How To Install Nmap on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Nmap on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Nmap (an acronym of Network Mapper) is a free, open-source tool network administrators use to scan for vulnerabilities within their network and network discovery. It supports ping scanning (determine which hosts are up), many port scanning techniques, version detection (determine service protocols and application versions listening behind ports), and TCP/IP fingerprinting (remote host OS or device identification).

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 Nmap free security scanner on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Nmap on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install wget apt-transport-https gnupg2

Step 2. Installing Nmap on Ubuntu 22.04.

By default, the Nmap is available on Ubuntu 22.04 base repository. Now run the following command below to install the latest version of Nmap to your Ubuntu system:

sudo apt install nmap

Confirm the installation and check the installed build version of Nmap:

nmap --version

Step 3. How to Use Nmap on Ubuntu 22.04.

For a full list of options visit the Nmap official page or access the manual from your command line:

man nmap

For example, use the Nmap command to scan for open ports:

nmap 192.168.77.22

Moreover, use the following command to bring up the list of commands and optional flags that can be used with your scans:

nmap --help

Step 4. Troubleshooting Nmap Installation.

If you have any trouble with installing Nmap on your Ubuntu system, here are a few solutions that might help:

1. Check your internet connection: In case the installation fails, it might be due to poor internet connectivity. Ensure that your internet connection is stable and strong before attempting the installation again.
2. Update your system: Make sure that your Ubuntu system has the latest software updates installed. To do this, simply run the following command in your terminal:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   

   This will update your system’s package lists, upgrade any installed packages to their latest versions, and install any new dependencies needed for Nmap.

3. Verify the installation package: Double-check the Nmap installation package you downloaded. Ensure that it’s the correct package for your Ubuntu release and architecture.
4. Try an alternative installation method: If the above methods fail, try using an alternative method to install Nmap. For example, you can try using the “Snap” package manager to install Nmap. Simply run the following command in your terminal:

   sudo snap install nmap
   

   Alternatively, you can also install Nmap manually from the source code. This is generally more complicated than using the package manager, but it gives you more flexibility in customizing the installation. You can find the source code and installation instructions on the Nmap website.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Nmap. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Nmap open-source software for network discovery and security auditing on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Nmap website.