How to Install Notepad++ on Linux

Notepad++ has no native Linux build, so you end up running the Windows editor through Wine whichever way you install it. The quick route is one snap command. The other is the official installer inside a Wine prefix, which works on Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora and Arch Linux.

The snap bundles Wine for you. On the manual route you set it up yourself.

One thing to know before you start. The snap listed in the Snap Store as Notepad++ (WINE) is a community wrapper, not a release from the Notepad++ project, and Snapcraft states that a verified publisher domain does not guarantee an official upload from the upstream project.

Notepad++ on Linux: snap or Wine?

The snap is faster to set up, and Wine gets you a current release. That’s the whole trade.

A Notepad++ Community forum moderator says the project does not support Linux and has never published deb or rpm packages. The editor is written against the Win32 API, and Wine supplies that layer on Linux.

The Ubuntu apt repository does not carry it either (VITUX), so sudo apt install notepad++ fails.

The version gap isn’t only about features. TechSpot reported that Notepad++ 8.8.9 fixed a hijack of the update mechanism, and it told people on older releases to download the installer by hand rather than rely on the built-in updater.

The snap’s 8.9.6.4 build is newer than that fix, so it includes it. It still trails 8.9.8, released on 23 August 2026 with 14 vulnerability fixes, and 8.9.8.1, released on 24 September 2026 with 5 more. If the machine handles sensitive files, I’d go with Wine and install 8.9.8.1 or newer.

If you just want Notepad++ running in a few minutes and a build that trails the latest release is fine for plain text and code editing, the snap does the job. Wine makes more sense when you need a current release, the official binary, or a say in where the Wine prefix lives.

How to install Notepad++ with snap

The command is sudo snap install notepad-plus-plus, and you launch the editor from the application menu or with notepad-plus-plus in a terminal. snapd has to be on the machine first, and that’s the only step that changes between distributions.

Set up snapd on your distribution

Sources disagree on Linux Mint. VITUX says snap is already installed there. It’s FOSS and DebugPoint documented in 2020 that Mint 20 blocks snapd through the nosnap.pref file, and OMG! Ubuntu’s guide describes the same block on Mint 22.3, with apt reporting no installation candidate for snapd.

Run the apt command and see which behavior your release shows.

The Fedora symlink is optional here. The Notepad++ snap uses strict confinement (snapupdates), and Snapcraft’s Fedora instructions tie the /snap link to classic confinement.

Install and launch the snap

1. Run sudo snap install notepad-plus-plus. The package pulls a separate Wine platform snap, so the first install downloads more than the editor itself (GoLinuxCloud’s install log shows it).
2. Start it with notepad-plus-plus in a terminal, or search for Notepad++ in the application menu.
3. If the shell reports the command as not found, log out and back in so /snap/bin joins your PATH.

The Snap Store also lists notepadplusplus, titled Notepad++ Linux, and it’s easy to grab the wrong one. That listing is a separate Qt6 and QScintilla port that runs without Wine, with syntax highlighting for 14 languages, last updated in May 2026 (Snapcraft listing).

Treat it as a different editor with Notepad++-style features. The Wine-based one is notepad-plus-plus, hyphens included.

How to install Notepad++ with Wine

Get Wine installed, download the x64 installer from the Notepad++ GitHub releases page, and run it with wine followed by the installer file name. A dedicated Wine prefix makes the install easy to remove later.

Install Wine and prepare a prefix

On Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint, sudo apt install wine64 pulls Wine from the distribution repository (phoenixnap). For a newer build, add the i386 architecture with sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386, register the WineHQ repository, and install winehq-stable.

Fedora needs only sudo dnf install wine, since it packages Wine itself. The WineHQ repository matters only for devel and staging builds, and those conflict with the Fedora package (ComputingForGeeks).

On Arch Linux it’s sudo pacman -S wine. Older guides enable the multilib repository in /etc/pacman.conf first, so check the ArchWiki for what your setup needs today.

Wine keeps its registry, its fake C: drive and its settings in a directory called a prefix. It defaults to $HOME/.wine and is set through the WINEPREFIX variable, and the WINEARCH variable picks win32 or win64 at creation time and cannot be changed afterwards (Wine man page).

A default win64 prefix runs both 32-bit and 64-bit programs, so the x64 installer needs no special setup. Winetricks is the usual helper if the prefix later needs fonts or runtime libraries.

Give Notepad++ its own prefix by running export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine-npp before the installer. Removing the editor later then comes down to deleting one directory.

Run the Notepad++ installer

1. Download npp.8.9.8.1.Installer.x64.exe from the Notepad++ GitHub releases page, or the matching file for a newer release. The same page lists a 32-bit installer, an arm64 installer, an msi and portable archives.
2. Open a terminal in the download folder and export the prefix variable from the previous step.
3. Run wine npp.8.9.8.1.Installer.x64.exe.
4. Click through the wizard, which asks for language, licence, install location and components before it installs.

Launch Notepad++ from the menu or desktop

The installer creates a desktop shortcut and a menu entry. On GNOME-based desktops, right-click the shortcut and choose Allow Launching before it opens (GoLinuxCloud).

From a terminal, run wine 'C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe'. Keep the quotes, because Wine takes Windows paths with backslashes and spaces.

Export the same WINEPREFIX first. Without it, Wine starts in the default prefix and finds no Notepad++ there.

What breaks when Notepad++ runs on Linux?

Fonts, settings paths, plugins, file access in the snap and keyboard mapping all cause trouble at some point. Each has a workaround, though none comes with a support guarantee.

• Notepad++ defaults to Courier New, which Linux does not ship. Run winetricks corefonts in the same prefix to add it (a Wine Bugzilla thread confirms Courier New appears afterwards), or pick Cousine, the substitute a Notepad++ forum user recommended in 2017. The snap pulled in Wine extras and fonts during a 2019 Dedoimedo test, so this mostly hits manual Wine installs.
• Config lives inside the prefix, not in ~/.config. An unconfirmed Wine Bugzilla report from February 2022 describes Wine-staging 7.1 creating new AppData/Roaming and AppData/Local folders, after which an app stopped finding data in the older ones. Back up the Notepad++ config folder before upgrading Wine, and check both folder names if settings reset.
• Expect an Administrator tag in the title bar. A Notepad++ forum moderator, citing WineHQ threads, says Wine runs applications as Administrator by default, so it reflects Wine’s session, not a Notepad++ fault.
• PythonScript, LuaScript, Compare, NppExec and XML Tools worked for a forum user in 2017. Plugin Manager is the weak spot, since a Wine bug had it crashing on launch until Wine 1.7.6 in 2013, and Dedoimedo’s 2019 test needed the “Force HTTP” setting to load the plugin list. I found no current report on Plugins Admin under Wine, so test it before depending on it.
• Strict confinement limits the snap to your home directory through the home interface, and only to regular files and folders, per Canonical. Hidden files such as dotfiles are not reachable by default, and files on other drives need sudo snap connect notepad-plus-plus:removable-media (check snap connections notepad-plus-plus first, because the connect fails when the snap declares no such plug).
• Shortcuts and rendering vary between distributions, according to Notepad++ forum users. Rebind clashing keys in the Shortcut Mapper.

Stability reports disagree. A 2014 forum post, quoting the Notepadqq pitch, said Wine cannot give Notepad++ good stability, while forum users in 2017 reported the built-in functions working without trouble.

Both reports are old. Until it proves itself on your distribution, treat a Wine-based install as untested and keep backups of anything you edit.

Updating and removing Notepad++ on Linux

Snap installs refresh themselves, but a Wine install only changes when you run a newer installer. Removal takes one command for the snap, or a directory delete if you gave Wine its own prefix.

Keeping the install current

snapd checks for updates 4 times a day by default (Snapcraft documentation). Force a check with sudo snap refresh notepad-plus-plus, or pause refreshes with sudo snap refresh --hold=24h notepad-plus-plus (snapd 2.58 or later).

A refresh delivers whatever the publisher last pushed to the stable channel. It cannot move you past that build, which is why the Wine route stays ahead on versions.

On the Wine side, download the newer installer and run it with the same WINEPREFIX exported. It upgrades in place, and your settings stay in the prefix.

Removing Notepad++ cleanly

Snap first. Run sudo snap remove notepad-plus-plus, and snapd saves a snapshot of the snap’s data and keeps it for 31 days, per the Snapcraft snapshots documentation.

Add --purge to skip the snapshot, or run snap saved and then sudo snap forget with the set ID to delete it early. The snap’s own Wine prefix sat under ~/snap/notepad-plus-plus/common/.wine in Dedoimedo’s 2019 test, so copy your settings out before removing it.

For the Wine route, wine uninstaller opens Add/Remove Programs, though the WineHQ FAQ calls it not well tested and a FreeBSD forum thread found a leftover .desktop file afterwards. Deleting the prefix with rm -r $HOME/.wine-npp is the more reliable way, because it removes the editor and its settings in one go. The menu entry lives outside the prefix, so delete the Notepad++ .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs as well.

This is where the dedicated prefix from the install steps pays off. Wine itself stays installed until you remove it through your package manager.

Which native editors replace Notepad++ on Linux?

Kate and Geany cover most Notepad++ work and install from the default repositories, with no Wine involved. Notepadqq copies the look, but its upstream is no longer maintained.

On Fedora, swap apt for dnf in the Kate and Geany commands. On Arch Linux, use sudo pacman -S followed by the package name (DebugPoint’s editor roundup lists both).

Notepadqq’s README says the project is not actively maintained anymore, yet the Snap Store shows a stable build from September 2018 and an edge build from August 2026. Read that as maintenance limbo, with a stable snap more than eight years old. Reviewers on the Linux Mint software portal also report crashes that stop when the backup setting is off.

Kate is the one for tabbed notes and logs, and for quick edits too. Geany suits code work when you want a light footprint. Visual Studio Code brings extensions and debugging, and Microsoft distributes it officially as a snap. Sublime Text is quick and free to evaluate, but continued use needs a paid licence, and its snap is maintained by the Snapcrafters community rather than upstream.

The Qt6 port from the snap section is the closest native match to the Notepad++ interface, and its Snapcraft listing shows a GPL-3.0 licence. The listing names Chris Stockslager (hank-pym) as publisher and links its source to a GitHub repository under the mixelpixx account, not to the Notepad++ project, so check the repository’s activity before moving real work onto it.

Notepad++ on Linux FAQ

Can I install Notepad++ from the Ubuntu Software app instead of the terminal?

Yes. Search for Notepad++ in Ubuntu Software, GNOME Software or KDE Discover and click Install.

The store entry is the same community snap as the command-line route, so it carries the same version and confinement trade-offs.

Does Notepad++ dark mode work on Linux?

Notepad++ 8.0 and newer include dark mode, but no source I found tests it under Wine. Open Settings, then Preferences, then Dark Mode, and confirm the result after install.

For the editor area, pick a dark theme such as Obsidian in the Style Configurator, because the Preferences switch covers the title bar, menus and toolbar only.

How do I make Notepad++ the default editor for text files on Linux?

Set it with xdg-mime, not from inside Notepad++. Run xdg-mime query default text/plain to see the current handler, then run xdg-mime default with your Notepad++ launcher’s .desktop file followed by text/plain.

Wine writes its own wine-extension .desktop files that can override your defaults (Arch Linux forum thread, 2022), so test with one file before changing everything.

Is there a Flatpak or AppImage for Notepad++?

Not an official one. The Notepad++ project publishes no Linux packages of any kind, according to a forum moderator, so any Flatpak is third-party.

A 2018 repository called Winepak shipped Notepad++ as a Flatpak bundled with Wine (Linux Uprising), but I could not confirm it is still maintained. I found no AppImage.

Will the portable Notepad++ version run under Wine?

Likely yes, though no published test confirms it. The portable build ships as zip and 7z archives on the Notepad++ GitHub releases page, with no installer step.

Extract it into a folder and start notepad++.exe with wine under your WINEPREFIX. Check plugins and settings before relying on it.

Is Notepad++ under Wine reliable enough for daily work?

It holds up for notes, logs and light code editing. Anything that leans on plugins is a worse fit. How reliable it feels comes down to your files and your Wine build, so test it on your own machine.

Start with the cheap checks. Open and save your real files, then load every plugin you rely on. Before upgrading Wine, copy the prefix and try the upgrade on the copy, so a bad update means a restore instead of lost settings.

Moving to Kate or Geany removes the Wine layer, and it also removes Notepad++ plugins and macros, which neither editor reads.

This position was verified on 5 November 2026. It changes if the snap’s stable channel catches up with the latest Notepad++ release, or if the Qt6 port shows a track record of maintenance.

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Bogdan Sandu

Bogdan Sandu is a front-end developer at TMS Outsource with 8+ years of experience in web technologies. He writes about developer tools, software platforms, and web workflows based on daily hands-on use.

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