elementary OS China Mirror Recommendations & Installation Guide: One-Click Switch to Tsinghua & USTC

Have you used elementary OS?

It’s the most macOS-like Linux distro I’ve ever seen. Clean interface, rounded icons, an overall aesthetic that’s artsy to the core. Under the hood it runs Ubuntu, so compatibility isn’t a concern.

But here’s the problem: elementary OS’s default repositories are overseas. Installing software is painfully slow. Some users complain that “downloading VSCode takes half an hour” — and it’s not an exaggeration.

Let’s fix that today: switch to domestic mirrors and make your elementary OS fly.

Why is elementary OS So Slow in China

elementary OS is based on Ubuntu, and its official software repositories point to Canonical’s overseas servers by default. Direct connections from China suffer from high latency and low bandwidth — it’s normal for apt update to take five minutes.

What’s worse is that elementary OS doesn’t have a built-in “Software Source Selector” like Ubuntu does — switching mirrors requires manually editing configuration files.

Tsinghua Mirror

Tsinghua University’s TUNA mirror provides elementary OS mirror support. Run in terminal:

sudo sed -i 's/archive.ubuntu.com/mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo sed -i 's/security.ubuntu.com/mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

Then update:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

The speed improvement is immediately noticeable.

USTC Mirror

The University of Science and Technology of China Linux User Group (USTC LUG) also maintains high-quality mirrors:

sudo sed -i 's/archive.ubuntu.com/mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo sed -i 's/security.ubuntu.com/mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

The USTC mirrors are known for timely updates and HTTPS support — recommended for long-term use.

Selection Guide

Just pick one of the three — there’s not much difference.

Final Thoughts

elementary OS is one of those distros you “can’t go back from.” But even the best system is frustrating with slow mirrors. Switching to a domestic mirror turns ten minutes into ten seconds — a no-brainer.