Ubuntu Linux: How do I install .deb packages?

by Vivek Gite on June 22, 2006 · 49 comments

Q. I am a new Ubuntu Linux use. I need to install a package called package.deb. I know I can use Synaptic package management to install packages from CD or Internet. But I want to install this special .deb file. So how can I install package?

A. You need to use dpkg package manager from shell/command prompt. dpkg is a tool to install, build, remove and manage packages. dpkg itself is controlled entirely via command line parameters. For example -i use to install .deb file.

How do I install .deb file?

To install package called package.deb type the following command:
Go to directory where package.deb is kept. For example if it is in /tmp directory:
$ cd /tmp
Type the following command:
$ sudo dpkg -i package.deb

Featured Articles:

Share this with other sys admins!
Facebook it - Tweet it - Print it -

{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Gams November 6, 2007

Thanks a bunch. I was searching for hours for that solution…

sudo dpkg -i package.deb

I had a directory of backed up .deb files that I had to restore.

Cheers,

Gama.

Reply

2 aby September 28, 2010

bt for installing command is sudo gainroot

Reply

3 Ahmad June 17, 2008

Thanks..been looking for it.

Reply

4 Adrian June 26, 2008

I just double clicked the .deb package and let ubuntu do it all itself. Nice one.

Reply

5 MegaS October 23, 2008

“Clicking on .deb file” is much better advice, thanks

Reply

6 Ray October 26, 2008

thank you so much. now i know “dpkg -i file.deb” alone would not work. cheers!

Reply

7 unknown October 30, 2008

for openoffcie.org 3.0 :

in the directory of DEBS:
sudo dpkg -i *deb

it will install all the packages.

thnx a bunch

Reply

8 youngdaddytc March 15, 2011

that worked, nice command. just put the package on the desktop, then run the terminal from there, worked just fine.

Reply

9 Ritz November 7, 2008

Hey thanx a ton!……………I had backed up a lot of packages, and wanted to install them all at once!………….:)

Reply

10 Eivind Trana November 10, 2008

Hi there.
Thanks for the tips ’bout .deb install.

Next (a bit out of focus, but nevertheless):
I am totally new to Ubuntu. Installed it because of a disk failure on my laptop. When wanting to install windows for boot on my spare USB-drive, Windows (bulls*%& MS) couldn’t do it (blue screen). Frustrated I booted the Ubuntu 8.0.4 CD-ROM I had downloaded a while ago. Ubuntu found the disk like nothing! Halleluya!!!
So now I am able to still use my good old laptop! And it is MUCH more faster than under Windows.
Finding a new HD to a 5 years old Dell Inspiron isn’t easy. I might as well retired my current Inspiron 500m as a kinda homebrewed webserver and buy one of those snaksy new minis, like EEEPC or Dell Inspiron Mini 9, but INCLUDED with Ubuntu of course. Good bye Windows.

BTW:I have never before found such a happy bunch of contributors/helpers/goodminded persons as I have in the Linux-world! A general thanks to all’ye for yer help during the transition.

BTW2: My first “PC” was a Metric ABC80 w/16Kb RAM (bought in 1978). OMG the world has changed since then :-)

From now on: straight into Ubuntu-heaven!
Cheers mates!

Kindly sunshine from

Mr. Eivind Trana
Old IT-guy (30 years experience) from Norway living retired cool days in Lapu-Lapu, The Philippines.

Reply

11 xenomorf March 29, 2009

wooo… thx a lot. i’ve been wondering how do i install DEB packages. i want to install this WINE packages but all i see is to connect to the internet first. But i can’t go online because i dont know how to install my wireless card. so, i juz download this DEB manually and install it.

thank you very much.

Reply

12 mugalata April 11, 2009

thanks. it’s a very useful info.

Reply

13 Leo April 16, 2009

Thanks a lot! Very useful!

Reply

14 Jordan May 15, 2009

Sometimes installing the deb file through the GUI won’t work. If you have a i386 package and you’re running amd64 you need to use dpkg like so:

“dpkg -i –force-architecture /path/to/file.deb”

Reply

15 Thana June 11, 2009

Thanks a lot!!

Reply

16 Mostafa August 24, 2009

hi,
How can i compile kernel modules (my programs).
thanks.

Reply

17 Jason September 12, 2009

Helpful thanks.

Reply

18 matias September 17, 2009

Gracias, fue de gran ayuda, estoy instalando, ya te digocomo me fue :D

Reply

19 matias September 17, 2009

ya instale el vmware, pero donde quedo la instalacion?

esto me aparece:

root@matias1:/home/matias/programas# dpkg -i vmware-player_2.5.3-185405_i386.deb
(Leyendo la base de datos …
170294 ficheros y directorios instalados actualmente.)
Preparando para reemplazar vmware-player 2.5.3-185405 (usando vmware-player_2.5.3-185405_i386.deb) …
Desempaquetando el reemplazo de vmware-player …
Configurando vmware-player (2.5.3-185405) …
root@matias1:/home/matias/programas#

pero no logro encontrar la instalacion por ningun lado :(

Reply

20 oh2fpg September 28, 2009

Thanks, It really helped me out!

Reply

21 Jeff October 5, 2009

That did the trick, thanks!
-J

Reply

22 alex December 9, 2009

mine keeps showing this and i dont know what to do

You must agree to the above LICENSE to install this software. Do you agree? (yes/[no]) yes
Unpacking replacement sn9cxxx …
WARNING: -e needs -E or -Fdpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of sn9cxxx:
sn9cxxx depends on linux-image-generic (= 2.6.20.16.28.1); however:
Version of linux-image-generic on system is 2.6.31.16.29.
dpkg: error processing sn9cxxx (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
sn9cxxx

Reply

23 Sheldon December 11, 2009

Please Help I’m new to Ubuntu and trying follow the instructions and this is what I keep getting:

sheldon@ubuntu:~$ cd /tmp
sheldon@ubuntu:/tmp$ sudo dpkg -i package.deb
tar: ./postinst: time stamp 2009-12-10 22:16:45 is 72110.366117579 s in the future
tar: ./postinst~: time stamp 2009-12-10 22:14:11 is 71956.365517782 s in the future
tar: ./control~: time stamp 2009-12-10 22:14:59 is 72004.365354354 s in the future
tar: ./control: time stamp 2009-12-10 22:15:03 is 72008.365204055 s in the future
tar: .: time stamp 2009-12-10 22:16:45 is 72110.364497541 s in the future
(Reading database … 114110 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace astronaut-wv-server-beta 0.9-2 (using package.deb) …
Unpacking replacement astronaut-wv-server-beta …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of astronaut-wv-server-beta:
astronaut-wv-server-beta depends on openssh-server; however:
Package openssh-server is not installed.
astronaut-wv-server-beta depends on xinetd; however:
Package xinetd is not installed.
astronaut-wv-server-beta depends on apache2; however:
Package apache2 is not installed.
astronaut-wv-server-beta depends on apache2-suexec; however:
Package apache2-suexec is not installed.
dpkg: error processing astronaut-wv-server-beta (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
astronaut-wv-server-beta

Please Help!

Reply

24 vinod December 12, 2009

from were i download .deb extension file

Reply

25 Vivek Gite December 13, 2009

Download it from the Internet or the official ftp / mirror site. You can also use apt-get to install packages over the Internet.

Reply

26 todd February 27, 2010

I just tried using dpkg and it did not resolve dependencies for me.

Reply

27 Michael Saunders March 22, 2010

I don’t understand why everyone is saying type this type that………..deb files only require you to double click and it will do it all by itself………oommmmmmmmmmmmm. no stress :-D

Reply

28 Guru Radha Murthy April 5, 2010

sir, thanks for your article.it is very helpful for me.

Reply

29 Ahsan Yousaf April 16, 2010

dpkg -i wvdial_1.60.1_amd64.deb execution results on ubuntu 9.10
dpkg: error processing wvdial (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for man-db …
Error were encountered while processing
Wvdial

Reply

30 Amarjeet Singh August 6, 2010

i’m trying to install “sugarcrm ” on ubuntu10.04 but it is not possible.i want to install sugarcrm on any OS so plz help me

Reply

31 jim August 13, 2010

thanks – installing ubuntu server and needed to install webmin from a .deb file!

Oh, and for all of you wondering why we don’t “double click” on the file.
Download and install ubuntu SERVER – - – - – then try to double click! It ain’t got no GUI. So learn the command line or you will be lost!

Reply

32 Michael September 9, 2010

Nice post! Short and to the point. Thank you!

Reply

33 TF hAAck October 6, 2010

Thanks a lot.

Reply

34 Noushad November 19, 2010

I want to know about downloadings and installation of images and software

Reply

35 mohamed November 20, 2010

i convert tar.gz or tar.bz2 to deb file with alien.
but after i install them, i cant find them in applications.

Reply

36 mahesh December 25, 2010

i try for installing wvdial in ubuntu 9.10.
i describe process as
1> i download all 5 packages.
2> dpkg –force-architecture -i pkg_name.deb
3> sudo apt-get install wvdial
i give some errors for /etc/apt/sources.lst for some hyperlinks.
what should ido?
i am very desperate to dial up pc with mobile.
plz help me

Reply

37 utkarsh February 20, 2011

thanks!! it really helped me!

Reply

38 Guy April 1, 2011

Hi. I am surprised that this install did not work successfully on my system (Linux Mint, though it says that it is Ubuntu 10.10 in the About Ubuntu section…).

Here is what was written in Terminal after the attempted installation:

tracey@tracey-TravelMate-5610:~$ cd /home/tracey/mysql-workbench-gpl-5.2.33b-1ubu1010-i386.deb
bash: cd: /home/tracey/mysql-workbench-gpl-5.2.33b-1ubu1010-i386.deb: Not a directory
tracey@tracey-TravelMate-5610:~$ cd /home/tracey
tracey@tracey-TravelMate-5610:~$ sudo dpkg -i mysql-workbench-gpl-5.2.33b-1ubu1010-i386.deb
[sudo] password for tracey:
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for tracey:
Selecting previously deselected package mysql-workbench-gpl.
(Reading database … 192967 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mysql-workbench-gpl (from mysql-workbench-gpl-5.2.33b-1ubu1010-i386.deb) …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-workbench-gpl:
mysql-workbench-gpl depends on libzip1 (>= 0.8); however:
Package libzip1 is not installed.
mysql-workbench-gpl depends on mysql-client; however:
Package mysql-client is not installed.
mysql-workbench-gpl depends on python-pysqlite2; however:
Package python-pysqlite2 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing mysql-workbench-gpl (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils …
Processing triggers for python-gmenu …
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache…
Processing triggers for python-support …
Errors were encountered while processing:
mysql-workbench-gpl
tracey@tracey-TravelMate-5610:~$

Any help and insight as to why there are errors would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

- Guy.

Reply

39 imran shaikh December 11, 2011

i have the same problem while installing emacs, can u help me out

Reply

40 Negi September 6, 2011

hi, I am new to ubuntu
I did what this instructions said but it didn’t work, actually nothing happened, even if I double click on it it opens the programs of ubuntu, i don’t know what to do can you tell me what is wrong or what i should do

Reply

41 Wasim September 27, 2011

i used alien to convert .rpm to .deb ..whr does .deb file get stored..i m not getting it on desktop of ubuntu as my .rpm is on desktop

Reply

42 F-3000 November 8, 2011

If you’re forced to use CLI, then there’s no way to double click. ;)

With GUI and only a couple .deb packets, it’s indeed easier to just double click.

Reply

43 Ranomez November 11, 2011

thank you, i dont have gdebi so i had no ideea what to do

Reply

44 Mahesh November 14, 2011

dpkg -i *.deb
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process

i find this error.

Reply

45 shwetank December 1, 2011

Thanks a ton :)

This was exactly what i was missing.

Reply

46 imran shaikh December 11, 2011

where can i download packages to install on ubuntu using a pendrive

Reply

47 imran December 11, 2011

i am unable to install package for emacs on ubuntu 10.04 , i have saved the package on the desktop. any one can help me out..

Reply

48 imran December 20, 2011

i installed ubuntu 8.04.4 and was unable to connect to the wireless modem so i started manually updating packages, as i needed to run emacs, so i updated packages like, emacs22_22.2-0ubuntu9_i386,
emacs22-common_22.2-0ubuntu9_all,
liblockfile1_1.08-3ubuntu1_i386,
libgif4_4.1.6-9_i386,
libssl0.9.8_0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.6_i386,
libc6_2.11.1-0ubuntu7.7_i386,
libsqlite3-0_3.6.22-1_i386,
libdb4.8_4.8.24-1ubuntu1_i386,
libreadline6_6.1-1_i386,
emacs22-bin-common_22.2-0ubuntu9_i386,
emacsen-common_1.4.19ubuntu1_all,
libasound2_1.0.22-0ubuntu7_i386,
libpython2.6_2.6.5-1ubuntu6_i386,
xaw3dg_1.5+E-17build1_i386,
python2.6_2.6.5-1ubuntu6_i386,
python2.6-minimal_2.6.5-1ubuntu6_i386,
python-central_0.6.15ubuntu1_all.
these many packages were updated manually by the command , sudo dpkg -i ./filename.
on every package it showed on the terminal ” setting” and three package dependencies are broken that are , python2.6, emacs22, libreadline6.
plz help, i am new to ubuntu

Reply

49 drainman January 2, 2012

People who receive errors, especially unresolved dependencies, may use the APT Package Manager.

If you have Ubuntu Desktop installed, you can use the Synaptic userinterface (for apt) for managing your packages. Syaptic will know all packages on the CD and may have configured additional web sources during installation. If not you can add new online sources anytime in the GUI. Synaptic will, as it uses APT, resolve all dependencies (or at least will try) during package installation.

if you want or have to use CLI and #sudo dpgk [] does not wortk, use the apt-get command (apt package manager) instead, which resolves all dependencies.

Install with APT on CLI:
A) to install known packages from known sources ;)
#sudo apt-get install [package]

If you want to install LOCAL deb packages with apt, do the following

B) define new sources and import packages
B.1) the location of the package must be included in the etc/apt/sources.list. you may change this file with an editor of your choice. If you want to add a directory, do the following:

B.1.1) put all debs in one directory, in this example /root/debs/
B.1.2) to create Packages.gz, in root type:
# dpkg-scanpackages debs /dev/null | gzip > debs/Packages.gz
B.1.3) edit sources.list adding this line:
deb file:/root debs/
B.2) you MUST use the following command after changing the sources.list, to import all new package lists from the sources:
#sudo apt-get update
B.3) now you can use A)

however, having internet connection available ist the easyest way to go.

to get the name of you package, try
#apt-cache search [expression]
that will list you all packages where [expression] was found ;)

for more Information on APT search google, or ask your WIKI.

Reply

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes for your code and commands: <strong> <em> <ol> <li> <u> <ul> <blockquote> <pre> <a href="" title="">




Previous post:

Next post: