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Masqueey
Asked: 2018-08-26 04:23:43 +0800 CST

Ubuntu 18.04 stuck at upgrading linux-header

  • 772

Whenever I try to get my system up-to-date in Ubuntu 18.04, it stops: stuck whenever it reaches Setting up linux-headers-<version>-generic. I cannot cancel the upgrading from there, but even when you and leave it for hours, it doesn't change anything. If I check the process in htop it shows it now doing anything. If I force the upgrade to end and try to restart it, when I retry the upgrade it says a previous one has been interrupted and I should try it with sudo dpkg --configure -a which fixes the problem.

I just find it very annoying to have to do this every time there is a header-upgrade available, especially because I feel like it shouldn't happen and there should be a more permanent fix available. What am I missing or doing wrong?

upgrade apt linux-headers 18.04

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    TLDR: Disable Secure Boot.

    I started having this same issue about a month ago. For me it turns out the solution was disabling Secure Boot. I've had Secure Boot disabled since I installed Ubuntu 18.04 and it's upgraded without any problems. However, about a month ago, I updated my BIOS which re-enabled Secure Boot (I didn't know this at the time). It was frustrating having the upgrades freeze and I finally figured it out because my VirtualBox installation was also not working. The fix for VirtualBox was disabling Secure Boot which also fixed my linux-headers-<version>-generic upgrades.

    As noted in the question, it would freeze here:

    ...
Setting up linux-headers-4.15.0-38-generic (4.15.0-38.41) ...

    After disabling Secure Boot, I get:

    ...
Setting up linux-headers-4.15.0-38-generic (4.15.0-38.41) ...
/etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms:
Secure Boot not enabled on this system.
...
done
    • 10

  2. My solution;

    • ps aux | grep apt
    • Kill the apt process
    • sudo dpkg --configure -a
    • apt update
    • apt upgrade
    • 7

  3. You may check the answer on /var/log/apt/term.log. This is the location for the apt-get log. You can also check the dpkg log file /var/log/dpkg.log apt or apt-get you are using are based on dpkg internal.

    One more thing you can identify the process by ID and run strace -p to check exactly why it stops.

    This is rather a general answer to this or similar questions.

    • 1