Hello guys, I am trying to install Surfshark but I am not sure where I am going wrong :( (using Ubuntu 22.04)

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Hello guys, I am trying to install Surfshark but I am not sure where I am going wrong (using Ubuntu 22.04)

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Its better if you pasted the TEXT and not a screen shot of text.

Then we could trouble shoot by copy/pasting the exact lines you are running.

The error message is saying you NEED TO INSTALL curl and shows two commands that will do exactyly that.

so run sudo apt install curl

THEn re-run the first command starting with curl

curl is basically a ‘file downloader’

So the reason the command is not found, is its failing to download, due to you not having the proper download tool installed.

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Extra tip: It seems surfshark supports the OPENVPN standard, so you dont need the specific surfshark tools/UI. You can use the standard openvpn tools to setup the surfshark VPN.

(i have never used surfshark, i am just reading its docs)

Anonymous · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

read… you cannot curl if you don’t have curl…also don’t randomly copy/paste stuff from the internet into your terminal if you don’t know what will happen. it looks like you copied 3 different steps of instructions and pasted into your terminal…hence the #comments…
what does it say? ‘curl’ not found, so you need to install curl…how do you install curl? with APT or snap. it tells you right there how to install curl. then run the first command. once you download the file, run the script…with “sh surfshark-install.sh”

justanotherv_1 · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

From what’s on screen it seems you’re trying to run a script trying to invoke curl, but that isn’t installed.

nmariusp · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

You use a VPN such that you can use a free wifi (e.g. from a shopping mall)?

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Thank you. I am following the instructions on Surfshark’s website found here.

I went back and install curl by typing the following commands one by one. Firstly, I typed sudo snap install curl # version 8.1.2

Then I typed in curl -f https://downloads.surfshark.com/linux/debian-install.sh --output but the Terminal said, curl: option --output: requires parameter
curl: try 'curl --help' or 'curl --manual' for more information

so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

curl: option --output: requires parameter

it wants a file name to output to.

you are not giving it a complete command.

LOOK at your own screen shot. you are cutting off part of the command you initially showed…

the part after --output

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

I am copying the command given in the link I posted. What should I be doing?

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

look again. your original screen shot post showed a file name given after the --output option.

the post you just made is missing that last option.

you are failing to give a filename to curl to save the data it’s downloading.

You are doing a rather basic typo mistake.

      curl -f https://downloads.surfshark.com/linux/debian-install.sh --output   this-is-the-file-name-you-run.sh

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Is the file name what I downloaded from the initial website?

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

it can be any name you want to use.

if you omit the --output whatever.sh totally then it uses the filename from the website

the actual name is unimportant and could be anything, you just need to remember to run the name it used.

you are telling it what filename to use when it downloads. afterwards you just run that same filename

the whole point of that command is to download the file to a given name.

if you already had downloaded the file by other means than you don’t need to redownload it.

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Hey, sorry for long wait to reply. I have tried the following command (see end of this comment) and as suggested and omitted --output surfshark-install.sh

However, it still did not download the VPN.

curl -f https://downloads.surfshark.com/linux/debian-install.sh

EDIT: after i typed in the command it replied with this though:

`

#!/bin/sh
PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin"
_ARCHS=$(dpkg --print-architecture && dpkg --print-foreign-architectures)

if ! echo "$_ARCHS" | grep -E 'arm64|amd64' 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
echo "Unsupported architecture. $( echo "$_ARCHS" | tr '\n' ' ')"
exit 1
fi

SUDO="sudo"
if [ "$(id -u)" = "0" ]; then
SUDO=
fi
sudo -k

echo "This script requires superuser access to install apt package."

set -ex

$SUDO apt-get remove -y surfshark surfshark-release || true

$SUDO tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/surfshark.asc << PGP_KEY
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

mQGNBFxSwz0BDACoAGeNYqWGXVsHsgLCBxrEb/6n7quYf1Yu3c5rqvWshEzsCf/i
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qj4kZ6DWDfj/SONmBvxaerlwnU/NNQdBOWLbmAU/UFD37faH8rUqlWv4
=bVHI
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
PGP_KEY
echo "deb https://ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch main" | $SUDO tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/surfshark.list
$SUDO apt-get update
$SUDO apt-get install -y surfshark

set +x

echo ""
echo "Surfshark was successfully installed."
echo ""

END OF SCRIP

`

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

I have just managed to install it!

I deleted every past downloaded file of Surfshark’s deb file from my drive. Then I did the following commands one by one.

curl -f https://downloads.surfshark.com/linux/debian-install.sh --output surfshark-install.sh
cat surfshark-install.sh
sh surfshark-install.sh

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

^(For anyone reading this in future, this worked for me on 17.12.2023 @ 16:22. I was using Ubuntu 22.04.1)

doc_willis · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

You can get it down to one line…

   curl -f https://downloads.surfshark.com/linux/debian-install.sh | sh

But piping a script directly from curl/wget to sh , is considered a bad security practice.

peacesalaamz · March 10, 2025, 3:31pm

Oh. I did not know to do it in one line but will definitely remember for future. Thank you once again. I truly appreciate your help in this.