hi everyone, great site. I am a mature student trying to learn cyber security. have installed linux and trying to install nmap in linux. i have managed to get nmap running in windows 10 but the course uses linux. the error message comes up " bash nmap command not found. I have tried the help on the site e.g. turning windows features on and off, putting full path to nmap but still no luck.

Could anyone offer any other guidance?

What disto of linux are you using. How did you install nmap? With your package manager?

Or are you asking something else? Are you trying to run a bash script in that windows linux scripting layer? You'll need to give some more info.

Either it is not installed, or it is installed at a location that is not in the PATH.
What is the full path?

Which distro are you using? How did you install nmap? I just installed and tested nmap in Debian Buster like this:

Hi thank you for taking the time to reply/ help me. linux. 1.5.1.0 the bash suggests nmap is not available. nmap was from zenmap web site. two version one for windows and one for kali linux. i got the windows one to work ok. the package manager may have been included in the down load. ubuntu was installed as well but not tried that yet. I have googles search the error message and tried various good suggestions but with no luck.

a s mentioned just learning my way round my way round this area of IT. thank you

Maybe English is not your native tongue. I have no idea what you are asking.
What distibution of Linux are you using?

Whatever flavor of linux that you are using, it will have repositories and a package manager to install from that repository and satisfy all dependencies. nmap is common. It will probably be in just about all Linux distribution repositories.

I would not download random files from the internet and try to install them. you will have a mess. Use your package manager.

OP: don't download nmap from any site, use the package management tools from whatever distro you are running, as suggested by other members.

This seems to be a contradiction - turning Windows features on and off will only affect Windows, not Linux.

Are you trying to run Linux via the "Windows Subsystem for Linux"?


It's still unclear what you are using. Please enter "uname -a" and "cat /etc/os-release" into Bash and post the results.

Ubuntu allows you to install nmap, but does not do it for you. (If you want to use Ubuntu, use "apt install nmap" instead of the zenmap website.)

Kali will have nmap installed already (Distrowatch confirms this).

Usually Kali is not recommended for beginners, but if you're learning cyber-security on a course it may be suitable. (You should confirm with the course tutor if Kali is a good choice or they have a different preferred distro).

Alternatively, a distro such as CentOS also includes nmap by default and may be worth starting with.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. will try this and guidance from others. will keep you posted if thats ok.

That's absolutely OK, but you may also want to consider answering the clarifying questions I and others asked.