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b. e. hollenbeck
Asked: 2011-12-07 08:29:41 +0800 CST

How do I deal with "unauthenticated sources" errors in the Software Center?

  • 772

Any install that I'm trying through the Software Center is telling me:

Requires installation of untrusted packages: The action would require the installation of packages from not authenticated sources.

I did an apt-get update from the command line, then removed the software sources that the keys were bad from (PPAs I added myself), and unchecked them in the software sources for software center, but to no avail. I can't install anything from software center anymore - only> from the command line with apt-get.

Is uninstalling/installing the only option? I don't want to break other PPAs that I have.

Additional information:

Here's a paste from apt-get update:

Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net oneiric Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY B725097B3ACC3965
W: GPG error: http://us.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <[email protected]>

I've tried apt-key update, and there was no effect (two keys unchanged).

The output of apt-get update and apt-get upgrade, and the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list, can be found in this pastebin post.

software-center

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Open the Terminal and enter the commands below one by one:

    sudo apt-get clean
cd /var/lib/apt
sudo mv lists lists.old
sudo mkdir -p lists/partial
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

    Update: This might not help in some later versions, which might require alternative solutions like the one in the other answer, or this one that seems to do the job in some cases under Ubuntu 16.04:

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
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  2. This is a common problem with Launchpad PPAs. Common enough that I've copied these commands to use when I reinstall or add new Launchpad PPAs. 

    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys

    Then, 

    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys YOURKEYNUMBERHERE

    Substitute YOURKEYNUMBERHERE with the problem keys, like this:

    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B725097B3ACC3965

    And 

    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 40976EAF437D05B5

    The first line is almost the same, minus the keys. It might even be optional, I honestly don't know. All I am sure of is that this method always fixes the problem immediately.

    If anyone finds the original answer that I copied these from let me know and I'll link to it and give them the attribution.

    **EDIT It's almost certainly karthik87's answer here or here I got this from. This can probably be closed as a duplicate.

    Either way, don't forget to do a 

    sudo apt-get update

    after, to fix everything.

    Note: Running apt-get update first should give you an error message mentioning which key is missing and an ID to be used with the apt-key command.

    • 68

  3. Maybe you could try changing to Main Server in Software Sources, where it says Download from.

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  4. Requires installation of untrusted packages: The action would require the installation of packages from not authenticated sources.

    I received this error from the Ubuntu Software Updater after adding a repository without adding the key for the repository. Some software repositories are good about giving you instructions on how to add their repository keys along with the instructions to add the repository, like Launchpad.Others just give you the key.

    To figure out what key you need in a terminal run:

    sudo apt-get update

    This will download the list of available packages from your repositories which uses the keys. If a key is missing it will return an error message.

    Use the information in the error message to find and download the key then add it to your apt keyring with:

    sudo apt-key add /PathToTheKeyFile/KeyFile.gpg

    You should get back an OK. Now to test that you have all the needed repository authentication keys to allow the Ubuntu Software Updater to run:

    sudo apt-get update

    This will again download the list of available packages from your repositories which uses the keys. If a key is missing it will return an error message.

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