apt-get install is not working in WSL

ubuntu bash windows-subsystem-for-linux apt ubuntu-18.04

99,602

Solution 1

Executed below 2 commands and then I was able to install the packages.

sudo apt update    
sudo apt install python3-pip

Source - https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-pip-on-ubuntu-18.04/

Solution 2

System: Windows 10 Enterprise, Ubuntu Windows Subsystem for Linux.

I ran this command:

sudo apt-get install dos2unix

I had this error:

E: Unable to locate package dos2unix

I then ran:

sudo apt-get update

and then:

sudo apt-get install dos2unix

and it installed properly.

99,602

Devoloper250

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Devoloper250 over 1 year
Windows 10 Ubuntu bash failing to install packages. Whenever I try install new package with below command, getting same error.
```
root@VASI-HOME-PC:/mnt/c/Users/vadap# apt-get install atom
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package atom
```
This is not just with atom pacakge but i tried installing other packages like pip as well and received same error.
- Ramhound over 5 years
  
  The error message you received, indicates Atom is required, which means the package you are trying to install has a GUI. That isn't going to be supported by WSl out of the box. In other words, you are not going to be able to install any package, that requires Atom.
- Devoloper250 over 5 years
  
  @Ramhound I have tried to install pip and few other packages. I have received the same error. Does it mean all of them had GUI ?
- Willman over 3 years
  
  I'm having this issue on WSL2 Debian 10, trying to install openssh-server as root user. I think the issue the OP had was that he was invoking apt as the root user, and not sudoing from an unprivileged user. I'm not sure why, but apt only works when you run it with sudo from a non-root user...
Ramhound over 5 years

This answer is unlikely to be well recieved, unless you provide the relevant information from the link, like what you actually did in the body of the answer.
Devoloper250 over 5 years

Thank you @Ramhound . I have updated the steps executed and later I was able to install the packages like pip.
Scott - Слава Україні almost 5 years

What did you add to the sources.list file? Please do not respond in comments; edit your answer to make it clearer and more complete.
Qinsi almost 5 years

@Scott File content added ;D
Timo over 3 years

After update do apt upgrade to be updated.
NotTheDr01ds almost 3 years

This is exactly the same thing that the accepted answer already says. Do you have additional information to add?
Admin almost 2 years

I just sudo apt update followed by sudo apt upgrade like Timo said and that was enough for me to get it to work.