Linux Basics: How To Fix “E: /var/cache/apt/archives/ subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1″ In Ubuntu

As a university, the open source policy is what we go by to use open source software like ubuntu linux.

Any one using Ubuntu could face this problem stated below.

Today, I got a problem while updating VirtualBox to the latest version.

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/ subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

Solution:

Here is what I did to solve the problem.

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
This will almost fix the problem.

If you still end up with the same error, then try the following commands:

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
Or, you can manually download the latest version from Oracle VirtualBox site and install it as shown below.

sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-4.3_4.3.24-98716~Ubuntu~raring_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo apt-get autoremove
Cheers!