How to disable the Microsoft repo on the Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Source: Windows Key

A recent, silent update to the official Raspberry Pi OS that added a Microsoft repo acquired a bit of a ruckus amid the community, many of whom weren't happy about it being there or the manner in which information technology had been added. Both new images and existing installs concluded up with it, and while the official purpose is in relation to Visual Studio Code, the controversy had already set its roots.

This isn't discussing whether it's right or incorrect or whether anyone should be worried. The good news, if you're in the camp that doesn't want a Microsoft repo "phoning home" every time yous utilise apt update, the repo tin can be disabled.

Here's how.

How to disable the Microsoft repo on the Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Source: Windows Cardinal

The fact the Microsoft repo isn't shown in sources.list might pb you to think you're stuck with it. Fortunately, as long as you know where to look, you tin disable the repo and continue using Raspberry Pi OS.

The steps here were carried out on the desktop version of Raspberry Pi Bone, but yous'll also be able to comport this out if you're running a headless setup and take connected over SSH.

Open up up a terminal window.
Enter cd /etc/apt/sources.listing.d

Source: Windows Cardinal
Enter sudo ls to check for an particular called vscode.list.

Source: Windows Cardinal
Side by side, enter nano vscode.list to open the file in nano (substitute for your preferred text editor if required).

Source: Windows Central
Annotate out the last line of the text file with the Microsoft URL in it.

Source: Windows Central
Salvage the file and exit the text editor.

Raspberry Pi Source: Windows Cardinal

Now, run sudo apt update and yous should no longer see the Microsoft repo being pinged on your Raspberry Pi. If you lot plan to run Visual Studio Code on your Raspberry Pi at all, even so, you should probably leave information technology alone. Nevertheless, if you actually don't want it, you tin simply stop it from operating and be on your merry way.