Friday, August 25, 2017

Unable To Locate Package Skype and None Responsive Install button Errors While Installing Skype On Ubuntu

This is an error message that occurs many times while trying to install Skype on Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS by using the terminal interface.
This post has been updated and the link to skype for linux can be found at Skype for linux so, I suggest you try this first before you continue trying to fix this error with the solutions provided below.

Link to official skype for linux Skype

unable to locate package skype
Un-clickable Install button for skype

This error can be unclear and many of the solutions you will see online point to the same method which at times is what results in this particular error message. I will list out some possible routes to solve this error during installation.

Installing Skype alternatively From the website: 



Running the commands on the terminal:
Open the terminal and type in the following commands:
  • sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ $(lsb_release -sc) partner"
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get install skype
Installing a 32 bit version of Skype:
For 11.10 and above
Starting in Ubuntu 11.10 multi-arch is used for applications that formerly used ia32-libs. Here is the official work around for Skype on AMD64.
Skype is a 32 bit binary and under Ubuntu 11.10 you must install the 32 bit version of Skype for both Ubuntu 11.10 i386 and amd64 versions.
You can get this from the Ubuntu Partner Repository.
  • To get it from the partner repository first enable it in your software sources, and then get it from the Software Center:
  • Click the ubuntu button, then search for "Software Sources", click on it, and go to the "Other Software Tab":

The UI way

The Command line way
  • Open the sources.list file: gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list (or with the command line editor of your choice, sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list would use nano on the command line without a GUI)
  • Add the partner repositories by removing the # in front of the following lines (maverick is the version of your Ubuntu installation, it may differ, so use the codename of the release you are using instead of 'maverick'. If you're not sure run lsb_release -c to find out.)
         # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner
         # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner


When you click close run the software center, and search for Skype.


If skype still does not appear in software-center, then close the application.
In a terminal type:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get --reinstall install software-center

This will force the package management to be updated, followed by the software-catalog for software-center.

To install the Skype for Linux application (v5 Beta):

Note: The legacy Skype for Linux application (v4.*) is now discontinued and was removed from Canonical’s partner repositories1, so most of the answers here are obsolete.

All Ubuntu releases as of July 2017

  1. Download the Deb package for Skype for Linux with your favourite web browser or HTTP client. 
    • For a terminal-based solution use:
      • wget https://repo.skype.com/latest/skypeforlinux-64.deb
  2. Install the Deb package with your favourite package manager, e. g. Software Center or GDebi.
    • For a terminal-based solution or to debug the package installation use:
      • sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb
      • sudo apt install -f
  3. You’re done! When you installed the package it automatically added a repository […] to keep your installation of Skype up to date via Ubuntu's package update process.
  4. Sometimes like in my case after all this the Skype does not still get installed and so you might have to return to the downloaded "Deb package for Skype for Linux" and re-lunch it. This time on clicking of the install button a password prompt will be shown to the user and on entering the password, skype will be successfully installed.

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