Saturday 18 July 2015

How to run any Version of Internet Download Manager in Ubuntu/Linux with full Firefox Integration.

Ask anybody "Which is the best Download Manager ?". Ninty percent of the time you will get same answer "Internet Download Manager". With it's simple design yet powerful features, IDM is best download manager for sure. I'm gonna show you how to use latest version of IDM in any linux OS, yes you heard it right "latest version of IDM". Till wine 1.7.4x, it only supported an older version of IDM which was IDM 5.05. It was functional but shitty version when we look at newer versions of IDM with added new features. So just follow this step by step guide to get your IDM working.

So I have divided this Post in 3 parts:
  • Installing "Internet Download Manager"
  • Integrating IDM with Firefox.
  • Make IDM look Good.

Installing "Internet Download Manager"
As you know IDM is a window's application. So to run IDM on linux we need something that supports Windows apps in linux. Wine (Wine is not an emulator) is a free and open source compatibility layer software application that aims to allow applications designed for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems.

To install wine run following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa    
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install wine1.7 winetricks

Note:- Make sure the Wine version installed is atleast 1.7.44. Because the older version of wine even 1.7.43 may not support latest version of IDM.
 
After you are finished with installing wine, you need to install IDM. Get latest version of IDM from internetdownloadmanager.com
 
Open the downloaded setup file with "Wine Windows Program Loader" and follow instructions. after installing IDM it will look as shown in screenshot below:




Alrighty you have installed IDM but it doesn't look good. does it??. Don't worry we will handle this look thing just after we will be done with Firefox integration Part.

Integrating IDM with Firefox Web Browser.
Downloader's integration with Web Browsers is a must thing. Copying links from Browsers and pasting them in Download Managers would be a stupid thing to do. So let us integrate IDM with Mozilla Firefox.  

To integrate with Firefox we need an Extension named "Flashgot". Flashgot is an Extension that allows you to download all links with your favourite Downloader with a single click. To install Flashgot goto Tools>Add-ons and type "flashgot" in searchbox and install FlashGot Mass Downloader x.x.x.xx.
Next thing we need to do is to enable Wine Apps for FlashGot in order to use IDM. To do this type "about:config" in Firefox address bar and search for "wine". Now Toggle the value of Flashgot.useWine to true.

Now goto Extentions and edit flashgot preferences. Under General Tab In Download Manager select "Internet Download Manager" and under Download tap Select "Intercept all Downloads". Click OK.

Congratulations you have completed the IDM installation with full firefox integration.

Make IDM look Good and Verifying IDM Setup:-
This part is pretty easy. Just follow some simple steps:
  • Download Luna theme for wine and extract the downloaded file. (if this file is downloaded with IDM then our configuration is done properly and IDM Setup is also verified).
  • Open "Configure Wine" from launcher . Go to "Desktop Integration" tab and hit install button and select your theme with ".msstyles" extension.
  • Now from drop down list select VistaPerfectionX4 and hit apply   
You can see how IDM will look after applying this theme:



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20 comments:

  1. Next thing we need to do is to enable Wine Apps for FlashGot in order to use IDM. To do this type "about:config" in Firefox address bar and search for "wine". Now Toggle the value of Flashgot.useWine to true.
    this is where it will go no futher

    ReplyDelete
  2. show an error for
    ""File Not Found""
    after all install and processes has finished!
    please help

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  3. Hmmm it doesn't intercept the downloads.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Its working like a charm ;)

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  5. Great post! I have tested it and it works very well, I like this program, although I also use and would like to recommend uGet (http://ugetdm.com/) as a better solution in Linux.

    Do you know how to set Flashgot to run IDM if that is installed in Playonlinux?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. For IDM installed in Playonlinux, add 'IDMan' in Flashgot, link to '/usr/share/playonlinux/playonlinux' and also add '--run IDMan %F /d [URL]' under 'Command line arguments template' for IDMan in Flashgot.

      (https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1168)

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  6. From the depth of my heart, God bless you. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. why i waste my time to read and follow the tutorials. please save your time and do some thing else to download youtube videos playlist

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. Cannot add PPA: 'ppa:~ubuntu-wine/ubuntu/ppa'.
    ERROR: '~ubuntu-wine' user or team does not exist.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have installed IDM and Flasgot. And also set Flastgot to true. But on the flashgot preference, IDM is disabled on the download manager drop-down.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like you forgot to enable wine apps for flashgot. refer to 2nd image in "Integrating IDM with Firefox Web Browser".

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    2. Same problem with me although i followed each step

      Delete
  11. a core flashgot component is missing or corrected. plez reinstall flashfot. eska matalab kya hai.yahi likh aaraha hai jab flashgot>more option jab jata hu to.kya kru

    ReplyDelete
  12. I believe there are many people who feel like I read this article!
    I hope you continue to have articles like this to share with everyone!
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    ភ្នាល់បាល់

    ReplyDelete