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TeamViewer (Classic) and TeamViewer Host TAR packages for Linux serve two different purposes:

  • run TeamViewer without installing it
  • install TeamViewer on systems where the native package format is not DEB or RPM

In both cases, you have to make sure that all dependencies are installed. For your convenience, the TAR package provides a script to identify missing dependencies.

cd /path-to-extracted-TAR/teamviewer/
./tv-setup checklibs

If all checks are successful, you can continue to install TeamViewer or run it without installation.

This article applies to users using the TAR package of Linux.

Run without installation

If all dependencies are satisfied, you can just run

./teamviewer

in the directory where you extracted the TAR package. Of course, you can also just click on it in a file browser.

TeamViewer will not create or change files outside the directory where you extracted it. If you remove that directory, no traces are left.

📌Notes:

  • Always run TeamViewer inside of your desktop environment (e.g. Gnome, KDE) or it will not find a display to show the TeamViewer window.
  •  Always run it with the current user. In other words, do not invoke it with sudo or as root. It will not work and might change file permissions. If you did, you can fix it by extracting a new, pristine copy from the TAR file.
  •  Running without installation is not available for TeamViewer Host, as it is meant to provide unattended access and therefore needs to run in the background at all time.

Installing the TAR package

If all dependencies are satisfied, you can just run

./tv-setup install

in the directory where you extracted the TAR package. It copies the files and asks you for permission to install the background deamon and to create menu entries.

📌Note: Installing the package requires root permissions.

A few more helpful commands are available for the installer:

./tv-setup                # explain all options
./tv-setup install force  # don't ask anything
./tv-setup uninstall      # remove package

 After installation, the background daemon should be running. (Check with teamviewer ps or teamviewer daemon status). You can toggle it on and off at any time. For details, see teamviewer help. TeamViewer can also be removed with teamviewer uninstall.