How to install again Update Manager after uninstalling it

I tried asking many times on few Ubuntu forums how to deal with my non-responsive Update Manager, but all I was getting was the same stuff (run it from the terminal, run some lines, apt-get update blah blah). Nothing was helping. Eventually I went mad Windows style and tried to simply uninstall it and install it again. The problem is - how to install it again? Can't do it through Software Center, can't really build a package (because I'm too stupid to do that). And I seriously want to avoid reinstalling the whole system.

I am running a 12.04 version (Update Manager was unable to update to a newer one)

5 Answers

Terminal/Konsole:

sudo apt-get install update-manager synaptic

or

sudo apt-get install --reinstall update-manager synaptic

I had a problem with update manager so I uninstalled update-manager and installed again by using:

For uninstall

sudo apt-get purge update-manager

For install

sudo apt-get install update-manager synaptic

And just worked

Sorry for my spelling

If you're having trouble with a package and you choose to completely re-install it, you should first completely remove it.

 sudo apt-get --purge remove update-manager

will remove the update manager and any configuration files it's created. If there is a configuration error, this will allow you to re-install fron scratch.

Of course, you'll lose all the configuration files, and I'm not sure what this might do. I don't know if those configuration files detail everything installed on your system, and whether you might end up with a butt-load of hurt when your next install can't tell what dependancies are already installed. I could be worried over nothing . . . but I'd wait for a wiser brain than mine to comment.

To install/reinstall the Ubuntu Update Manager ("Software Updater")

Tested on Ubuntu 18.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install update-manager

You'll now see this "Software Updater" icon when you press the Windows key and then search for "updater":

And this .desktop file will now be created: "/usr/share/applications/update-manager.desktop", and it will contain the following, as shown by cat /usr/share/applications/update-manager.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Software Updater
GenericName=Software Updates
Comment=Show and install available updates
Exec=/usr/bin/update-manager
Icon=system-software-update
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=System;Settings;
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=update-manager
X-Unity-IconBackgroundColor=#4c9e39

In Ubuntu 20.04 for me helped the following:

sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list

In the start of the config add link to the repository with focal-updates:

deb focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse

If this server is not working try another servers that listed here: Official Archive Mirrors for Ubuntu

sudo apt update

sudo apt install update-manager

Source: Trying to reinstall ubuntu-desktop causes dependency issues (Ubuntu GNOME, 18.04)