League of Legends is one of the most popular online multiplayer games, with hundreds of millions of players. Officially, the game can only be installed on Windows and Mac OS X. In this guide, we will see how to install League of Legends on Linux Mint or Ubuntu, using Wine.
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We have prepared this guide on Linux Mint 17.2 and Ubuntu 15.04. It should work to install League of Legends on recent older and future versions of those distributions, as well as distributions based on Ubuntu/Debian.
Install Wine
Wine is a compatibility layer, which allows applications written for Windows to be installed and run on Linux.
To get the latest Wine, we will first need to add the Wine repository. We just open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T and type:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa -y
After the repository is successfully added, we run an update.
sudo apt-get update
After the update, we install Wine with:
sudo apt-get install wine1.7 -y
Install PlayOnLinux
PlayOnLinux is a graphical front-end for Wine, that automates its configuration for a multitude of games and other programs. As luck would have it, PlayOnLinux and has a specific configuration to install League of Legends.
Before we install PlayOnLinux, on Linux Mint we need to install xterm with:
sudo apt-get install xterm -y
On Ubuntu, we need to install the mesa-utils package.
sudo apt-get install mesa-utils -y
After that, we download PlayOnLinux, selecting the Ubuntu version, which will also work for Linux Mint. We just click on the .deb file.
We can select to run the .deb file immediately with GDebi on Linux Mint or the Ubuntu Software Center.
The system will inform us that an older version is available on the software channel, but having the latest version can help with potential incompatibilities.
After we close that message, we install the package.
Once PlayOnLinux is installed, we close both windows.
On Ubuntu, we will find PlayOnLinux on the Dash - remember to search it as a single word. On Linux Mint, we will find it on Games -> PlayOnLinux.
How to install League of Legends on Linux Mint or Ubuntu
The first time we run PlayOnLinux, it will ask us if we want to share anonymous statistics with the PlayOnLinux team. The answer is up to you.
Inside the program, we click the Install button.
We might have to wait for a couple of minutes while PlayOnLinux synchronizes its database.
After that, we just search for League of Legends and either double-click it or click on the Install button.
PlayOnLinux will inform us that League of Legends for Linux is currently in testing, and it might not work seamlessly. Also, it warns us that sometimes the LoL update stalls, in which case we must close it and restart it.
Before we begin to install League of Legends, PlayOnLinux warns us to leave the default installation directory unchanged and not to let the installer automatically launch the program.
After that, we first go through a preliminary installation Wizard.
We select for PlayOnLinux to download League of Legends for us.
We pick the appropriate installer for our region.
If this is the first time we use Wine, we will have to install Mono. Mono is used for compatibility with .NET applications.
We might also have to install the Microsoft fonts.
We are now ready to install League of Legends using the official installer.
Just remember at the end of the installation to uncheck the "Launch League of Legends" before you click on Finish.
Finally, PlayOnLinux will warn us about a potential issue with connectivity, and this URL to the League of Legends forums, where it is addressed.
Patience is a virtue
So, after we install League of Legends, we just double-click on the desktop icon, and we can immediately play.
After about three gigabytes of updates are downloaded and installed, of course.
Even on a decent PC, this procedure can take a long time. If it gets stuck, just right-click and close the LoL Patcher.
We might get an Error Report message. We can just ignore it and close it too.
We just need to start League of Legends again. The Patcher will compare the downloaded files with the originals on the internet, and resume the downloading.
Sooner or later, the update will be completed, and we can Launch the game.
From here on, everything works exactly as it would work on Windows.
Did you have any trouble to install League of Legends?
If anything on the guide didn't work as described, and you weren't able to install League of Legends on Linux Mint or Ubuntu, leave us a comment.
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mat says
when i try to enter in game it s close and say to me i don t have installed directx . What can i do?
Łukasz Łukomski says
Hey,
I tried reinstalling a few times (three times on Ubuntu, twice on Mint), but it keeps crashing - at 43% of updating (which take long time, no idea why) it comunicate that BugSplatRC resource dll not found and then bam - crash. After restarting it downloading whole patch again, and same situation happens. Any idea what can i do to run this game?
Andy Smith says
I'm getting the same issue... :(
Anonymous says
Very slow and repetitive process, but it was worth it :)
Glenn says
This is how I installed LOL on Ubuntu 16.04 after it kept closing nearly immediately after hitting run --> http://droidhound.altervista.org/instalare-league-of-legends-in-ubuntu-16-04-xenial-xerus/
ncik says
it wont even open the launcher without crashing
Courd says
I have the same issue, did you ever get it going? once i launch league, it just sits and does nothing but give me a bugsplat every 8 seconds.
Angelos Kyritsis says
Since the installation was unofficial from the beginning, it is very probable that something has changed since the date of post.
I will look into it in the future, and update the guide accordingly.
I've got the same problem. I think is that because of yesterday patch, but dont know what to do. Would be really nice if some1 could help us.
Hello Dude. Did you solve the problem?
same problem :/ did you resolved it ?
I got past this issue following this guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/4bxpok/144_fps_league_on_linux_2016_how_to/?st=ivo4x44j&sh=00d12db5
Specifically Step 4 which has you change the wine environment.
When I launch PlayOnLinux and click for League of Legends to install, it comes up with a window and a loading icon, the icon just stays there and loads forever and I can't get to the installing part.
Since the installation was unofficial from the beginning, it is very probable that something has changed since the date of post.
I will look into it in the future, and update the guide accordingly.
whenever i launch it, it gives me a bugsplat every 8 seconds ):
Hey Koulatko, did you end up figuring out how to get this to work?
everything done properly, but when I push play and should gone to login window it just closes, any idea why? or mb someone has that issue solved?
Configure League in the POL client to open in an emulated desktop, this will allow it to work.