Fix "Unable to lock the administration directory ... https://www.tecmint.com/fix-unable-to-lock-the...

1. Find and Kill all apt-get or

apt Processes
Run the command below to generate a list
of all processes whose name comprises of
the word apt, you will get a list inclusive of all
apt or apt-get processes by using ps and
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grep commands together with a pipeline.
Fix "Unable to lock the administration directory ... https://www.tecmint.com/fix-unable-to-lock-the...

the word apt, you will get a list inclusive of all

apt or apt-get processes by using ps and
grep commands together with a pipeline.

$ ps -A | grep apt

Find apt and apt-get Processes

For each apt-get or apt process that you can

see in the output of the command above, kill
each process using the command below.

The process ID (PID) is found in the �rst

column from the screenshot above.

$ sudo kill -9 processnumber

OR
$ sudo kill -SIGKILL processnumber

For instance, in the command below where

9 is the signal number for the SIGKILL
signal, will kill the �rst apt process:

$ sudo kill -9 13431

OR
$ sudo kill -SIGKILL 13431

2. Delete the lock Files

A lock �le simply prevents access to another
�le(s) or some data on your Linux system,
this concept is present in Windows and other
operating systems as well.

Once you run an apt-get or apt command, a

lock �le is created under the any of these
directories /var/lib/apt/lists/, /var/lib/dpkg/
and /var/cache/apt/archives/.

This helps to avoid the apt-get or apt

process that is already running from being
interrupted by either a user or other system
processes that would need to work with �les
being used by apt-get or apt. When the
process has �nished executing, the lock �le
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Important: In case a lock is still exiting in the

Fix "Unable to lock the administration directory ... https://www.tecmint.com/fix-unable-to-lock-the...

being used by apt-get or apt. When the

process has �nished executing, the lock �le
is then deleted.

Important: In case a lock is still exiting in the

two directories above with no noticeable apt-
get or apt process running, this may mean
the process was held for one reason or the
other, therefore you need to delete the lock
�les in order to clear the error.

First execute the command below to remove

the lock �le in the /var/lib/dpkg/
directory:

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock

Afterwards force package(s) to recon�gure

like so:

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a

Alternatively, delete the lock �les in the

/var/lib/apt/lists/ and cache directory
as below:

$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
$ sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

Next, update your packages sources list as

follows:

$ sudo apt update

OR
$ sudo apt-get update

In conclusion, we have walked through two

important methods to deal with a common
problem faced by Ubuntu (and its
derivatives) users, while running apt-get or
apt as well as aptitude commands.

Do you have any other reliable methods to

share meant for deal with this common
error? Then get in touch with us via the
feedback form below.
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In addition, you may as well want to learn
how to �nd and kill running processes and
Fix "Unable to lock the administration directory ... https://www.tecmint.com/fix-unable-to-lock-the...

error? Then get in touch with us via the

feedback form below.

In addition, you may as well want to learn

how to �nd and kill running processes and
read through a simple guide to kill, pkill and
killall commands to terminate a process in
Linux.

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