib/apt/lists/lock file, thus the administrator is prevented from installing new packages and is forced to wait until the automatic updates refresh cycle is completed.

How to disable Automatic Updates from command line

Open and edit the /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades using the bellow command:

$ sudoedit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades

Change content:
FROM:

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

TO:

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "0";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "0";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

All done.

How to disable Automatic Updates from GUI Desktop

1. 

   From the activities menu search for software and click on Software & Updates icon.

2. 

   Select Updatestab and choose Never from the Automatically check for updates field.

All done.