Install an Application correctly

Support and Help
,
1

Ubuntu Version:
25.10 latest

Desktop Environment :
Ubuntu desktop

Problem Description:
I have created a new user ….my wife and prepared her desk top which she is itching to learn. I do however have one question that is a minor problem.

I have to install on her “side / local user” the following Desktop Application “IBKR Trading Desk” which is for Linux. ntws-latest-standalone-linux-x64.sh

Does her “local” account need to have install permission? If this is the case how do I activate for this occasion.?

I downloaded package to the general location designated “Download folder” I have tried to install via Terminal but all her Terminal shows is sw ~/Downloads (cd~/Downloads as shown on IBKR instructions.)

This is what is shown on IBKR website for Linux instructions.

a.) Go to the directory where the installer was downloaded: cd , for example cd ~/Downloads.

b.) Make the installer executable: chmod u+x , for example chmod u+x tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh

c.) Run the installer to start the wizard: ./, for example ./tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh

How do I install the correct way ? …..

What is the process and method? ……

What am I doing wrong? ….

The programme only needs to be on her user account and not on my Admin account.

Many thanks in advance,

Relevant System Information:
Standard full Ubuntu install….Own dedicated Samsung EVO SSD (no dual boot from shared Windows OS drive)

1 Like
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Are you saying you cannot find tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh?

Where did you download it? Have you checked your own /Downloads folder? If you downloaded this file when you were logged in as user it would download to your download folder unless you directed the web browser to download it to somewhere else.

When your wife logs in to her account she will be able to download files. But she will not be able to install applications or run files like this one because she does not have the authority you have.

I suggest two things. 1) the file should be in your wife’s Home folder in her Downloads folder or a folder created just to hold that file and into which you want the application to be installed in. 2) Your wife logs in but you run the tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh file and you enter your password when the system asks for authentication.

Regards

3

Hi, graymech thanks for assistance, apprciated.

Are you saying you cannot find tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh? No, we have it.

Where did you download it? Direct from IBKR download OS system site. LInux version

Have you checked your own /Downloads folder? Yes and it is not in there as I did not download it to my account as I will not be using it. I downloaded it whilst in her Local account when logged in and there it is.

If you downloaded this file when you were logged in as user it would download to your download folder unless you directed the web browser to download it to somewhere else. No I downloaded it from IBKR website whilst in my wifes Local account into Downloads folder and there it resides.

I suggest two things. 1) the file should be in your wife’s Home folder in her Downloads folder . It is.

A folder created just to hold that file and into which you want the application to be installed in. That means I am just creating another folder.

2) Your wife logs in but you run the tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh file . OK ….how.b.) Make the installer executable: chmod u+x , for example chmod u+x tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh

.) Run the installer to start the wizard: ./, for example ./tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh How?

and you enter your password when the system asks for authentication. No issue done many times already.

How do I install the correct way ? ….

What is the process and method? ……

What am I doing wrong? ….

The programme only needs to be on her user account and not on my Admin account. Thanks so far.

4

I’ll try to use code blocks so it’s easier for you to understand what to do and how.

a.) Go to the directory where the installer was downloaded:

cd ~/Downloads

b.) Make the installer executable:

chmod u+x tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh

c.) Run the installer to start the wizard:

./tws-latest-standalone-linux-x86.sh

Does that help?

1 Like
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Just out of curiosity I downloaded and installed the program … It’s very simple actually.

cd ~/Downloads                                   # go to the directory
chmod u+x ntws-latest-standalone-linux-x64.sh    # make the file executable
./ntws-latest-standalone-linux-x64.sh            # run it

(do not type in the ‘#’ or anything after it, those are comments meant for you, not for your computer …)

The installer downloads a specific Java Runtime it needs and then starts an ‘install4j’ wizard.
At this point it complained about ‘libxcb-cursor’ not being installed and aborted. I ran ‘sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0’ (and entered my password) to install that missing library. If your wife’s account isn’t allowed to run ‘sudo’ you might have to log out at this point and login in with your administrator account. Might not happen on your machine, but if it does, that’s how to fix it. I than re-ran the installer.
It asked where to install to (defaulting to a directory named ntws inside my home directory) and proceeded
to put everything there. It even installed a desktop icon (probably not all that useful on mainline Ubuntu, but
I’m running XUbuntu and the XFCE Desktop environment works just fine with icons on the desktop) and
a .desktop file in ‘~/.local/share/applications/’ so it would come up in the application overview in Gnome.

2 Likes
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I was successful in getting further than before and got to the point where the install window was open and allowed me to install the IBKR Trading Desk. However when opening / launching I get the IBKR loading window and then it just snaps back shut / closes and that’s it. It’s there but wont open.

So I am now ….ALMOST….there.

I will be emailing IBKR to ask for assistance to get their take on situation………UNLESS this wonderful UBUNTU community has the solution.

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Do not use sudo but run the script as the user that is supposed to later run the application, the script is clearly designed for exactly that purpose if you look inside and read what it does …

It will install its own copy of the Java runtime in the application directory, then install the executable .jar file and run the installer from this to put the application in place. If you do this with sudo, all permissions will be wrong and the application will not be able to run completely.

Clean up the directory the installer created and re-run the commands from the website by the letter (note that spaces and capitalisation matter on Linux so make sure what you have in the terminal matches exactly what’s on the website). That way all directories and files it creates will be owned by the user and should be runnable later on.

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Thankfully I didn’t use sudo. I just followed the instructions to the letter and when entering commands double checked the input. As said, it all seemed to have worked and then did get my IBKR window with the IBKR logo running and the dialogue say it was loading the application,…..and then just stopped and closed.

I know that at some point it will work which is what gives me hope….Thanks

Do you think one should install the full Java package to cover all angles?…Further on after more research. I found…

Method A: Apt Installation for Ubuntu 25.04 and 25.10#

This method works exclusively on Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) and Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka). These are the only versions with officially documented OpenJDK 25 packages.

Skip this section if running Ubuntu 24.04 or earlier.

Install the Java Development Kit

The JDK includes the compiler, debugger, and all development tools:

sudo apt install openjdk-25-jdk

The package manager displays download size and disk space requirements. Press Y and Enter to confirm.

Install Only the Runtime Environment

For production systems running Java applications without development needs:

sudo apt install openjdk-25-jre

The JRE is smaller and excludes development tools, making it suitable forproduction deployments.

Verify Installation

Check Java runtime version:

java -version

For JDK installations, verify the compiler:

javac -version

Both commands should display Java 25 version information.

I found this above on

https://virtarix.com/blog/technical-guide/install-java-25-on-ubuntu-using-apt-get/

Would it do any harm just to install “The Run Time Environment 25-jre and see if the IBKR Linux application runs. I may be wrong but it may be that the current IBKR Linux distribution works happily in the v24.+ LTS of ubuntu but needs the new version of Java updated to reflect 25.10 Ubuntu (Questing Quokka).

Thanks

1 Like
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I may be wrong but it may be that the current IBKR Linux distribution works happily in the v24.+ LTS of ubuntu but needs the new version of Java updated to reflect 25.10 Ubuntu (Questing Quokka).

Good guess! I don’t think your Java version needs to be any newer but I could be wrong too. Have a look at okoyl’s notes on running that software on Linux [1]. This is more of an IBKR issue and less of an Ubuntu-based issue, so you could also contact their support [2] along with solving the issue with us.

Good luck and let us know if you run into more troubles past Java that we could help you with!

1: GitHub - Okoyl/ibkr-desktop-linux: Run IBKR Desktop reliably on Linux by replacing the bundled 32-bit JVM with a modern 64-bit JVM under Wine. Improves stability, performance, and allows custom JVM tuning. · GitHub

2: https://brokerage.ibkr.com/en/support/individuals.php

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It surely will not do any harm (the jre is a fully supported Ubuntu package), but I’d expect that your app is designed in a way that it will always try to use the jre it installed itself anyway, so you are likely just wasting disk space by installing the jre from the archive…

Did you get any error message in the terminal window where you ran the installer after the window closed ?

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The program installs its own JRE into a subdirectory of ~/.local/share/i4j_jres/. Unless you set some options in the starter script (the file ‘ntws’ in the directory you installed the program into) it will use that and any other JRE on your system will be completely disregarded.

Try running the program from the command line. That will give it a place to show various warnings and error messages which would get hidden if you start the program graphically. To do that, change to the directory where you installed the program and then enter ./ntws