How do I remove the Ubuntu Software Center?

Question

I have a pretty slow computer, and every time I open Ubuntu Software Center, the entire computer slows down, and 97% of the time, it hangs. So, I was wondering whether you can uninstall Ubuntu software center. Oh, and by the way, I use terminal to install my softwares.

Solution 1

I believe the command you are looking for is

sudo apt-get remove software-center

Solution 2

None of these answers address the elephant in the room. software-center is a dependency of ubuntu-desktop. This isn't a major problem at first, until you run apt-get autoremove at some future date, removing all the other packages in ubuntu-desktop and making the system unusable.

To avoid this problem, you need to mark the other packages in ubuntu-desktop as manually-installed. Do the following:

sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils anacron at-spi2-core baobab bc ca-certificates checkbox-gui dmz-cursor-theme doc-base eog evince file-roller fonts-dejavu-core fonts-freefont-ttf foomatic-db-compressed-ppds gedit genisoimage ghostscript-x gnome-calculator gnome-font-viewer gnome-menus gnome-power-manager gnome-screenshot gnome-session-canberra gnome-system-log gnome-system-monitor gstreamer0.10-alsa gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio gstreamer1.0-alsa gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio gucharmap gvfs-bin inputattach language-selector-gnome libatk-adaptor libnotify-bin libpam-systemd libsasl2-modules libxp6 lightdm memtest86+ nautilus nautilus-sendto notify-osd openprinting-ppds printer-driver-pnm2ppa pulseaudio rfkill seahorse software-properties-gtk ssh-askpass-gnome system-config-printer-gnome ubuntu-artwork ubuntu-drivers-common ubuntu-extras-keyring ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk ubuntu-session ubuntu-settings ubuntu-sounds ubuntu-sso-client-qt unity unity-control-center unity-greeter unity-settings-daemon unzip update-manager update-notifier wireless-tools wpasupplicant xdg-user-dirs xdg-user-dirs-gtk xdiagnose xkb-data xorg yelp zenity zip
sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop software-center

The first lines marks all the contents of ubuntu-desktop (other than software-center) as manually-installed so that they won't be subject to autoremoval

That way, removing ubuntu-desktop will not mark the above packages as for removal.

Hope this helps. Like I said, the above methords "work" so long as you don't run apt-get autoremove at some point in the future.

Solution 3

On newer versions of Ubuntu, you should do:

sudo snap remove snap-store

Solution 4

I've never tried this, but what about sudo apt-get remove software-center? Tell me if it works!

Solution 5

You may use the command instruction. it works. And of course if you want to remove all configuration files you may use the command line:

sudo apt-get --purge remove software-center

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Comments

[thorstorm]

Why uninstall it? If it doesn't work on your pc simply do not run it. Uninstalling it will probably uninstall the ubuntu-desktop dummy package. It is not a great loss but if there are updates to the latter package you won't get them.

[Kitizl]

@ToDo What does ubuntu-desktop do?

[thorstorm]

It's a dummy package, meaning it is just a package that puts together other packages. It is not serious to remove it since all the components will still remain installed (except software center which you would have removed). But if Canonical decides to change a package for another through the dummy package the change won't be reflected on your system. You can always reinstall the package later.

[Aquarius Power]

@Kitizl may be, we could just rename that elephant executable? yes, til now no problem, it is at /usr/bin/software-center

[Master16]

it did not work for ME. cause i use 18.04