This article shows you how to set up and configure version 8.1 of Cisco Packet Tracer software used for Cisco exams on a Debian 11 computer.
One of the widely used Linux distributions is Debian. You can install the Cisco network simulator program on the latest version of Debian 11 Bullseye and start creating network projects.
You can download Packet Tracer software from Netacad for free and install it on your Linux system quickly.
Follow this video tutorial or the steps below to install the Cisco networking program on your Debian 11 PC.
Step 1: Open the Mozilla Firefox browser on your Debian operating system and visit www.netacad.com.
Step 2: Click on the Login option from the menu and log in by typing your account information.
Step 3: When you log in, click Download Packet Tracer in the Resources section.
Step 4: Scroll down the website and click the 64 Bit Download link under Ubuntu Desktop Version 8.1.1 English.
Step 5: Save the deb package to your computer and open the terminal.
Step 6: Go to Downloads using the cd ~/Downloads command in the terminal.
cd ~/Downloads
Step 7: Run the command sudo dpkg -i CiscoPacketTracer_811_Ubuntu_64bit.deb to install the deb package in the Downloads directory.
sudo dpkg -i CiscoPacketTracer_811_Ubuntu_64bit.deb
Step 8: If you get the error of dependent packages in the terminal, install the necessary packages using the sudo apt install -f command.
sudo apt install -f
Step 9: After installing Packet Tracer, run it with the packettracer command in the terminal.
packettracer
Step 10: Click Yes in the multi-user window when Packet Tracer opens.
Step 11: Create various projects for your Cisco exams on your Debian computer.
How to Uninstall Packet Tracer
Step 1: After backing up your network designs, run the sudo apt remove packettracer command in the terminal to remove Packet Tracer from your system.
sudo apt remove packettracer
Step 2: Run the sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove commands to clean unnecessary residual packages related to Cisco Packet Tracer from your system.
sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove
How to Install Packet Tracer 7.2.2
Step 1: After installing and running Debian, download the simulator program to design a network and develop projects on your computer.
Step 2: Copy the setup file to the desktop or any location after downloading the program.
Step 3: Open the terminal and use the chmod +x PacketTracer-7.2.2-ubuntu-setup.run command to change the permission rights of the downloaded file.
chmod +x PacketTracer-7.2.2-ubuntu-setup.run
Step 4: Run the ./PacketTracer-7.2.2-ubuntu-setup.run command in the terminal to start the installation by running the GUI wizard of Packet Tracer.
./PacketTracer-7.2.2-ubuntu-setup.run
Step 5: When Cisco Setup GUI opens, accept the license agreement, leave the installation folder as /opt/pt/, and complete the installation.
Step 6: After installing the software on your computer, run the packettracer command in the terminal to run the program.
packettracer
Step 7: If Packet Tracer does not start and does not give any errors, you need to install dependent packages on your computer. Run the following commands in the terminal to download and install the libpng package.
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/libp/libpng/libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb
Step 8: If you see a warning prompting you to install the multiarch package while installing libpng, run the following command.
sudo apt-get install multiarch-support
Step 9: After installing the Multiarch package, when you try to install libpng again, you may get an error like the one below. To solve this error, extract the libpng archive file to the folder and copy the libpng12.so.0 files to the required location.
(Reading database ... 157517 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libpng12-0:amd64 (1.2.50-2+deb8u3) ...
dpkg: error processing archive libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb (--install):
unable to install new version of '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpng12.so.0': No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb
Step 10: Run the following commands in the terminal and copy the libpng12.so.0 files to the /opt/pt/bin/ folder.
mkdir cpt; dpkg -x libpng12-0_1.2.50-2+deb8u3_amd64.deb ./cpt
cp ./cpt/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpng12.so.0 /opt/pt/bin/
Step 11: Now try to run Cisco Packet Tracer on your system. This time you will get an error like the one below.
Starting Packet Tracer 7.2.2
/usr/local/bin/packettracer: line 8: 2219 Aborted ./PacketTracer7 "$@" > /dev/null 2>&1
Step 12: In this case, you must install the libqt package for your Debian system. Install the libqt package by running the command below, and then run Packet Tracer.
sudo apt-get install libqt5webkit5
Step 13: Packet Tracer will now run without errors!
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