Google Compute Engine Ubuntu 17.04 zesty does no longer have a Release file

Question

I have just created a new Google Cloud Compute Engine server using Ubuntu 17.04 as the boot disk:

Ubuntu 17.04
amd64 zesty image built on 2017-12-08

Before doing anything else, if I try to run sudo apt-get update I receive the following errors:

Ign:1 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease
Ign:2 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates 

InRelease
Ign:3 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-backports InRelease
Ign:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security InRelease             
Err:5 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty Release        
  404  Not Found [IP: 35.195.241.40 80]
Err:6 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 35.195.241.40 80]
Err:7 http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-backports Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 35.195.241.40 80]
Err:8 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security Release               
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.161 80]
Hit:9 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease                    
Reading package lists... Done                          
E: The repository 'http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty Release' does no longer have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates Release' does no longer have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-backports Release' does no longer have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security Release' does no longer have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Looking at http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ I can see updates from today less than an hour ago.

Is this an error on Google's side or have I done something wrong?

Answer 1

I confirm that "E: The repository 'http://ru.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty Release' does no longer have a Release file."

Solved as proposed before by heroin in the recipe https://smyl.es/how-to-fix-ubuntudebian-apt-get-404-not-found-package-repository-errors-saucy-raring-quantal-oneiric-natty/ .

Run this command below on your server and it will replace all of the archive.ubuntu.com and security.ubuntu.com package repository URLs with old-releases.ubuntu.com

sudo sed -i -e 's/archive.ubuntu.com\|security.ubuntu.com/old-releases.ubuntu.com/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

Unfortunately this sed command will not work for you if you have selected a national mirror (like us.archive.ubuntu.com for updates. Then one can update strings in the file /etc/apt/sources.list changing all entries like http://*.archive.ubuntu.com and http://*.security.ubuntu.com to the http://old-releases.ubuntu.com manually in a text editor,

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

or

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

For example, your http://europe-west1.gce.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease become http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease and so on.

Here is my updated file /etc/apt/sources.list:

# deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 17.04 _Zesty Zapus_ - Release amd64 (20170412)]/ zesty main multiverse restricted universe

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty main restricted
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates main restricted
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty universe
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates universe
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty multiverse
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates multiverse
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu zesty partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu zesty partner

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security main restricted
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security main restricted
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security universe
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security multiverse
# deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security multiverse

Answer 2

The issue seems to be not with a Google's side, but with the fact that you are trying to get updates from HTTP and not HTTPS.

Try to use this option of apt-get:

--allow-unauthenticated
       Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it. This can be useful while working with local repositories, but is a huge security risk if data authenticity isn't ensured in another way by the
       user itself. The usage of the Trusted option for sources.list(5) entries should usually be preferred over this global override. Configuration Item: APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated.

Answer 3

17.04 is now end of life as of January 13, 2018. You will need to move to a newer version or use a long term stable version: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Answer 4

Zesty does no longer have a release file, indeed "END OF LIFE CYCLE "

I had the same problem, the solution is in this link, it works for me...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades

Hope my answer would help.