🔧 How to Fix sudo apt-get update Issues in WSL on Windows
If you're using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and encountering issues when running:
sudo apt-get update
You might see an error similar to the following:
- Hit:1 https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com noble InRelease
- Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease
- Ign:3 https://download.docker.com/linux/debian noble InRelease
- Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
- Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease [126 kB]
- Err:6 https://download.docker.com/linux/debian noble Release
- 404 Not Found [IP:]
- Hit:7 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu noble InRelease
- Hit:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease Reading package lists... Done
- E: The repository 'https://download.docker.com/linux/debian noble Release' does not have a Release file.
- N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
- N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
Err: https://download.docker.com/linux/debian noble Release
404 Not Found [IP:]
E: The repository 'https://download.docker.com/linux/debian noble Release' does not have a Release file.
This message indicates that the Docker repository for the specified distribution (noble, in this case) is either missing or incorrectly referenced. Let’s explore why this happens and how you can fix it step by step.
🧾 Why This Happens
This error typically occurs under the following conditions:
-
There’s a mismatch between the system time in WSL and your Windows system.
-
Your machine has been asleep or hibernating for a long time, causing stale metadata.
-
The APT sources are misconfigured—for instance, pointing to a non-existent Docker repository for
debianinstead ofubuntu.
✅ How to Fix It
🔍 Technique 1: Restart Docker Services in PowerShell
Sometimes, restarting Docker services from PowerShell resolves the issue:
Restart-Service *docker*
🔍 Technique 2: Configure Time Sync in WSL
Incorrect time sync in virtualized environments like WSL can prevent secure APT updates. You can manually configure this:
sudo systemctl edit systemd-timesyncd
Add the following under [Unit] to ensure WSL-specific conditions are handled:
[Unit]
ConditionVirtualization=
ConditionVirtualization=wsl
Save and exit the editor.
🐳 Technique 3: Properly Add Docker Repository for Ubuntu
If you're using Ubuntu in WSL, make sure you’re using the correct Docker repository (not the Debian one). Here's how to do it right:
STEP 1:
📌 Add Required Tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
📌 Add Docker’s Official GPG Key
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
📌 Add Docker Repository (Correctly)
echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
Then update:
sudo apt-get update
Step 2: Install Docker Components
Now install Docker and related tools:
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
✅ Step 3: Test Docker Installation
Run any Docker command to verify the installation:
docker run hello-world
If the output confirms that Docker is installed correctly, you're all set.
🎯 Conclusion
If you're facing update errors with APT inside WSL, especially related to Docker repositories, it's often due to misconfigured sources or environment-specific conditions like virtualization and time sync issues. Following the above steps should resolve the error and get your system back on track.
If you're still facing issues, check your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and confirm you're using Ubuntu-specific Docker sources, not Debian ones.
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