{"id":3285,"date":"2019-01-06T12:41:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T07:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2026-10-03T14:22:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:52:55","slug":"how-to-install-webmin-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/how-to-install-webmin-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Install Webmin on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Post Date: <strong>January 6, 2019<\/strong> <br>Last Updated: October 03, 2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Webmin is a web-based configuration tool for Unix-like systems (Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD), letting you manage passwords, filesystems, processes, disk quotas, scheduled jobs, software packages, system logs, and more through a browser instead of the command line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One note upfront: <strong>Ubuntu 18.04 reached end of standard support in April 2023.<\/strong> The steps below still work on 18.04 if you&#8217;re maintaining an existing system, but for a new server, a current Ubuntu LTS release (22.04 or 24.04) is the better foundation \u2014 the same install process applies either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prerequisites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ubuntu (ideally a currently supported LTS release)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Root or sudo access<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Confirm your Ubuntu version:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">cat \/etc\/os-release\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Architecture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Webmin runs as its <strong>own web server<\/strong>, listening on port <strong>10000<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It reads and writes real system configuration files directly (user accounts, services, packages, etc.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You access it through a browser over HTTPS, authenticating with a system account that has sudo\/root access<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture-1024x512.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture-1024x512.png 1024w, https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture-1536x768.png 1536w, https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Webmin-on-Ubuntu-Server-Architecture.png 1774w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Install Dependencies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">sudo apt install -y perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl apt-show-versions apt-transport-https\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> The original list included <code>python<\/code>. Current Ubuntu versions (20.04+) no longer package Python 2 at all, so <code>apt install python<\/code> will fail outright on a current system. Webmin&#8217;s dependencies don&#8217;t strictly require it either way \u2014 if a specific Webmin module you use needs Python, install <code>python3<\/code> instead.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Add the Webmin Repository<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">echo \"deb https:\/\/download.webmin.com\/download\/repository sarge contrib\" | sudo tee \/etc\/apt\/sources.list.d\/webmin.list\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> <code>sarge<\/code> here is just Webmin&#8217;s long-standing, generic repository codename \u2014 it&#8217;s unrelated to any specific Debian or Ubuntu release and applies across versions. It looks unusual, but it&#8217;s correct as written.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Add Webmin&#8217;s GPG Key<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">wget https:\/\/download.webmin.com\/jcameron-key.asc\nsudo gpg --dearmor -o \/usr\/share\/keyrings\/webmin.gpg jcameron-key.asc\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> The original used <code>apt-key add<\/code>, which is deprecated and has been removed entirely on current Ubuntu versions. The current approach stores the key as a dedicated keyring file instead, referenced explicitly in the next step.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Reference the Key in Your Repository Entry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Update the repository line from Step 2 to reference the keyring explicitly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">echo \"deb [signed-by=\/usr\/share\/keyrings\/webmin.gpg] https:\/\/download.webmin.com\/download\/repository sarge contrib\" | sudo tee \/etc\/apt\/sources.list.d\/webmin.list\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Update and Install Webmin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">sudo apt update\nsudo apt install -y webmin\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Control the Webmin Service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">sudo systemctl start webmin\nsudo systemctl stop webmin\nsudo systemctl restart webmin\nsudo systemctl status webmin\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Access the Webmin Interface<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">https:\/\/your-ipaddress:10000\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> Webmin uses a self-signed certificate by default, so your browser will show a security warning on first visit \u2014 this is expected. For production use, replace it with a properly signed certificate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Log in with your root password, or any user account that can use sudo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Installing Webmin on Ubuntu comes down to adding its repository and GPG key correctly, then a standard <code>apt install<\/code>. The main things that changed since the original guide: <code>apt-key<\/code> no longer works and needs the <code>signed-by<\/code> approach instead, HTTP links should be HTTPS, and <code>python<\/code> (Python 2) is no longer installable on current Ubuntu at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Why did &#8220;apt install python&#8221; fail for me?<\/strong> Current Ubuntu versions (20.04+) don&#8217;t ship Python 2 at all \u2014 that exact package name no longer exists. Install <code>python3<\/code> instead if something specifically needs Python.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is the browser security warning on first login a problem?<\/strong> No \u2014 it&#8217;s expected, since Webmin uses a self-signed certificate by default. Replace it with a real certificate if you want to avoid the warning for a production-facing instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Can I restrict who can access Webmin?<\/strong> Yes \u2014 Webmin has its own user\/permission system separate from system accounts, and you can also restrict access at the firewall level to specific IPs if it&#8217;s only needed internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/how-to-lock-and-unlock-a-user-on-ubuntu-24-04\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Lock and Unlock a User on Ubuntu 24.04?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/blog\/installing-and-setting-up-trivy-vulnerability-scanner-on-ubuntu-debian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Installing and Setting Up Trivy Vulnerability Scanner on Ubuntu\/Debian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Talk to Our Technology Experts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking for an easier way to manage your Linux servers? Our team can help with server administration, control panel setup, and ongoing support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pheonixsolutions.com\/contact\">Connect with our technology experts.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Post Date: January 6, 2019 Last Updated: October 03, 2026 Introduction Webmin is a web-based configuration tool for Unix-like systems 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