Ubuntu – How to update Ubuntu when not connected to internet

installationinternetupdates

When I install Ubuntu to a set of computers that are not connected to the internet, and I need to get the lastest software updates, do I still need to connect them so they download the latest updates? Or is there a better way?

  • Download the updates in one connected PC, then copy them to a pen drive and intall it on the others (How?)
  • Find an image of the installation CD with the latest updates (possible?)

I installed Xubuntu 10.04 on a couple of PC's with no connection.

Update (10/15/2010)

I made a Xubuntu 10.04 VM on my own PC, and I'm downloading all updates and necessary software. I will then use one of the below mentioned alternatives to upgrade the computers. Hopefuly I'll update them next Monday.

Best Answer

Download the CD/DVD of choice and then:

sudo apt-cdrom add
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

This will treat the CD as a repository and let you grab packages from it. However if you have non-standard packages that aren't on the CD, you might run into issues. There is (I believe this is still true) a DVD that has lots more packages on it that might help... But for general purpose upgrades, apt-cdrom should do fine.

If you're dealing with a network of computers (or something that could be hammered into a network) you could perhaps look at apt-proxy or another similar setup where you can host the repository locally for other computers to access. This may well be faster than taking a CD from computer to computer.

Similarly, you could share an ISO over the network and use apt-cdrom

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