Ubuntu Tip : Reinstall Ubuntu automatically

There is a very simple command that reinstalls all the distribution packages and reconfigures them automatically. This is particularly helpful when you have done a partial upgrade and eventually have broken the system dependencies tree.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a

since this command would take a lot of time to process (~1 hour) depending on your hardware in case you have a minor dependency problem you can fix it via

sudo apt-get install -f

Source

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7 Responses

  1. Vidyut says:

    I tried doing this, and got:
    [quote] * Disabling power management… [ OK ]
    update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/acpi-support missing LSB information
    update-rc.d: see
    * Checking battery state… [ OK ]
    acpid stop/waiting
    acpid start/running, process 2806
    update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.
    update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.
    [/quote]

    What does that mean? Am I doing something wrong? I’m a newbie, and have managed to wreck my networking and no amount of anything seems to be helping…

  2. Eric says:

    I tried: sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a

    I got:
    This is not dpkg install-info anymore, but GNU install-info
    See the man page for ginstall-info for command line arguments
    install-info: No dir file specified; try –help for more information.

  3. Mark Preston says:

    I’m soooo confused. I cut and pasted the command in a terminal. Terminal returned:

    mark@Lexington-19-karmic:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a
    [sudo] password for mark:
    This is not dpkg install-info anymore, but GNU install-info
    See the man page for ginstall-info for command line arguments
    install-info: No dir file specified; try –help for more information.

    Got a clue as to what I should do?

    Also, opening Ubuntu Geek’s page for this dpkg stuff returns a small window with a Java error. In the box it says:

    Ajax error on tpbc tracking

    netsearching “Ajac error on tpbc tracking” returns NO (I repeat NO) hits in Google. WTF?

  4. DaVince says:

    It doesn’t work for me.

    This is not dpkg install-info anymore, but GNU install-info
    See the man page for ginstall-info for command line arguments
    install-info: No dir file specified; try –help for more information.

  5. ATOzTOA says:

    I got same issue as Vidyut… fixed by installing “mozilla-plugin-gnash”

    But after sometime it says…

    “dpkg-trigger: dpkg-trigger must be called from a maintainer script (or with a –by-package option)”

    _ATOzTOA

  6. David says:

    Actually, this will not work:
    sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a

    dpkg is for package configuration, installation but not for downloading. The above line will just reconfigure all the packages with lot of default options and WITHOUT any question. In same cases it will just screw up your system. And sometimes will work properly.

    (Just append a “–reinstall” to the line of apt-get. And read the manuals!
    man dpkg
    man apt-get)

  7. mohammed says:

    i tried it says
    mohammed@mohammed:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a
    * Disabling power management… [ OK ]
    update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/acpi-support missing LSB information
    update-rc.d: see
    * Checking battery state… [ OK ]
    acpid stop/waiting
    acpid start/running, process 3112
    update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.
    update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for iceape-flashplugin.

    X( wat dose it mean i taught it would force reinstall ubuntu

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