'Could not get lock' error shown by Ubuntu Software Updater
  • 11 Jan 2024
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'Could not get lock' error shown by Ubuntu Software Updater

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Article summary

Introduction

Problem description

While updating on-premise Desktop Processing Software, you might see such errors pop up in the Software Updater or in the Ubuntu terminal:

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)

E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), is another process using it?

Scope

This procedure refers to NavVis On-Premise Desktop Processing

Troubleshooting procedure

Parallel operations occurring

1. Check to see if there is another software updater running in parallel or in the background. The graphic user interface of the Software Updater application might be running and causing the issue.

2. Check if one of the following commands sudo apt-get update or sudo apt-get dist-upgrade might be running in another terminal.

3. Make sure all of the running processes have either finished or stopped.

4. Close all updating processes and start only one updater from the beginning.

5. If the issue still persists, reboot your system and run the Software Updater application.


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