Proxmox Virtual Environment provides a complete open-source platform for enterprise virtualization. Its built-in web interface enables you to manage VMs and containers, configure software-defined storage and networking, set up high-availability clustering, and use multiple out-of-the-box tools all in a single solution. In this guide, we shall discuss the steps to resolve the Update Package Database failure on Proxmox VE. Please, see Remote Desktop Connection behaviour over UDP and TCP, and Guide to Remote Desktop Connection Properties for Secure Access.
The following error occurs because Proxmox attempts to access enterprise repositories without a valid subscription, resulting in a “401 Unauthorised” response.
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Reason for error “Enterprise repositories require valid subscription”
You’re seeing the 401 Unauthorized error because Proxmox is trying to access the Enterprise repositories, which require a valid subscription. If you’re using Proxmox without a subscription, you need to disable the enterprise repositories and enable the no-subscription repository instead.
Therefore, when you run the command below to update the package database. You will get the following error.
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Switch to the No-Subscription Repositories
You can either do this from the Proxmox GUI or the Terminal. Below are the two repositories I wish to disable, as I will not be subscribing to them for my lab.
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Disable Enterprise Repositories on Proxmox
Edit the Proxmox repository file with the command below
nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list
Comment out the line by adding a # at the beginning. Next, save and exit “Ctrl+O” and hit the Enter button on your keyboard.
As you can see, the line has been saved successfully.
Since I am not using a licensed version of Ceph, I can also disable it by uncommenting the enterprise Ceph line as shown below.
nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list
Do not forget to save before quitting. But this time, I will show you how to do this over the Proxmox console.
As you can see below, both enterprise repos have been disabled.
Also, you will see that there is no Proxmox VE repository enabled. We have to fix this by adding a no-subscription repository.
Enable No-Subscription Repo to fix update package database
From the Data Centre, select your PVE node and then click on Repositories under “updates”. Under the API Repositories, click on Add.
When the No valid subscription is prompted, click on OK.
From the drop-down, select “No-subscription”.
Click on Add as shown below
As you can see below, we have successfully added an APT Repository to Proxmox.
Alternatively, if you would like to do this over the terminal, create or edit the following file below
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line if not present already. Please, do not forget to save and exit.
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription
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Initiate the Package Update and Upgrade
To do this, run the command below from the Proxmox Shell or Terminal
apt update && apt full-upgrade -y
As you can see below, the updates && upgrade have been applied and there is nothing to do anymore.
If you have updated to Proxmox VE 9.0 now Supported by Veeam, it should look like the below. Do not forget to disable the enterprise repository.
I hope you found this article on how to resolve the Update Package Database failure on Proxmox VE very useful. Please, feel free to leave a comment below.
