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I'm using the Raspberry Pi Imager tool to flash Ubuntu Server 20.04.1 LTS ARM 64-bit onto a microSD card. Then, I take that microSD card and insert it into a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. After that, the unattended-upgrades agent takes quite some time to download and install all of the updates (30+ minutes).

I would like to speed this process up by applying the latest package updates to the microSD card, on my Windows 10 computer, before moving the SD card to the Raspberry Pi.

Question: Is there a way to apply updates offline to Ubuntu Server on a microSD card?

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  • If this was possible, wouldn't it just move the "time" from the Raspberry pi to the Windows box? Are you doing this for just one raspberry pi or many? I would assume one, because I would think you would have just got one established and made copies of it as needed? Not to say that I dont feel the pain, when there is a power outage, I go through the same thing... that's why i store a backup image of my pi's card after it's established.
    – WU-TANG
    Nov 2, 2020 at 1:09
  • @WU-TANG My desktop computer is a 12-core x86 system, whereas the Raspberry Pi has a low-power 4-core ARM CPU. If such a mechanism existed, I'm sure it would be faster on my desktop computer instead of the Raspberry Pi. Good idea to store a backup image, but that doesn't really answer the question. Nov 2, 2020 at 1:34
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    I gave up on this endeavor when I realized the work was going to harder than the problem; So i never did the experiments... but you could take a copy of the image and mount it in a virtual, probably via mount/bind/chroot and try to install your packages, then convert it back into an image. There seems to be a couple of good answers to this very question provided on this raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=207403 ... They all seem like they would take 30+ mins, even routinely, hence my reason for asking is it just a one time deal.
    – WU-TANG
    Nov 2, 2020 at 3:20

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