How to Install Popcorn Time on Ubuntu, Mint, Kali Linux

Here’s how you can install Popcorn Time on Ubuntu, Mint, Kali Linux

There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous. Accordingly, staying in our homes as much as possible is the only safe thing to do. However, it makes sense why a lot of us would get bored, not going out.

If that’s the case with you, then perhaps you should have a look at Popcorn Time. All thanks to this application, you’ll be able to stream your favorite movies and TV shows and that too, for free. 

 

 

What makes Popcorn Time even bigger a draw is the fact that it’s not only available on Windows and macOS, but Linux-based operating systems as well. However, if you’ve only started using Linux, we’re here to help you out with installing Popcorn Time. 

Note that this is a general guide, but the steps should be similar for the Linux distribution you’re using. More specifically, you won’t have any issues installing Popcorn Time on Ubuntu, Mint, and Kali Linux if you follow all our steps carefully.

So, if we have that clear, let’s dive right in!

Step 1: Installing Dependencies.

Step 2: Downloading Popcorn Time.

Step 3: Installing Popcorn Time.

Step 4: Creating Desktop Launcher.

 

 

Head’s Up!

 

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One thing to note about Popcorn Time is that it uses torrents for showing you videos. Although the files won’t get downloaded on your computer, it still might be illegal in some regions to even stream torrents. 

So, you should only go for Popcorn Time if it’s not going to get you in legal trouble. If you’re still willing to take the risk, your best bet is to use Popcorn Time with a VPN service such as PureVPN. 

With its help, you’ll be able to browse the Internet as securely and anonymously as possible. While using Popcorn Time, there’s a good chance you won’t face any buffering issues, all thanks to the dedicated streaming servers of PureVPN. Plus, if you happen to use public Wi-Fi, this VPN service would prove to be bad news for hackers and identity thieves. 

Giving a shot to this VPN won’t cost you much either. PureVPN is currently offering a 7-day trial for only $0.99. 

Try PureVPN Now 

 

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Step 1: Installing Dependencies.

Before we get to installing Popcorn Time, the first step is to install its dependencies. If you don’t, there are chances that you will run into errors such as “Popcorn-Time: error while loading shared libraries: libgconf-2.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”.

Considering this, your best bet is to follow these steps:

1. First of all, open the Linux terminal by simultaneously pressing the Ctrl + Alt + T keys.
2. Once it opens, you can install the dependencies with the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install libcanberra-gtk-module libgconf-2-4 libatomic1

 

3. With this, the dependencies for Popcorn Time should be installed on your Linux system.
4. Some users have reported issues while installing Popcorn Time 4.4. You could avoid them by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -f install

 

 

Step 2: Downloading Popcorn Time.

Once you’re done installing dependencies for Popcorn Time, the next step is to download the software from its official website. For this, all you have to do is click on this link and download Popcorn Time for Linux.

Make sure you download the right version since the 64-bit installer won’t work on the 32-bit architecture. 

Other than that, we also recommend downloading the latest version of Popcorn Time, which is v4.4, as of this writing. Once the download completes, you can move on to the next step.

 

 

Step 3: Installing Popcorn Time.

You might have noticed that the file that you downloaded is in the tar format. Although it is possible to extract it in the folder of your choice, we recommend installing additional software in the /opt directory. 

For this tutorial, we are going to be using Ubuntu 20.04 and Popcorn Time 4.4. With that being said, the steps should not be that different regardless of whether your system is using Kali Linux, Linux Mint, or Debian. 

Apart from that, it is worth noting that we’ll be installing Popcorn Time the CLI-way. However, you need not worry since we’ll tell you all the commands you need to run to install Popcorn Time.

So, if we have that out of the way, let’s have a look at the steps:

1. Start by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + T keys to open the Linux terminal.
2. The next step is to make a new directory in the /opt folder, as we mentioned earlier. You can do so with the following command:

sudo mkdir /opt/popcorntime

 

3. Now, you have to go to the directory where you downloaded Popcorn Time. In our case, it was Downloads, so we’ll run the following command to get there:

cd ~/Downloads

 

4. Within that directory, you will have to unzip the Popcorn Time file. Now, if you’ve already read our tutorial on zipping/unzipping files in Linux, you’ll know that running the following command would do:

sudo unzip Popcorn-Time-0.4.4-linux64.zip -d /opt/popcorntime/

 

5. Lastly, if you want all users to be able to access Popcorn Time, all you have to do is run this command:

sudo ln -sf /opt/popcorntime/Popcorn-Time /usr/bin/Popcorn-Time

 

 

Step 4: Creating Desktop Launcher.

Although you can now run Popcorn Time through the Linux terminal, it’s always better to have its own desktop launcher. If you also feel the same way, then you shouldn’t skip this step.

So, you can create the desktop launcher for Popcorn Time by following these steps:

1. The first step is to open the Linux terminal by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + T keys.
2. Once it appears, you’d have to create a file with the name of ‘popcorntime.desktop’ in the location ‘/usr/share/applications’. For this, running the following command should do:

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop

 

3. With this, the nano text editor should open. Now, you need to copy/paste the following lines of code there:

[Desktop Entry]

Version = 1.0

Type = Application

Terminal = false

Name = Popcorn Time

Exec = /usr/bin/Popcorn-Time

Icon = /opt/popcorntime/popcorn.png

Categories = Application;

 

4. Then, you need to press the Ctrl + X keys to save the file.
5. The editor will ask whether you want to save the file, input ‘y’ and then hit Enter to save and exit.

 

6. Lastly, you can get the Popcorn Time icon with the help of the following command:

sudo wget -O /opt/popcorntime/popcorn.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Pctlogo.png

 

 

With this, you’ll now be able to find Popcorn Time in the Applications menu and other places. If you don’t, it means you have to run the application once through your terminal. For this, you just have to execute this line of code:

sudo Popcorn-Time

 

We hope that you’ll be able to successfully install Popcorn Time on your Linux computer with the help of this tutorial. Just make sure you read our guidelines carefully, and you shouldn’t come across any issues.

 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂