Installing ScummVM
This page explains how to install ScummVM on a computer. For all other platforms, see the relevant platform guide.
There are two ways to install ScummVM on Windows: use the installer, or install manually.
Installing ScummVM using the installer
Download the Windows installer for your operating system from the ScummVM downloads page, and double click the downloaded file. The installer guides you through the install process, and adds a shortcut to the Start Menu. There is also an option to add a shortcut to the desktop.
To run ScummVM, either navigate to desktop and double click the ScummVM shortcut, or go to Start > All Apps > ScummVM. For Windows XP, go to Start > All Apps > ScummVM.
Installing ScummVM manually
Download the Windows zip file for your operating system (32bit or 64bit). To extract the files, right-click the folder and select Extract All.
To run ScummVM from the extracted folder, find the scummvm.exe file and double click it.
Running ScummVM in portable mode
Starting with ScummVM 2.6.0, ScummVM offers a portable mode. Instead of storing saved games, icons and screenshots in your user’s directory, they are stored in the same folder as the ScummVM executable.
To run ScummVM in portable mode, create an empty file called scummvm.ini in the folder where you extracted the ScummVM zipfile.
Installing ScummVM using the disk image
Download the recommended disk image file from the ScummVM downloads page. After the download has completed, double click the file to mount the disk image file. A window containing the ScummVM icon opens. Drag this icon into your Applications folder to install ScummVM.
To run ScummVM, click on the icon in the Applications folder.
Note
macOS includes technology called Gatekeeper, which checks to ensure only trusted software is run on your Mac. ScummVM is not available from the App Store, so follow the steps on this Apple support page to allow ScummVM to run.
There are multiple ways to install ScummVM on Linux: use the Snap Store, Flathub or the software repository, or manually install the release binary.
Installing ScummVM using the Snap Store
A Snap is an app that is bundled with its dependencies, which makes the install on any Linux operating system very easy. Snap comes pre-installed on Debian and Ubuntu-based distributions, but can be installed on any Linux distribution by following the instructions on the Snapcraft website.
The ScummVM Snap comes with a selection of freeware games and demos pre-loaded.
Enter the following on the command line to install the ScummVM Snap:
sudo snap install scummvm
To run ScummVM, enter scummvm on the command line, or launch ScummVM through the desktop interface by clicking Menu > Games > ScummVM.
Installing ScummVM using Flathub
Flathub is another way to install apps for Linux, by using Flatpak. Flatpak comes standard with Fedora-based distributions, but can be installed on any Linux operating system. The Flathub website has excellent install instructions.
When Flatpak is installed, enter the following on the command line to install ScummVM:
flatpak install flathub org.scummvm.ScummVM
Some distributions have the option to install Flatpaks through the graphical desktop interface. Navigate to the ScummVM Flatpak page , click the INSTALL button and then follow the install process.
To run ScummVM, enter the following on the command line:
flatpak run org.scummvm.ScummVM
To pass Command line arguments, add them after the Flatpak run command.
Note
The Flatpak version of ScummVM is sandboxed, meaning that any games need to be copied into the Documents folder to be accessible by ScummVM.
Installing ScummVM using the software repository
ScummVM is found in the software repositories of many Linux distributions.
Caution
The repositories might not contain the most up-to-date version of ScummVM.
To run ScummVM, enter scummvm on the command line, or launch ScummVM through the desktop interface by clicking Menu > Games > ScummVM.
Installing ScummVM using the release binaries
Binary packages are only released for Debian and Ubuntu. On the ScummVM downloads page, find and download the ScummVM package that corresponds to your operating system and architecture. To install a DEB package, either double click on the downloaded DEB file to use the graphical installer, or, if that’s not available, use the command line.
sudo apt install /path/to/downloaded/file.deb
Replace /path/to/downloaded/file.deb with the actual path to the downloaded DEB package. The APT software manager handles the installation.
To run ScummVM, enter scummvm on the command line, or launch ScummVM through the desktop interface by clicking Menu > Games > ScummVM.