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Nmap is distributed with source code under the terms of the GNU General Public License, with certain clarifications and exceptions noted in the COPYING file. It includes a slightly modified version of the Libpcap packet capturing library, Libdnet low-level networking library, and the PCRE Perl-compatible regular expression library. It can optionally link to the OpenSSL Encryption Toolkit for SSL-enhanced service/version detection.

Some of the Nmap downloads and images are graciously hosted by VA Software's Source Forge:

Source Distribution

This is the traditional compile-it-yourself format. The Nmap tarball compiles under UNIX (including Linux, Solaris, Free/Net/OpenBSD, and Mac OS X) and Windows. It includes NmapFE, the UNIX X Window frontend.

Note that Nmap is now offered in bzip2 format. If you don't have bzip2 nor feel like downloading it, gzip'ed tarballs are still available below or in the dist directory.

Here are the UNIX instructions for tarball compilation/installation:

bzip2 -cd nmap-VERSION.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -
cd nmap-VERSION
./configure
make
su root
make install

For Windows source compilation, see the README-WIN32 file in the tarball.

Suse 9.0 users: See this note for a workaround to a Suse kernel bug. You will need to upgrade your kernel to 2.4.21-199 or higher, or compile Nmap using special instructions in the email.

Mac OS X users: If you wish to compile from source (as opposed to binaries later on this page), and the normal "./configure" line above does not work for you, try "./configure CPP=/usr/bin/cpp". You also need to install the free Apple Developer Tools [instructions]. If you think the "configure" script is looping, be sure your computer's clock/date is set correctly and wait at least 10 minutes for completion before reporting it. If you still have trouble, let me know.

Latest Stable Nmap Tarball: nmap-3.93.tar.bz2 (or gzip compressed: nmap-3.93.tgz)

Linux RPM Source and Binaries

Many popular Linux distributions (Redhat, Mandrake, Suse, etc) use the RPM package management system for quick and easy binary package installation. Note that the RPMs don't link to OpenSSL for version detection. They are statically linked to work on more systems, though that enlarges the binaries. Compile the source code tarball instead for optimal performance and features in the tightest package. (though most people find these RPMs acceptable. i386 (normal PC) and x86_64 (AMD Athlon64/Opteron in 64-bit mode) RPMs are available. i386 users can install the latest version of Nmap in seconds with this command:

rpm -vhU http://download.insecure.org/nmap/dist/nmap-3.93-1.i386.rpm

Latest Stable i386 Nmap RPM: nmap-3.93-1.i386.rpm
Latest Stable x86_64 Nmap RPM (for Opteron/Athlon64 in 64-bit mode only!): nmap-3.93-1.x86_64.rpm
Latest Stable Source RPM (includes NmapFE): nmap-3.93-1.src.rpm

Windows (95/98/NT/ME/2K/XP)

NOTE: Nmap 3.90 and later require WinPcap 3.1 or later. Also note that McAfee VirusScan improperly labels Nmap as a "potentially unwanted program". We have pestered McAfee for almost 2 years and they still haven't fixed the problem. We recommend using other virus scanners instead, such as Trend Micro's PC-cillin or Symantec's Norton AntiVirus.

Thanks to the hard work of Ryan Permeh (from eEye) and Andy Lutomirski, the base Nmap package now builds and functions under Windows! Note that Windows support is not yet as stable or fast as the traditional UNIX version. Microsoft intentionally broke tools such as Nmap with their Service Pack 2. Version 3.55-SP2 and later of Nmap include a workaround that (mostly) resolves the problem.

Command-line zipfile:

Every major "stable" Nmap release comes with Windows command-line binaries and associated files in a Zip archive. No graphical interface is included, so you need to run nmap.exe from a DOS/command window. See the screen shot above. Or you can download and install a superior command shell such as those included with the free Cygwin system. Here are the step-by-step instructions for installing and executing the Nmap .Zip binaries:

1. Download the binaries:

   Latest stable Nmap command-line zipfile: nmap-3.93-win32.zip
   Latest development Nmap command-line zipfile: Currently none -- use stable

2. Uncompress the zip-file into the directory you want Nmap to reside in. An example would be C:\Program Files\. A directory called nmap-VERSION should be created, which includes the Nmap executable and data files. If you do not have a Zip decompression program, there is one (called unzip) in Cygwin, or you can download the open source and free 7-zip utility. Other alternatives are WinZip and PKZip, though these may not be free (in any sense of the word).
3. Consider applying the Nmap performance registry changes by clicking on nmap_performance.reg in the new Nmap directory. This increases the number of ephemeral ports reserved for user applications (such as Nmap) and decreases the amount of time before a closed connection can be reused.
4. Nmap requires the free WinPcap packet capture library version 3.1Beta4 or later! Obtain and install the latest version from WinPcap.Org. They distribute an executable installer which makes this easy.

After installing Nmap using the steps above, it can be executed as follows:

1. Make sure the user you are logged in as has administrative privileges in the box (should be in the administrators group).
2. Open a command/DOS Window. On Windows XP, this is in Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt. That path may vary by Windows version, but it should always be available from the Start menu. Opening a Cygwin window (if you installed it) by clicking on the Cygwin icon on the desktop is fine too, although the necessary commands differ slightly from those shown below.
3. Change to the directory you installed Nmap into. Assuming the example directory name used in the install section above, type:

   c:
   cd "\program files\nmap-VERSION" (replace VERSION with the Nmap version number)
   

4. Execute nmap.exe by typing a command such as nmap -A -T4 scanme.insecure.org. Here is a screen shot.

Nmapwin installer:

Nmapwin has been removed from this download page because it is obsolete. Try the command-line version instead.

Troubleshooting

If you have trouble using the Windows version of Nmap (strange error/compile/install/runtime messages), try the following:

• Does the error say "INSTMSIA.EXE not found"? Then download and run it from here. If the error asks for "InstMsiW.exe" instead, get it here.
• You might want to try installing the Windows Network Monitor Driver Protocol.
• Check for error messages in the Windows event log (On at least WinXP, the Event Viewer can be opened by running "eventvwr").
• Consider manually installing/reinstalling the latest version of WinPcap
• Perhaps someone else has reported the problem. Try reading recent Nmap-dev list archives.

If one of the above solutions work, please let me know so that I can work on an automatic solution. If Nmap still doesn't work for you, please mail nmap-dev@insecure.org with a thorough description of the problem as well as the Windows flavor and Nmap version your are using.

Other Operating Systems

Many other operating systems support Nmap so well that I have no need to create and distribute binary packages myself. You can choose to use the packages below, or compile the source distribution, which is often newer.

Solaris

Steven Christensen does an excellent job maintaining Nmap (and many other) packages for Solaris at Sunfreeware.Com.

Debian GNU/Linux

LaMont Jones does a fabulous job maintaining the Nmap .deb packages. The proper upgrade/install command is "apt-get install nmap". Or you can obtain package info at the following URLs:

Latest Debian "stable" Nmap: http://packages.debian.org/stable/net/nmap.html
Latest Debian development ("unstable") Nmap: http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/nmap.html

Mac OS X

Many Mac OS X users obtain Nmap along with many other UNIX tools from the Fink project. An alternative Mac OS X porting project that includes Nmap is DarwinPorts. Thanks to Eric Hall for maintaining the Nmap DarwinPort. If you compile the source distribution instead, be sure to read the Mac OS X note in that section.

FreeBSD

David O'Brien and Dominic Marks do a superb job keeping the FreeBSD "ports collection" version of Nmap up-to-date! The latest versions are available here.

OpenBSD

Nmap is included in the OpenBSD ports collection. Further information and instructions are available here. The basic instructions are:

1. If you do not already have a copy of the ports tree, obtain it via CVS using these instructions.
2. As root, execute the following command (replace /usr/ports with your local ports directory if it is different):

   cd /usr/ports/net/nmap && make install clean
   

NetBSD

NetBSD has packaged Nmap for an enormous number of platforms, from normal i386 to Playstation2, powerpc, vax, sparc, mips, amiga, arm, and platforms I have never even heard of! Instructions for dealing with the NetBSD package system are available here.

HP-UX

HP-UX Nmap binaries are available at The HP-UX Porting and Archive Center. At the time of this writing, the latest version available is 2.53 (very old).

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