Installing Android Studio on Linux Mint

March 18, 2026 mrbeandev 3 min read
Step-by-step guide to install Android Studio on Linux Mint — extract, run, and pin it to your app menu with a proper .desktop launcher.

Installing Android Studio on Linux Mint

Linux Mint doesn't have Android Studio in its default package manager. The cleanest way is to install it manually from the official .tar.gz package. Here's how.

Step 1 — Download Android Studio

Go to the official download page and grab the Linux package:

developer.android.com/studio

You'll get a file like android-studio-panda2-linux.tar.gz (the version name changes with each release).

Step 2 — Extract to /opt

/opt is the standard location for manually installed third-party apps on Linux.

sudo tar -xvzf android-studio-panda2-linux.tar.gz -C /opt

This creates /opt/android-studio/ with everything inside.

Step 3 — Run Android Studio (First Launch)

cd /opt/android-studio/bin
./studio.sh

On first launch, Android Studio will walk you through:

  • Downloading the Android SDK
  • Installing emulator components
  • Initial configuration

Let it finish — this can take a few minutes depending on your internet speed.

Step 4 — Create a Desktop Launcher

After the first run, Android Studio may generate a .desktop file automatically under ~/.local/share/applications/. Check if it exists first:

ls ~/.local/share/applications/ | grep -i studio

If nothing shows up, create it manually:

xed ~/.local/share/applications/android-studio.desktop

Paste this content:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Android Studio
Icon=/opt/android-studio/bin/studio.svg
Exec="/opt/android-studio/bin/studio" %f
Comment=Android Studio IDE
Categories=Development;IDE;
Terminal=false
StartupWMClass=jetbrains-studio

Save and close.

Note: Make sure the Icon path is correct. Open a file manager and confirm that /opt/android-studio/bin/studio.svg exists. If the icon file has a different name, update the path accordingly.

Step 5 — Find It in the Start Menu

Open the Linux Mint Start Menu and search for Android Studio — it should appear right away.

If it doesn't show up immediately, refresh the application database:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

Then search again.

Troubleshooting

./studio.sh gives a "cannot find JVM" error

Android Studio bundles its own JDK — this usually means the archive wasn't extracted cleanly. Re-run the extraction step and make sure the full path /opt/android-studio/jbr/ exists.

The app icon is broken (blank/missing)

Check the exact icon filename inside /opt/android-studio/bin/:

ls /opt/android-studio/bin/*.svg *.png 2>/dev/null

Update the Icon= line in your .desktop file to match.

Updating Android Studio

Download the new .tar.gz, remove the old installation, and re-extract:

sudo rm -rf /opt/android-studio
sudo tar -xvzf android-studio-<new-version>-linux.tar.gz -C /opt

Your SDK, projects, and settings are stored in ~/Android/ and ~/.config/Google/ — they won't be affected.

That's it. Android Studio is installed, launched, and pinned to your app menu. Start building.

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