Unable to install "<PACKAGE>": snap "<PACKAGE>" has "install-snap" change in progress

Question

I just finished the installation of the Ubuntu 18.04, but whenever I try to install any application from Ubuntu Software the same error occurs (for example "vlc"):

unable to install "vlc": snap "vlc" has "install-snap" change in progress

I hope somebody can tell me what I've done wrong.

Solution 1

Snap is probably still working on something in the background (or at least it thinks so). Open a terminal and run snap changes so see a list of ongoing changes.

$ snap changes
...
123  Doing   2018-04-28T10:40:11Z  -  Install "foo" snap
...

You can abort ongoing change(s):

sudo snap abort 123

Then you should be able to successfully install VLC through the software center, or through the command line using snap install vlc.

Solution 2

Open your terminal and follow these steps.

1. Abort the "vlc" snap process.

Inspect your snap "vlc" process by running command snap changes, this will show the status list of the snaps installations similar to this.

ID   Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
3    Done    today at 22:29 WIB  today at 22:31 WIB  Auto-refresh 6 snaps
4    Done    today at 22:56 WIB  today at 22:58 WIB  Install "gitter-desktop" snap
5    Done    today at 22:59 WIB  today at 22:59 WIB  Disconnect gitter-desktop:home from :
6    Done    today at 22:59 WIB  today at 22:59 WIB  Disconnect gitter-desktop:pulseaudio from :
7    Doing   today at 23:21 WIB  -                   Install "spotify" snap
8    Doing   today at 23:24 WIB  -                   Install "vlc" snap

2. Pick the ID of your VLC snap process

Pick the ID of your "vlc" snap process, for the example 8

3. Abort the snap process by ID

Abort snap process by running command snap abort 8. This action will abort your vlc snap installation process.

4. Open your Software Center or running snap installation by a terminal

sudo snap install vlc

5. Wait for the installation until finished.

Solution 3

Open your terminal and type the below command in terminal.

snap changes

you will see the following results

    ID   Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
3    Done    today at 17:04 IST  today at 17:10 IST  Auto-refresh snaps "core18", "gnome-3-34-1804", "snap-store"
4    Done    today at 19:59 IST  today at 20:01 IST  Install "stickynotes" snap from "latest/stable" channel

Note that id in this output . Here its 4(for sticky notes app). You need to abort that snap operation by running the below command.

sudo snap abort 4

After this try to install it again. If you still get that error restart your system and try again. And try to refresh your package also.

sudo snap refresh stickynotes

Thankyou , hope this helps!

Comments

[Sam Pan]

try doing after rebooting?

[fcole90]

This should be the accepted solution

[ubuntuUssser]

step 3 does not work. "error: cannot abort change 7 with nothing pending"

[FloT]

Hello and welcome on Ask Ubuntu :) May I suggest you to elaborate a bit and maybe add the exact commands you would enter to see progress / abort / relaunch a snap install?

[gam6itko]

While executing abort command I've got error: cannot abort change 18 with nothing pending

[Eliran Malka]

@Gambit - that probably means you ran it twice, or the active snap change process has already stopped for whatever reason

[Liker777]

That worked for me, however I needed to exit and start the terminal again

[Kind Contributor]

Use snap tasks 123 to see a log of what is being done.

[Ryan]

This happens because you click install, then put in your password, and it doesn't update the install button to let the user know that it is doing anything, so you click it again thinking, oh, maybe now that I've authenticated, I need to do it again. The reason for the OP is bad user experience, at least in 18.04.