Disable Automatic Update/Upgrade on Debian/Ubuntu through SSH or Desktop
I login to my remote machine through ssh today and saw the message System restart required
, which is very weird since I did not upgrade anything. Then I realized my Ubuntu Server has automatic upgrade enabled by default. Auto updating on a Linux server distro, truly a edgy feature.
To turn off automatic system upgrade and package lists update on your Debian/Ubuntu based Linux distros is quite easy. And we'll be covering editing apt
configuration through both CLI (Command-Line Interface) and GUI (Graphical User Interface) so it can be done by ssh or desktop.
Disable Auto System Upgrade
To disable automatic system upgrade, simply by editing /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
and change APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade
to 0
.
CLI (Command-Line Interface)
Open 20auto-upgrades
with vim
or your preferred text editor:
sudo vim /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade
to 0
then save:
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";
Plain text
GUI (Graphical User Interface)
Open your terminal by Ctrl-Alt-T
then open 20auto-upgrades
with gedit
:
gedit admin:/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade
to 0
then save:

20auto-upgrades
with gedit
Disable Auto Package Lists Update
To disable automatic package lists update, change APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists
to 0
in both /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
.
CLI (Command-Line Interface)
Open 20auto-upgrades
with vim
or your preferred text editor:
sudo vim /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists
to 0
then save:
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
Plain text
And repeat the process on 10periodic
:
sudo vim /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists
to 0
then save:
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
Plain text
GUI (Graphical User Interface)
Open your terminal by Ctrl-Alt-T
then open 20auto-upgrades
with gedit
:
gedit admin:/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists
to 0
then save:

20auto-upgrades
with gedit
Open 10periodic
with gedit
:
gedit admin:/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
Bash
Change APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists
to 0
then save:

10periodic
with gedit