Can't enable Canonical Livepatch on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

After getting token from here and trying to enable livepatch:

sudo canonical-livepatch enable XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

I get the following error message:

2020/08/31 17:19:57 error executing enable: cannot enable machine: bad temporary server status 500 (URL: ) server response: machine token already exists 

How could I solve this problem and enable Canonical livepatch?

Ubuntu details:

NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION="20.04.1 LTS (Focal Fossa)" ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS" VERSION_ID="20.04" HOME_URL="" SUPPORT_URL="" BUG_REPORT_URL="" PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="" VERSION_CODENAME=focal UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal 

4 Answers

EDIT (nearly 2 years later): This is the nuclear option, though I don't know of any cases where it has caused any real issues. Please try a simple disable and re-enable first. If that fails, try the snap remove and snap install steps. If the previous two things failed to fix it, read on:

I had this same problem today and I fixed it by doing the following:

1. Disable Livepatch either through the GUI or by running canonical-livepatch disable as root
2. Uninstall Livepatch with snap remove canonical-livepatch as root (optional. Try it first without doing this)
3. Run the command rm /etc/machine-id as root to remove your current machine ID (if it says the file or directory doesn't exist, you can safely ignore it)
4. Run the command systemd-machine-id-setup as root to regenerate the ID
5. Reinstall Livepatch with snap install canonical-livepatch as root (if you removed it earlier)
6. Either grab your key from and follow the instructions there to re-enable or use the Livepatch GUI

If this works for you, please mark this answer as correct so I can get enough reputation to do stuff.

Edit: @scoobydoo had to run rm /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id in step 3.

I just did the following,.. as already had a token,.. that I had saved when 1st installed on my 18.04 m/c.

sudo canonical-livepatch disable # to remove old UUID stuff sudo canonical-livepatch enable xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

and got the following responses

Successfully disabled device. Removed machine-token: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

$ sudo canonical-livepatch enable xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Successfully enabled device. Using machine-token: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Don't regenerate your machine-id unless you absolutely have to: you might simply need to uninstall and reinstall live patch. Assuming you have already disabled it via the GUI or command line (you should be prompted for your sudo password):

snap remove canonical-livepatch snap install canonical-livepatch 

Hit your search key (Windows key on many keyboards), search for Livepatch, and now enable from the GUI again. That worked for me and I didn't need to regenerate remove and remake the machine id.

Make sure to disconnect from your VPN, if you are using one. That was causing this issue for me.