diff --git a/lib/functions/rootfs/distro-agnostic.sh b/lib/functions/rootfs/distro-agnostic.sh
index 6f4b403dbc..39a13758d8 100644
--- a/lib/functions/rootfs/distro-agnostic.sh
+++ b/lib/functions/rootfs/distro-agnostic.sh
@@ -245,14 +245,17 @@ function install_distribution_agnostic() {
 	APT_OPTS="y" chroot_sdcard_apt_get clean
 
 	display_alert "Updating" "apt package lists"
-	APT_OPTS="y" chroot_sdcard_apt_get update
+	APT_OPTS="y" do_with_retries 3 chroot_sdcard_apt_get update
 
 	# install family packages
 	if [[ -n ${PACKAGE_LIST_FAMILY} ]]; then
 		_pkg_list=${PACKAGE_LIST_FAMILY}
 		display_alert "Installing PACKAGE_LIST_FAMILY packages" "${_pkg_list}"
+		# shellcheck disable=SC2086 # we need to expand here. retry 3 times download-only to counter apt-cacher-ng failures.
+		do_with_retries 3 chroot_sdcard_apt_get_install_download_only ${_pkg_list}
+
 		# shellcheck disable=SC2086 # we need to expand here.
-		chroot_sdcard_apt_get_install $_pkg_list
+		chroot_sdcard_apt_get_install ${_pkg_list}
 	fi
 
 	# install board packages