Enabling Cisco WebEx on a Fedora system is actually a lot easier than it looks by searching on Google. Pretty usual uh? Every time you look for something Linux related, a plethora of posts tell you that you need to compile, download, hack and modify.
This was probably true 10 years ago, but now setting up everything is much more easier than it sounds and usually involves a couple of settings and a couple of packages.
These are the steps required to setup Cisco WebEx on a Fedora 19 system; whether it be x86_64 or i686:
# yum install icedtea-web java-1.8.0-openjdk \
pangox-compat.i686 libXmu.i686 libgcj.i686 mesa-libEGL.i686 \
gtk2.i686 libpng2.i686
# setsebool -P unconfined_mozilla_plugin_transition=off mmap_low_allowed=on
The first packages are by good chance already installed on your system and should be the same of your system architecture; while the others need always to be the i686 variant as the WebEx program is compiled for 32 bit processors.
30th October 2013:
Updated information with additional packages for latest WebEX update.
8th January 2014:
As reported in the comments, due to recent Mesa updates, if you don’t have Mesa’s libEGL installed you have to add it. Added to the list of packages required for installation.
Thanks it worked on Centos7. However sound issue still exist. When I try to call through webex audio, it says audio device is inaccessible now.
Fedora 27 here, same problem. Everything looks fine except the audio where it says “inaccessible”.
After much searching and a couple of years on-and-off looking to solve the problem of running Webex on RHEL 7 (using Zoom as an alternative), I had another look and found this post. Very simple instructions and Webex now works on my RHEL 7 desktop.
Verified that it works on f22. I can now share all of my screens or just applications. I can’t choose which screen to share through which is somewhat limiting. I also found a work-around for personal rooms by using the meeting number available on the personal room page and using that number to join directly instead of the personal room link. Of course to get that number you have to login via some other Webex client or have someone pass it to you. I was unable to get the webcam functionality working in Webex under Linux.
I’m on F23-64. Sharing desktops works great (both as a viewer and a presenter), but I cannot get WebEx video to work at all, even viewing others’ video does not work (I’ve come to understand that sending my video wont work, and that’s okay, but I do want to see others’ video). I haven’t figured out how to solve this, yet. Anyone else have video working?
Ran into some issues with a fresh install of F23 64-bit. After much futzing about, I I finally tracked this down to not having the nVidia 32-bit OpenGL libraries installed. At least, after I did:
dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i686
things started working.
I should add that prior to installing the libraries, my symptoms were that Webex would start up, but I couldn’t share anything, and when attempting to share an application, the list of applications wouldn’t even come up.
Thanks a lot for this.. Worked on Fedora 20. Saved lot of my time.
No package libgcj.i686 available.
No package libpng2.i686 available.
Have someone had a success with webex+sound on fedora 22 x86_64?
I see “the audio device is unaccessible now” when cliking “call-in using computer button”
Thanks a lot for the post! I had to add libcanberra-gtk2.i686 on Fedora 22 to be able to see the shared screen.
Fedora 22 (64-bit) does not have the libgcj.i686 or libpng2.i686 libraries. However webex works when installing all of the other packages listed on this page.
Thanks for the tips!
Did you do anything else to get it working? I installed all the other packages and I can join the WebEx meeting room and see attendees, but that’s just it. So webex is the only reason for me I reboot into Windows ( and offcourse switch back immediately after the meeting) 🙂
Well that’s strange. I’ve been using Webex with screen/app sharing for years now and all the time I was on latest 64-bit Fdora (if I’m not mistaken started from Fedora 18 or 19).
http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=libgcj
As somebody already asked, does this require the installation of 32-bit firefox or it will it work with 64-bit firefox?
Hello, there is no 32 bit Firefox in the 64 bit distribution. And for the rest, the instructions are for both 32 and 64 bit, as you can see some packages are 32 bit only.
Have someone had a success with webex+sound on fedora 21 x86_64?
I see “the audio device is unaccessible now” when cliking “call-in using computer button”
Does this require 32-bit firefox or it can be 64-bit? I have the same “the audio device is unaccessible now” on 64-bit Fedora 20 even after installation of all libraries and Oracle 32-bit 8 JRE.
Never used the Oracle JRE, sorry. I’m using stock OpenJDK.
I’d be interested in this too.. I get a few errors trying to install the packages above in FC 21:
Protected multilib versions: gtk2-2.24.27-1.fc21.i686 != gtk2-2.24.25-1.fc21.x86_64
No package libgcj.i686 available.
No package libpng2.i686 available.
This is probably related just to mirror syncing, it should be solved on its own in a few hours.
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I followed the instructions above for Fedora 21 64-bit. I was still missing some packages in order to see other’s shared desktops. From the instructions in the following the link:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/368270/how-to-i-make-cisco-webex-work-with-13-10-64bit
I determined I was still missing some libraries:
ldd $HOME/.webex/????/*.so > $HOME/check.txt
vim $HOME/check.txt
yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.31-3.b13.fc21.i686 libpng12.i686 gtk2.i686
I’ve added them to the installation list. I have them installed, indeed. The i686 jre is not required though; I can see and share the desktop but I don’t have it installed.
That’s very strange that Webex works with 64-bit JRE.
The point is 64-bit JRE cannot execute 32-bit shared objects. But we know that Cisco Webex requires clients to load its 32-bit libs.
Just check libs in “~/.webex/_something_/”.
This is what I see:
So I would suppose that you still have 32-bit JRE, probably of lower version like 1.6 or 1.7 in your path.
Not really… I don’t have it:
Hm… magic?
Just tried it myself and indeed 64-bit java executable is used by WebEx.
So then probably 32-bit JRE is not a MUST.
Confirm that these instructions work on Fedora 21 64-bit!
Works fine on my updated Fedora 20 x86_64 system (Firefox 31.0).
Thanks for feedback!
Thanks! We’ve been struggling with this problem for weeks.
Thank you very much.
It does not work on my system (fedora 20 x64). the webex does not start at all.
With the recent Mesa updates you have also to install the
mesa-libEGLpackage if it’s not installed on your system. Working fine here (mesa-libEGLalready installed).now it works but Audio conference does not work (the message is: “the audio device is accessible now”)
Thanks for the guide. It helped me fix desktop sharing issue on fedora 19.
32bit libEGL.so.1 was missing in my system.
Hello, sorry for the delay. yes, it is required for the latest Mesa updates and I had it already installed for other reasons. I’ve updated the post, thanks for reporting!
I had a bunch of multilib issues trying to install.
Thanks for these instructions a lot. They allowed me to start Webex session but no screen/application-sharing enabled (nether I was able to see shared things nor share anything on my machine).
And fortunately I was able to resolve it – the problem was in missing dependencies for .so file uploaded by Webex Java applet.
In short I needed to install following packages extra:
========
libXmu.i686, java-1.8.0-openjdk.i686, libgcj.i686
========
Could you please update your instructions above so all needed libs are mentioned in one place?
BTW these instructions woks equally good in both Fedora 19 and 20.
Thanks, much appreciated.
I’ve updated the information in the post. Actually I had libXmu already installed.
Does audio conferencing work on x86_64 version of your browser in Fedora 19?
Didn’t test it, my company uses AT&T conferencing service for voice calls. We only use Webex for content sharing.
Worked like a champ! Thanks!
Worked great, except I don’t see anything when there is desktop sharing (almost every meeting I’m in has Desktop or application sharing)
I had exactly the same problem and it was driving me nut; that’s way I digged on how to make it work. Now here I can watch and present in meetings with application and desktop sharing.
Are you using Fedora 20?
Thx men work fine in fedora 19 (3.10.5-201.fc19.x86_64) and firefox 23
thnx a lot !
Very handy. Thanks!
Thanks for this post. This is immensely useful.
Does this enable desktop sharing and application sharing as well? That’s the bane of my existence.
I see that you used Meeting Center in the screenshot. Does it work with Training Center, Event Center, and Support Center?
I’ve had mixed luck with features working in some but not all of the versions of WebEx.
Yes it does work for both applications and desktop sharing; it has plagued me as well for a while.
I usually host or join simple meetings at work; so I don’t know exactly what Training Center, Event Center, and Support Center are…