Ngrok Installation Guide for Ubuntu on WSL

This guide will help you install Ngrok on your Ubuntu environment running under Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Ngrok is a tool that allows you to expose your local server to the internet.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you have WSL installed on your Windows machine with Ubuntu as your chosen distribution. You should also have an active internet connection to download Ngrok.

Step 1: Open Your WSL Terminal

Launch your WSL terminal (Ubuntu) from the Windows start menu.

Step 2: Update Your Package List

Before installing any packages, it's a good idea to update the package list. Run:

sudo apt update

Step 3: Remove Any Previous Ngrok Files

To avoid confusion, remove any previous downloads of Ngrok:

rm ngrok.zip ngrok-stable-linux-amd64.zip

Step 4: Download Ngrok

You can download the latest version of Ngrok directly. Visit the Ngrok download page to get the most current URL, or use the command below to download it:

wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/111111/ngrok-stable-linux-amd64.zip -O ngrok.zip

Note: Replace 111111 with the actual key you find on the Ngrok download page if necessary.

Alternate Download Method

If the above command fails, you can use the following command, which extracts the download link directly from the Ngrok website:

curl -s https://ngrok.com/download | grep -o 'https://[^"]*ngrok-stable-linux-amd64.zip' | xargs wget -O ngrok.zip

Step 5: Unzip the Downloaded File

Once the download is complete, extract the contents of the ZIP file:

unzip ngrok.zip

If you encounter an error indicating that the file is not a valid zip file, ensure that the download was completed successfully. You can check the file type with:

file ngrok.zip

It should report that it is a "Zip archive data".

Step 6: Move Ngrok to Your Local Bin Directory

After successfully unzipping, move the Ngrok binary to your local bin directory to make it executable from anywhere:

sudo mv ngrok /usr/local/bin

Step 7: Authenticate Your Ngrok Account

To use Ngrok, you will need to authenticate with your Ngrok token. Sign up at ngrok.com if you don’t already have an account. After logging in, copy your authentication token and run:

ngrok authtoken <your_auth_token>

Replace <your_auth_token> with the actual token you received from your Ngrok dashboard.

Step 8: Start Using Ngrok

You can now start using Ngrok to expose your local server to the internet. For instance, if you have a Django application running on port 8000, you can use:

ngrok http 8000

This command will provide you with a public URL that tunnels to your local server.

Additional Information

• Once Ngrok is running, you can access the web interface at http://127.0.0.1:4040 to monitor requests and inspect traffic.
• Ensure that your local server (e.g., Django or Flask) is running before starting Ngrok.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during installation:

• Check your internet connection to ensure it is stable.
• Verify that you have enough disk space on your system.
• If downloads repeatedly fail, consider downloading the Ngrok executable from another machine and transferring it to your WSL environment.