Installation

How to download and install Retro Multi Tools on Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.


Requirements

  • Windows — Windows 10 or later (x64 or ARM64)
  • Linux — A 64-bit distribution (x64 or ARM64)
  • macOS — macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later (Intel or Apple Silicon)
  • FreeBSD — FreeBSD 13.0 or later (x64 or ARM64) with Linux binary compatibility enabled

All release builds are self-contained and include the .NET runtime — no separate runtime installation is required.


Downloading a Release

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

Platform Architectures Formats
Windows x64, ARM64 ZIP, Installer (.exe)
Linux x64, ARM64 ZIP, DEB, RPM, APK, Pacman, AppImage, Snap, Flatpak
macOS Intel, Apple Silicon ZIP, PKG, DMG
FreeBSD x64, ARM64 ZIP, PKG

Windows

Portable ZIP

Extract the ZIP and run RetroMultiTools.exe.

Installer

Run the .exe installer and follow the on-screen instructions. A desktop shortcut can optionally be created during installation.


Linux

Required System Packages

Retro Multi Tools uses Avalonia UI which requires a few system libraries.

Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint:

sudo apt install libicu-dev libfontconfig1 libx11-6 libice6 libsm6

Fedora / CentOS Stream / RHEL / Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / Oracle Linux:

sudo dnf install libicu fontconfig libX11 libICE libSM

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S icu fontconfig libx11 libice libsm

Alpine Linux:

sudo apk add icu-libs fontconfig libx11 libice libsm

openSUSE / SLES:

sudo zypper install libicu-devel fontconfig libX11-6 libICE6 libSM6

Portable ZIP

unzip linux-x64.zip -d RetroMultiTools
cd RetroMultiTools
chmod +x RetroMultiTools
./RetroMultiTools

DEB Installer

sudo dpkg -i linux-x64-Installer.deb
retromultitools

RPM Package

# Fedora / CentOS Stream / RHEL / Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / Oracle Linux
sudo dnf install linux-x64.rpm

# openSUSE / SLES
sudo zypper install linux-x64.rpm

Then launch from the application menu or run retromultitools.

APK Package (Alpine Linux)

sudo apk add --allow-untrusted linux-x64.apk
retromultitools

AppImage

chmod +x linux-x64.AppImage
./linux-x64.AppImage

No installation is required — AppImage bundles everything into a single file.

Pacman (Arch Linux)

sudo pacman -U linux-x64.pkg.tar.zst
retromultitools

Snap

sudo snap install --dangerous linux-x64.snap
snap run retromultitools

Flatpak

flatpak install --user linux-x64.flatpak
flatpak run io.github.svengdk.RetroMultiTools

See LINUX.md for full details and troubleshooting.


macOS

Portable ZIP

unzip osx-arm64.zip -d RetroMultiTools
cd RetroMultiTools
chmod +x RetroMultiTools
./RetroMultiTools

PKG Installer

Double-click the .pkg file and follow the on-screen instructions to install to /Applications.

DMG Disk Image

  1. Double-click the .dmg file to mount the disk image.
  2. Drag Retro Multi Tools.app to the Applications folder.
  3. Eject the disk image.

Gatekeeper Warning

macOS may block the application because it was not downloaded from the App Store. If you see a “cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified” dialog:

  1. Open System SettingsPrivacy & Security
  2. Scroll down and click Open Anyway next to the Retro Multi Tools message
  3. Alternatively, right-click the application and select Open

Or remove the quarantine attribute from the terminal:

xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine RetroMultiTools

See macOS.md for full details and troubleshooting.


FreeBSD

FreeBSD runs Retro Multi Tools through its built-in Linux binary compatibility layer (Linuxulator). Building from source directly on FreeBSD is not supported.

Prerequisites

Enable Linux binary compatibility and install the Rocky Linux 9 base packages:

sudo sysrc linux_enable="YES"
sudo service linux start
sudo pkg install linux_base-rl9 linux-rl9-icu linux-rl9-fontconfig linux-rl9-freetype

Portable ZIP

unzip freebsd-x64.zip -d RetroMultiTools
cd RetroMultiTools
chmod +x RetroMultiTools
./RetroMultiTools

PKG Installer

sudo pkg add freebsd-x64-Installer.pkg
retromultitools

See FreeBSD.md for full details, required packages, and troubleshooting.


Next Steps

Once installed, see First Steps to get started with the application.