Hi. Lately i’ve been having issues getting my factor authentication yubikey to work on the App center. It works in the terminal and other services, but the app store not so much. I assume reinstalling the app store should help, but I need some input on this.
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The information provided is too vague for us to be able to help.
Please show the following:
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Ubuntu version
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What exactly does this mean? Sometimes it works, other times not?
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show the output from
snap connections snap-store
Please use code tags when pasting the terminal output to retain formatting. In your reply, click on the </> icon in the composer and paste the output in the field.
Thanks
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Sure. Here are the answers.
1.Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
2.The app store just doesn’t work. I try updating the apps, but the app store one recognize my password and/or yubikey(despite the terminal and other password actions outside the app store)
3.As for the command results here they are:
Interface Plug Slot Notes
appstream-metadata snap-store:appstream-metadata :appstream-metadata -
content[gnome-46-2404] snap-store:gnome-46-2404 gnome-46-2404:gnome-46-2404 -
content[gpu-2404] snap-store:gpu-2404 mesa-2404:gpu-2404 -
content[gtk-3-themes] snap-store:gtk-3-themes gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes -
content[icon-themes] snap-store:icon-themes gtk-common-themes:icon-themes -
content[sound-themes] snap-store:sound-themes gtk-common-themes:sound-themes -
dbus - snap-store:dbus-name -
dbus - snap-store:packagekit-session -
desktop snap-store:desktop :desktop -
desktop-launch snap-store:desktop-launch :desktop-launch -
desktop-legacy snap-store:desktop-legacy :desktop-legacy -
gsettings snap-store:gsettings :gsettings -
network snap-store:network :network -
opengl snap-store:opengl :opengl -
packagekit-control snap-store:packagekit-control :packagekit-control -
snapd-control snap-store:snapd-control :snapd-control -
wayland snap-store:wayland :wayland -
x11 snap-store:x11 :x11
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I had to do a little reading to find out what a Yubikey is and does. A little reading does not make me an expert.
I do not think that re-installing the App Center will solve this problem. The operating system prompts for authentication not individual applications. If the Yubikey authenticates in one instance it should authenticate in all instances.
In Ubuntu 26.04 LTS the App Center “Manages/updates” the installed snap packaged applications. It does not update Debian packaged applications. That is done through the Software Updater utility or the Terminal.
It is true that in 26.04 LTS the App Center will find both Snap packaged applications and Debian packaged applications and install or uninstall them. That is a big improvement. We are still in the situation where Software Updater will Update/Upgrade both Debian and Snap packages. Whereas, App Center will only Manage/Update Snap packages.
It this your problem? The Yubikey will authenticate the App Center to update Snap packages when the operating system demands authentication but not authenticate Debian packages because the operating system does not reuest it.
Regard
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That isn’t quite correct. I have just checked that App Center does upgrade Debian packages (DEB) as well[1]; had (GNOME) Settings and others[2]. But it prompted authentication for each and everyone of those, because they are supposedly from an “untrusted source”; apparently the App Center, given its Snap roots, only trusts the Snap Store sources and treats everything else as untrusted. That might be what @turkmenbashib is seeing; he authenticates once, then the one DEB gets upgraded and he gets prompted for the next “untrusted” DEB and so on and so forth.
I am not sure, but I think this should be reported as an App Center bug — if it is the actual issue of @turkmenbashib —, because it is not exactly a good look if one Canonical/Ubuntu app tells the user that all the others, from the same ultimate source, i.e. Canonical’s DEB repositories, are “untrusted”.
This is is the corresponding excerpt from /var/log/apt/history:
Start-Date: 2026-06-24 23:24:07
Commandline: packagekit role='update-packages'
Requested-By: peter (1000)
Upgrade: gnome-control-center-faces:amd64 (1:50.0-0ubuntu6, 1:50.0-0ubuntu6.1), gnome-control-center-data:amd64 (1:50.0-0ubuntu6, 1:50.0-0ubuntu6.1), gnome-control-center:amd64 (1:50.0-0ubuntu6, 1:50.0-0ubuntu6.1)
End-Date: 2026-06-24 23:24:10
Start-Date: 2026-06-24 23:24:22
Commandline: packagekit role='update-packages'
Requested-By: peter (1000)
Upgrade: resources:amd64 (1.10.2-0ubuntu3, 1.10.2-0ubuntu3.1)
End-Date: 2026-06-24 23:24:23
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What would you advise? Will uninstalling and reinstalling it work? If so what are the commands to do so.
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No, if the issue manifests as I suspect, which you should check, then there is nothing you can do about it, other than report the bug against App Center. As a workaround[1] you can use Software Center for the DEB packages. If it isn’t installed on your machine, you can install it by running this command in a terminal:
sudo apt install gnome-software
until said bug is fixed ↩︎
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I gave the command you mentioned a shot. Seems it’s already at its newest version. This is the message I got.
gnome-software is already the newest version (50.0-1).
As for reporting a bug can you post the link here? Thanks.
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Just click on “REPORT A BUG” here.
The question still remains, however, if the issue is what I suspect. Do not report a bug if it isn’t.
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Do you know where we could go from here if it is?
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Before logging a bug, please check on cmdline with apt first to make sure it is actually a frontend issue and not something messed up with the repo settings (IIRC there was an apt bug where it unreasonably marks some archive packages as foreign)
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Regarding the “apt” command. What command are you referring to as far as error messages go.
I think ogra means: check the same update from a terminal first, so you know whether this is really App Center or an apt/repository problem. Run `sudo apt update`, then `apt list --upgradable`. If you want a safe test without changing anything, use `sudo apt upgrade --simulate`. If apt asks for sudo/YubiKey normally and only lists normal Ubuntu packages, then App Center/PackageKit is the suspicious part. If apt prints anything about unauthenticated, foreign, or held packages, paste that exact text, because then reinstalling App Center probably will not help.
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Well despite those two terminal commands yielding no result I did manage to find this error message on the upper right of my screen. I tried uploading a screen shot, but had issues with uploading it. I managed to do a image to text though as below:
An error occurred, please run Package Manager from the right-click menu or apt-get in a terminal to see what is wrong.
The error message was: ’ Unknown Error: ‘<class ‘apt_pkg.Error’>’ (E:can not open /var/ lib/apt/lists/
us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_resolute- updates_InRelease - fopen (13: Permission denied), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.)'. This usually means that your installed packages have unmet dependencies
What about the third one?
sudo apt upgrade --simulate
(You should make this full-upgrade instead though)
It will do exactly what it would do in reality but run in simulation mode so it doesn’t actually make any changes but you can check the full process
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Did the full-upgrade command you mentioned. Heres the results.
Command Results
sega-zero@sega-zero-N172L:~$ sudo apt full-upgrade --simulate
Get more security updates through Ubuntu Pro with ‘esm-apps’ enabled:
libavdevice62 ffmpeg libopenexr-3-1-30 libavcodec62 libavcodec62
libavfilter11 libavutil60 libavutil60 libswscale9 libswresample6
libswresample6 libavformat62
Learn more about Ubuntu Pro at Ubuntu Pro | Ubuntu
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
sega-zero@sega-zero-N172L:~$