In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Facebook Messenger Desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, WebTorrent Desktop is a free, open-source streaming torrent application for Mac, Windows, and Linux. With WebTorrent Desktop, you can watch videos from the Internet Archive, listen to music from Creative Commons, or audiobooks from Librivox.
This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Facebook Messenger Desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus).
Prerequisites
- A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus).
- It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
- Before diving into the installation process, ensure that you have a basic understanding of Linux and feel comfortable using the terminal.
- A
non-root sudo useror access to theroot user. We recommend acting as anon-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.
Install Facebook Messenger Desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Step 1. Update System Packages.
To begin, open the terminal and run the following commands to update and upgrade your system packages. This ensures that you have the latest versions of the required dependencies:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
Keeping your system up-to-date is essential for a smooth installation process and helps prevent compatibility issues.
Next, install the gdebi package manager, which simplifies the installation of .deb packages. Run the following command:
sudo apt-get install gdebi
Step 2. Installing Facebook Messenger Desktop.
By default, Facebook Messenger is not available on Ubuntu 16.04 base repository. Now download the deb package from this page and run the following commands to install Facebook Messenger Desktop on Ubuntu systems:
wget https://github.com/aluxian/Messenger-for-Desktop/releases/download/v2.0.9/messengerfordesktop-2.0.9-linux-amd64.deb
With the .deb package downloaded, use gdebi to install Facebook Messenger Desktop:
sudo dpkg -i messengerfordesktop*.deb
gdebi will handle the installation process, resolving any dependencies automatically. If you encounter issues during installation, try running sudo apt-get install -f to fix broken dependencies.
Step 3. Accessing Facebook Messenger Desktop for Ubuntu.
Once you have successfully installed the Facebook Messenger desktop app on your Ubuntu 16.04 system, you can launch it by searching for “Facebook Messenger desktop” in your application menu. Alternatively, you can launch it from the terminal by running the following command:
messengerfordesktop
If the application opens without any issues, the installation is successful.
Step 4. Create a Desktop Shortcut.
For easier access, create a desktop shortcut for Facebook Messenger Desktop. Create a new file called messengerfordesktop.desktop in the /usr/share/applications/ directory with the following content:
[Desktop Entry] Name=Facebook Messenger Exec=messengerfordesktop Icon=messengerfordesktop Type=Application Categories=Network;Chat;
Save the file, and you should now see Facebook Messenger Desktop in your application menu.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed the Facebook Messenger App. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing Facebook Messenger Desktop on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you to check the official Facebook Messenger Desktop website.
