Chrome is a web browser from Google. It is based on an open-source Chromium Browser, but, Chrome itself is not open source. Google adds many propriety features and releases it as a free browser that you can download and install on Windows, macOS, and Linux Operating systems.
This fast, secure browser has lots of features. Some of those are listed below.
- Free, Fast, Smarter, and Secure
- Simple, Minimal, and Elegant interface.
- Extensions and Theme Support
- Tabbed Browsing
- Pop-Up Blocking
- Bookmarks Sync
Watch on Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJFi4dJNKQU
Method 1 – Install Chrome on Ubuntu from Terminal
Login to the Ubuntu system and open the terminal and run the below commands in sequence to complete the installation.
1. First, download the Chrome .deb package from the official Google distribution site using wget command
wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
2. Next, run the apt install or dpkg -i command.
sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
or
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
3. Launch the chrome browser using the command,
google-chrome
That’s it.
Note – Chrome gets installed under /opt directory.
Method 2- Install Chrome using Software Center ( Graphical Method)
This is a graphical installation method and is good for beginners. In summary, simply download the Chrome .deb package from the official page and use the Software Install utility to install the Chrome browser.
Open the Firefox web browser and go to the Chrome home page.
Click the Download Chrome button. This opens the below page where you need to choose either the .deb or .rpm package.
Chome is available for 64-bit Linux operating systems only. The .deb installer package is for Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and other Debian-based distros while .rpm is for Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Redhat.
Choose the .deb package and click Accept and Install.
Next, you have the option to Save File or directly Open With Software Install.
Do not use the open with option. Use save the file to save the file on your local desktop computer.
Now, locate the file on a local disk. Right-click on the file and choose the option to install or use the apt command as mentioned above.
Click the Install button.
It should complete the installation within a second and you will get the confirmation message as below.
Starting Chrome
Navigate to Activities and search for Chrome as shown below. Click to launch it.
Chrome asks if you want to Make Google Chrome as the default browser and Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google when you launch it the first time.
Select/unselect as per your preference and click OK.
That’s it and you are ready to use the Chrome browser.
Updating and removing Chrome
The installer adds an official Google repository (google-chrome.list) to your system. You will find this file under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list ### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ### # You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost. deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
So you can easily update Chrome using a software update tool or by running the update and upgrade command. This updates it along with other packages if there is a newer version available.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
Use the apt purge command to remove chrome from Ubuntu.
sudo apt purge google-chrome-stable
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you to install Google Chrome on Ubuntu 20.04, and that it will serve as a great resource for other beginners who are looking to set up their own web browser!
If you have any questions or need help with your installation process, please reach out to us in the comments below.
There is a lot you can do with the Chrome browser, just visit the official Google site to learn more about it.
