Issues with installing Prey on Ubuntu 18.04

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#1

Hello,

I’m quite newbie to Ubuntu and would like to kindly us for some help installing Prey on Ubuntu 18.04. In addition to the scenario below, I’ve tried installing via the command terminal based on instructions from forums but failed, mainly because I was only following instructions that might not even be relevant, without knowing exactly what I was doing.
Any help on this topic is much appreciated.
Thank you :slight_smile:
Hampi

Let us help you. Please tell us about…

  • Affected device (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone): Laptop
  • Operating system (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Ubuntu, Fedora): Ubuntu 18.04
  • Part of Prey not working (Prey account, mobile app, a specific action or module, reports): Installation

Could you please describe the problem?

I download the app from the download centre: Prey for Ubuntu

I run the downloaded programme (prey_1.8.1_i386.deb) and the install window pops up. When I press Install, it starts installing for a few seconds then it stops and reverts back to the initial install screen.

And finally, please attach a screenshot if available (you can drag and drop images)

DeepinScreenshot_select-area_20181101145511.png1193×846 35.7 KB

#2

Do you by chance have a 64-bit system?

If so, I had the same problem as above, but I was able to install Prey and get it working by:
(Note: 1.8.1 package does not appear to be working yet, but 1.8.0 does. See step 3)

  1. download the latest _amd64.deb package from https://github.com/prey/prey-node-client/releases

  2. open up a terminal window, and type

sudo dpkg -i ‘/home/{insert your username}/Downloads/prey_1.8.1_amd64.deb’

prey will spit out about 5000 lines of code as it gives itself the necessary permissions and installs dependencies (chowning …)

  1. for me, it didn’t open up a browser window, so I followed the recommended link, the method that worked for me was to use the last method, opening up terminal and typing:

sudo /usr/lib/prey/current/bin/prey config gui

This brought up the Prey GUI and I was able to login and have my device show up in the Prey control center.
However, I couldn’t track it, so I ended up removing version 1.8.1:

sudo apt remove prey

and downloading the 1.8.0_amd64.deb, and installing through the same process.

sudo dpkg -i ‘/home/{insert your username}/Downloads/prey_1.8.1_amd64.deb’
sudo /usr/lib/prey/current/bin/prey config gui

This worked prefectly, so it would appear that the 1.8.1 version doesn’t quite work on Ubuntu 18.04 yet.
Good luck!

#3

Hi IronEagl,

Thanks for getting back to me and for your detailed response. I do have a 64-bit system.
When I try to run the 1.8.0 version, I get this list of errors on dependencies. Would you know by any chance what would I need to do to get those issues out of the way?

Selecting previously unselected package prey.
(Reading database … 211972 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack …/Downloads/prey_1.8.0_amd64.deb …
Unpacking prey (1.8.0) …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of prey:
prey depends on python; however:
Package python is not installed.
prey depends on python-gtk2; however:
Package python-gtk2 is not installed.
prey depends on scrot; however:
Package scrot is not installed.
prey depends on streamer; however:
Package streamer is not installed.
prey depends on mpg123; however:
Package mpg123 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package prey (–install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
prey

Thank you again, for your help,

#4

Try:

sudo apt-get install python python-gtk2 scrot streamer mpg123

That should install the missing dependencies.

2 Likes
#5

That did the trick! thank you so much for your help :slight_smile:

#6

If anyone got stuck at later steps, this post really helped in finishing the device activation.

The installation did not complete in a clean manner, but Prey is still working/tracking correctly :+1: