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The Ubuntu images used on boot disks of VMs include the unattended-upgrades package that can install security updates automatically. However, unexpected updates might break running GPU workloads. For this reason, unattended upgrades are disabled by default. We recommend that you check the compatibility of new library versions on a test VM, and then apply the updates manually to all running GPU nodes. If you do need constant security updates, you can enable unattended-upgrades.

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For an existing VM

  1. Connect to the VM.
  2. Check that the updates are enabled in the configuration: 
    sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
    The following values should be equal to 1. If they are set to 0, change them to 1: 
    APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";
  3. Start the upgrade services: 
    sudo systemctl unmask apt-daily.service apt-daily-upgrade.service
sudo systemctl enable apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
sudo systemctl start apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
  4. Check the service status: 
    systemctl status apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
    Output for active updates should look like the following: 
    ● apt-daily.timer - Daily apt download activities
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily.timer; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (waiting) since Wed 2025-10-01 14:59:29 UTC; 7s ago
    Trigger: Thu 2025-10-02 04:54:23 UTC; 13h left
   Triggers: ● apt-daily.service

● apt-daily-upgrade.timer - Daily apt upgrade and clean activities
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily-upgrade.timer; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (waiting) since Wed 2025-10-01 14:59:29 UTC; 7s ago
    Trigger: Thu 2025-10-02 06:10:29 UTC; 15h left
   Triggers: ● apt-daily-upgrade.service

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During VM creation

When you create a new VM, you can enable unattended upgrades for the VM in the user data configuration.
On the VM creation page in to the User data section, enable the custom cloud-init configuration. The window below contains the code that specifies users who can connect to the VM. Add the following code to enable updates:
users:
  - name: $USER
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
    shell: /bin/bash
    ssh_authorized_keys:
      - $(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)

package_update: true
packages:
  - unattended-upgrades

write_files:
  - path: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
    permissions: '0644'
    content: |
      APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
      APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

runcmd:
  - systemctl unmask apt-daily.service apt-daily-upgrade.service
  - systemctl enable --now apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
  - systemctl restart unattended-upgrades