Cannot Open "Software & Updates" program in Debian 11

[Deleted member 108694]

NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template for Debian/n/a

I am thinking you may have an error in your sources.list file or your os-release or your lsb_release file has an error
What is in your - /etc/apt/sources.list - file
What is in your - /lib/os-release - file

just open them in your text editor and paste back the results

Also have you tried to add a PPA that did not work?

 

[ayrton_satar]

I am thinking you may have an error in your sources.list file or your os-release or your lsb_release file has an error
What is in your - /etc/apt/sources.list - file
What is in your - /lib/os-release - file

just open them in your text editor and paste back the results

Also have you tried to add a PPA that did not work?

In my /etc/apt/sources.list - file I have:

## Debian 11 Bullseye
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bullseye-security main

In my /lib/os-release - file I have:

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

 

[ayrton_satar]

They look like they are.

However, I always recommend to begin with an image that has the proprietary firmware for some network and video cards, and preferably a live image so you can test before installing.

For those you can check here https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/

Thanks you!

 

[Brickwizard]

I am using:
Hewlett-Packard HP ProBook 450 G2

Component wise virtual identical to my Prodesk, this one runs Mint daily, but is also my main testing machine, over the last couple of years I have run over 50 different distributions, only the odd one or two have been a bit of work to set up

 

[Deleted member 108694]

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid"

Your OS release says bookworm/sid and your sources list says bullseye - bookworm/sid will be Debian 12 - based on your sources.list the OS Release should read PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)"
The sources.list needs to match the os-release - you are also missing the VERSION-ID and VERSION from your os-release file

So the whole thing should look like

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="11"
VERSION="11 (bullseye)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

Also what is the output of

lsb_release -a

once you fix the os-release file do not forget to run

sudo apt update

afterwards

 

[ayrton_satar]

Your OS release says bookworm/sid and your sources list says bullseye - bookworm/sid will be Debian 12 - based on your sources.list the OS Release should read PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)"
The sources.list needs to match the os-release - you are also missing the VERSION-ID and VERSION from your os-release file

So the whole thing should look like

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="11"
VERSION="11 (bullseye)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

Also what is the output of

lsb_release -a

once you fix the os-release file do not forget to run

sudo apt update

afterwards

the result of

lsb_release -a

is:

Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid
Release: 11-updates
Codename: n/a

How can I fix the os-release file? I have to rewrite it?

 

[Deleted member 108694]

That would be

sudo texteditor /etc/os-release

- where the word texteditor is your text editor (i.e) gedit, mousepad, xed or whichever you are using

Example: if you are using gedit as a text editior that would be

sudo gedit /etc/os-release

then just copy and paste whats in post #25 overwriting that section in the os-release file then save the file and close it - then run

sudo apt update

it should update, if there are updates then run

sudo apt upgrade -y

if it updates successfully then reboot and try to run you Software&Updates again