[Solve] W: GPG error: The following signatures couldn’t be verified in Ubuntu

Ubuntu and update errors are inseparable. Every now and then I encounter errors while updating the system after adding a new source. The other day I was trying to install Mate desktop environment when I got this GPG error while updating the system:

W: GPG error: http://repo.mate-desktop.org saucy InRelease: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 68980A0EA10B4DE8

It is quite evident from the error message itself that the said public key was not found in the system. In this quick post I’ll show you how to fix this W: GPG error: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO error.

Fix GPG error: The following signatures couldn’t be verified

What we need to do is to fetch this public key in the system. Get the key number from the message. In the above message, the key is 68980A0EA10B4DE8. Now use that key in the following command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 68980A0EA10B4DE8

This will add the key to the system. Just do an sudo apt-get update and you should not see this error any more. I hope this solved the problem for you. As I said, Ubuntu and update errors are inseparable. Here are some of the most common Ubuntu update errors:

• The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG
• Problem with MergeList
• Partial upgrade error
• Failed to download repository information. Check your internet connection.