Setup Skype on Ubuntu x64

If you've tried to install the Skype 1.4.0.74 deb package on a 64bit architecture machine you probably got: Error: Wrong Architecture 'i386'

Edit: According to oleg_t this works for Skype 2.0.0.63 too. Change skype-1.4.0.74.deb to the version you are trying to install.

You could try:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-1.4.0.74.deb
linux32 skype

but that didnt work for me coz skype was still expecting the i386 libraries of some files.

Finally what did work was a solution from Ubuntu Forums
sudo apt-get install --yes ia32-libs* lib32asound2
cd ~
mkdir skypebetainstall
cd skypebetainstall
wget http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/q/qt4-x11/libqt4-core_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/q/qt4-x11/libqt4-gui_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/libs/libsigc++-2.0/libsigc++-2.0-0c2a_2.0.17-2build1_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/d/dbus/libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1ubuntu3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -x libqt4-core_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libqt4-gui_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libsigc++-2.0-0c2a_2.0.17-2build1_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo cp libqt/usr/lib/* /usr/lib32/
sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libdbus-1.so.3 /usr/lib32/libdbus-1.so.2
sudo ldconfig /usr/lib32
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-1.4.0.74.deb
sudo rm -rf ~/skypebetainstall


Basically, my understanding is that, it installs the 32bit libraries that skype needs into /usr/lib32/ and then installs skype.

To run skype just go to Menu > Internet > Skype

17 comments:

Glauco Basilio said...

Very good tip. Thanks a lot.

Per said...

Thanks for this guide :-)

oleg_t said...

It seems that it works with newer Skype versions too. I did it with Skype 2.0.0.63 on my 8.04 Ubuntu. Just be sure about the filename.

observative said...

Thank you for blogging this, really helped. oleg_t is correct, in the above instructions change the following

from
skype-1.4.0.74.deb

to
skype-*.deb

gwyneth said...

Thanks for the tips oleg_t and observative! Post updated..

Victor said...

Thanks a lot! For 8.04 x64 all I had to install were ia32-libs. After that the skype v2 was installed smoothly.

Anonymous said...

cool, thanks, works great.
now it is
skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb
.
Momme

dark_photon said...

Awesome! thanks for the help!

Rishi Verma said...

Thank you so much for this guide! Skype is up and running thanks to you.

BTW skype 2.0.0.72 works with ur guide. Although I just did steps like installing libqt4-gui and libqt4-core via:

sudo apt-get install libqt4-core libqt4-gui

Anonymous said...

it works !!!! HAHAAHAH !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

....but there aren`t user avatars

That which is not the inferno said...

Thank you so much, this was so simple!

Alexey said...

Hm. It looks a bit strange...
I've downloaded the latest skype package and said: sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb

It failed with message of dependency problem - that libqt4-core and libqt4-gui is not installed.

I've installed both using simple sudo apt-get install libqt4-gui libqt4-core - and the skype starts to work!

Amazing - that I've installed NOT special 32-bit editions of dependencies (or, may be apt-get is so smart to install especially this versions without a note from my side?)

P.S. Intrepid Ibex x86_64 on AMD Phenom 9600 cpu

Felix Chandran said...

Skype got installed like Alexy said...
but when I click on the icon in the application> internet menu. I get this message:
Failed to execute child process "skype" (No such file or directory)

any ideas?

Alexey said...

First time after installation I've run skype from console - by typing "skype". I believe it was also under superuser (since before I've run "sudo -i" - to escape type "sudo" before every command). And since there I run it from "Applications" - "Internet" menu.

Again - I've not installed specially 32-bin dependencies. I've just installed (apt-get install - without --force-architecture) the dependencies which skype complained to. Absolutelly all works "out of the box" except the only fact that you need to add "--force-architecture" flag when installing skype from .deb

Eliasibe said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Eliasibe said...

I've just installed a amd64 version of Ubuntu 8.10 and tried to follow the original post but received the "404 Not found" error in the libraries installation.

So I made the apt-get command and now my Skype 2.0 works. I still have 2 problems to solve:
- the microphone volume is very low; and
- skype doesn't get control of my webcam, crashing when I try to configure it.

I'm still working on it...

Eliasibe