This tutorial explains how to install Packet Tracer 8.0.0 and previous versions on Ubuntu Linux. Learn installation steps of Packet Tracer on Ubuntu through screenshots.
Packet Tracer is a network simulator software. It allows us to simulate all essential networking devices that are tested in the CCNA exam. You can download Packet tracer from the following webpage.
Download Packet Tracer for Windows and Linux
Installing Packet Tracer 8.0.0
Download Packet Tracer 8.0.0 and open the folder that contains the downloaded file.
Double click the downloaded file. It should open the installer file in the Software Center. The Software Center is the default program of Ubuntu for software installation. From the Software Center, you can install and remove software in Ubuntu.
In some circumstances, Ubuntu may open the file in the Archive manager instead of the Software Center. If it opens the downloaded file in the Archive manager, close the Archive manager and right-click the downloaded file and click the "Open with other application" option and click the "Software install" option.
The following image shows this process.
The Software Center reads the package information from the installer file and displays that information. This information includes the application, license type, version, and file size.
Click the Install button to start the installation.
In Ubuntu, all software management-related tasks require authentication. This feature protects the system from unauthorized modifications. To authenticate the installation process, type your password and click Authenticate button when the installation process displays the authentication box.
Upon successful authentication, the installation process starts. The installation process displays the real-time progress of the installation process.
If the installation process completes without any error, the Software Center displays a message that indicates that Packet Tracer has been installed successfully.
If the installation process ends with an error, you have to install Packet Tracer from other methods. Instead of providing the exact reason that stops the installation process, the Software Center displays a generic message that indicates that the installation process fails.
The following image shows the generic error message that the Software Center displays.
Troubleshooting installation
Open the folder that contains the installation file. Right-click in the folder and click the "Open in Terminal" option.
The following image shows this process.
On the terminal, run the following command.
$sudo dpkg -i [installer file name]
Type your password when it prompts you to authenticate the installation.
The following image shows the above command.
Press the Enter key to accept the license.
Accept the terms of the end-user agreement.
Now, the command installs Packet Tracer. If the installation fails, the command displays the exact reason that stops the installation. The most common reason for failure is the dependency on packages. Packet Tracer needs several packages. If one or more packages are not installed or configured, the installation fails. For example, Packet Tracer 8.0.0 needs the following packages that are not configured by default.
libgl1-mesa-glx, libxcb-xinerama0-dev
The following image shows the error message that indicates that Packet Tracer depends on these packages but these packages are not configured on the system.
To fix the dependency error, install and configure the missing packages. To install the libgl1-mesa-glx package, use the following command.
$sudo apt-get update -y $sudo apt-get install -y libgl1-mesa-glx
The following image shows the above command with the output.
To install the libxcb-xinerama0-dev package, use the following command.
$sudo apt-get install -y libxcb-xinerama0-dev
The following image shows the output of the above command.
After installing the missing packages, install Packet Tracer again.
After the successful installation, use the following command to start Packet Tracer.
$packettracer
If Packet Tracer starts normally, it verifies that Packet Tracer has been installed successfully.
Installing a previous version
Download the version of Packet Tracer that you want to install and open the folder that contains the downloaded file. Select the downloaded file and right-click. From the right-click menu, click the Run option.
The installation process starts in a graphical wizard. The first screen of the wizard presents the welcome message. Click the Next button.
The next screen allows us to customize the installation directory of Packet Tracer. Default location is the /opt/pt. Keep the default selection and click the Next button.
If you want to install Packet Tracer in another directory, use the Browse button to navigate the file-system and select the directory that you want. If you change the installation directory, make sure you use the changed directory path in the following steps.
The next screen displays the license agreement. Select the "I accept the license" option and click the Next button.
On the next screen, the installation process displays the size of the disk space that Packet Tracer will use after the installation. Till this stage, the installation process writes nothing on the disk. So, if you want to make any change, such as changing the installation directory, use the Back button and make the necessary change.
When you are done, click the Install button.
Type your password to authenticate the installation.
The installation process usually takes less than a minute, but in some circumstances, it may take a few minutes. You can see the real-time progress of the installation.
Once the installation is complete, the wizard displays the result of the installation on the last screen. If something goes wrong during installation, the wizard displays the corresponding error message on this screen. Click the Finish button to close the wizard.
Once the installation is complete, you can start the packet tracer in two ways. To start it from the application launcher, click the Dash button. In the search box of the opened-pane, type "packet tracer". Click the Packet Tracer icon from the result.
To start Packet Tracer from a terminal, use the packettracer command.
Solving Packet Tracer startup issue
If Packet Tracer does not start from any of the above-mentioned methods, use the following steps to troubleshoot the startup issue.
Open a terminal and change the current directory to the installation directory (/opt/pt) of Packet Tracer. If the installation directory contains any post-installation script, execute that.
cd /opt/pt ls sudo chmod +x postinstall.sh sudo ./postinstall.sh
Change the current directory to the directory /opt/pt/bin and execute the launcher file of Packet Tracer directly. If Packet Tracer does not start, the reason that blocks Packet Tracer from starting will display on the terminal. The most common reason is the following.
Packet Tracer uses a library named libpng12.so.0 of Ubuntu. This library has been deprecated in Ubuntu. Since this library is no longer available in Ubuntu and Packet Tracer depends on this library, the packet tracer does not start.
The following image shows the error of the missing library.
To solve this issue, we have to install the library manually. This library is available as a package in the following repository.
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/
This is a third-party repository and by default not available in Ubuntu. To install a package from this repository, we have to add this repository to the repository source-list.
Before we add an entry of this repository in the repository source-list, let’s take the backup of the current repository source-list.
Use the following commands to take backup and open the existing source-list file for editing.
#cp /etc/apt/ sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak #nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following lines at the end of the file and save the file.
#Manually added a source for libpng12-0 package deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/ xenial main
Run the following commands to install the libpng12.so.0 library.
#apt-get update #apt-get install libpng12-0
The following image shows the above commands with output.
Now close the opened terminal and open a new terminal. In the new terminal, run the packettracer command again to verify that Packet Tracer starts normally.
That’s all for this tutorial. If you like this tutorial, please don’t forget to share it with friends through your favorite social channel.
