Ubuntu requires CD for software (installs and updates)

Alex — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:14:54 +0000

If when attempting to update software or install new software in Ubuntu you find yourself being asked to insert the installation/live CD or if you find the following errors while trying to update your sources the following should help fix this error.

W: Failed to fetch cdrom://Ubuntu 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ – Release amd64 (20111012)/dists/oneiric/main/binary-i386/Packages Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognised by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs

W: Failed to fetch cdrom://Ubuntu 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ – Release amd64 (20111012)/dists/oneiric/main/binary-amd64/Packages Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognised by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs

W: Failed to fetch cdrom://Ubuntu 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ – Release amd64 (20111012)/dists/oneiric/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognised by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs

W: Failed to fetch cdrom://Ubuntu 11.10 _Oneiric Ocelot_ – Release amd64 (20111012)/dists/oneiric/restricted/binary-i386/Packages Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognised by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

In order to fix this you’ll need to open up a terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Now you’ll see something similar to the following:

From here add a # to any lines starting with “deb cdrom:” then save and exit nano (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter).

Now from terminal type:

sudo apt-get update

You should now be able to install and update all the things without the need for a CD being mounted.

How To: Fix “Failed to download repository information Check your Internet connection.”

Alex — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:11:05 +0000

If you’re getting this error but you’re still connected to the internet this page might help. This error is sometimes caused by repository’s which are down or broken.

Failed to download repository information

Check your Internet connection.

From terminal run the following command:

sudo apt-get update

If the output runs through a few repositorys but ends with something similar to the below (most probably with different repositorys failing) and ultimately stopping your updating process then there is a good chance you can fix it by just removing those failing sources from the software sources.

Err http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main amd64 Packages
404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bugs-sehe/gparted/ubuntu/dists/maverick/main/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bugs-sehe/gparted/ubuntu/dists/maverick/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz 404 Not Found
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Software Sources can be found under either:

Applications > Ubuntu Software Centre > Edit > Software Sources..
OR
System > Administrator > Synaptic Package Manager > Settings > Repositorys

Click the Other Software tab.

Nnow find the repositories which caused the failure on the update and uncheck them and then close the Software Centre.

Re-run the update command and hopefully everything will work!

sudo apt-get update

Check the example below where gparted was causing the error:

Alex Sleat » sources

Ubuntu requires CD for software (installs and updates)

How To: Fix “Failed to download repository information Check your Internet connection.”