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Md. Maruf Sarker
Md. Maruf Sarker

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Installing .NET 10 on Linux (Pop!_OS) — The Real Journey 🚀

#aspnet #dotnet #csharp #webdev

So today I decided:
“Let’s install .NET 10 on my Pop!_OS dev machine.”

Simple, right?

Microsoft docs say:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-10.0
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Reality check from Linux:

E: Unable to locate package dotnet-sdk-10.0
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Linux basically said:

“That package? Never heard of it bro.” 💀

So here’s the full A → Z journey of installing .NET 10 on Linux properly, without breaking your dev environment.

Step 0 — Read the Docs Completely 📚

Before running any command, read the entire documentation first.

Not just the command block.

Many times we jump straight to:

copy → paste → run

But docs often contain important notes like:

  • supported OS versions
  • repository limitations
  • architecture support
  • alternative installation methods

If I had read the whole doc first, I would have immediately seen that the Ubuntu 22.04 repo may not contain .NET 10 yet.

Lesson learned:

Always read the entire doc, not just the command snippet.

Step 1 — Understand the Problem 🧠

My machine:

  • OS: Pop!_OS (Ubuntu 22.04 base)
  • Repo: Microsoft Ubuntu repo
  • Installed SDKs: 
dotnet --list-sdks
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Output:

8.0.418
9.0.203
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Meaning:

Version Status
.NET 8 LTS
.NET 9 Latest
.NET 10 ❌ Not in repo

So APT couldn’t install it.

Step 2 — Use Microsoft's install script

When the repo doesn’t have the SDK yet, Microsoft provides an official install script.

Download it:

wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh
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Make it executable:

chmod +x dotnet-install.sh
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Install .NET 10:

./dotnet-install.sh --channel 10.0
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After installation the script said:

Installed version is 10.0.201
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But when I checked:

dotnet --list-sdks
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It still showed:

8.0
9.0
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Wait… what?

Step 3 — The PATH Problem 🧩

The script installs .NET here:

~/.dotnet
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But my system installation lives here:

/usr/share/dotnet
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So Linux was still using the APT version of dotnet.

Fix:

export DOTNET_ROOT=$HOME/.dotnet
export PATH=$HOME/.dotnet:$PATH
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Now the prompt changed instantly:

dotnet --version
10.0.201
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Nice.

But there was another problem…

Now only .NET 10 appeared.

Step 4 — Two Different .NET Installations

My system now had two separate dotnet environments:

Location Installed SDKs
/usr/share/dotnet 8.0, 9.0
~/.dotnet 10.0

Which is messy.

Best practice on Linux is to keep everything in:

/usr/share/dotnet
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So I installed .NET 10 system-wide.

Step 5 — Install .NET 10 System-wide

Run the installer with sudo:

sudo ./dotnet-install.sh --channel 10.0 --install-dir /usr/share/dotnet
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This installed:

/usr/share/dotnet/sdk/10.0.201
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Step 6 — Remove the Old Local Installation

Since .NET was already installed in ~/.dotnet, the shell kept using it.

Remove it:

rm -rf ~/.dotnet
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Reset bash cache:

hash -r
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Step 7 — Verify Everything

Now run:

dotnet --list-sdks
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Result:

8.0.418
9.0.203
10.0.201
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And:

dotnet --version
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Output:

10.0.201
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Boom.

Clean setup.

Final Linux .NET Setup 💻

My machine now looks like this:

/usr/share/dotnet/sdk
├── 8.0.418
├── 9.0.203
└── 10.0.201
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Meaning:

SDK Purpose
.NET 8 LTS (production apps)
.NET 9 Current release
.NET 10 Latest development

Pro Tip — Use global.json

Real projects lock the SDK version.

Example:

{
  "sdk": {
    "version": "8.0.418"
  }
}
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This ensures:

  • teammates use the same SDK
  • CI/CD builds correctly
  • no version mismatch

dotnet #linux #backend #softwareengineering #devlife

Top comments (1)

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ptak_dev profile image
Patrick T •

Solid.