The most used browser in the world is Google Chrome. It’s not in the standard software repositories for Ubuntu, though, because it’s not open source. Let’s install Google Chrome on Ubuntu 22.04 and other Linux distributions.
Google’s site has official .DEB and .RPM packages that make it easy to install Chrome on Linux. All you have to do is download the package and put it in place. Only 64-bit PCs and laptops are supported, though.
The Firefox browser is already installed on Ubuntu. Firefox has changed a lot recently and is now a better choice, especially when it comes to privacy. But if you really like Google Chrome, I won’t make you give it up and switch to Firefox.
There are two ways to install Google Chrome on Ubuntu:
- Install Google Chrome via GUI
- Install Chrome via command line
1. Installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu GUI
The first method is easier we’re simply going to download and install Google Chrome on Ubuntu. If you’re new to Ubuntu and Linux, this could be overwhelming for you to follow and install the Google Chrome browser.
First, navigate to the Google Chrome download page and click on the “Download Chrome” button.
It will automatically detect and show you the relevant version, Now select “64-bit .deb” and click the “Accept and Install” button to start downloading.
After clicking on ‘Accept and Install’ it will start downloading the package.
Now, that the .deb file is downloaded installing it is super easy. Go to the Downloads folder or where you downloaded the .deb file.
Double click on the downloaded DEB file.
Ubuntu’s software center will appear and you can see the install option to install Google Chrome now. Hit the install button.
You’ll be prompted to enter your password. Enter the password and click on “Authenticate” to continue.
Now, it will start installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu, Once it’s finished Google Chrome would appear in the Search menu.
Let’s launch Chrome for the first time, A popup would appear asking to make Google Chrome your default browser and decide whether you want to send crash reports and usage stats to Google. Select your choices and click on the “Ok” button.
Finally, you have a desktop version of Chrome installed on Ubuntu now, it’s exactly like the Windows, and Mac version of Google Chrome.
2. Installing Google Chrome via Terminal
The installation process which you did in method 1 can be accomplished through the terminal as well. Many people prefer GUI and through the command line as well, you can install Google Chrome using the terminal.
To install Google Chrome through the command line it only takes a few commands, we’re gonna download the Chrome .deb file using wget.
wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
Now, that you have downloaded the Google Chrome DEB file you can use dpkg to install it.
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
OR
sudo apt install google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
How to Remove Google Chrome in Ubuntu
If you want to remove or uninstall Google Chrome from Ubuntu you can just simply type the following command to completely remove Google Chrome.
sudo apt remove --autoremove google-chrome-stable
With the installation, it adds a Google repository to the system which you can remove from the ‘Software & Updates’ settings.
To remove the repository go to the “Other Software” tab and remove it.
And you’re done!
