Installation

Installing John the Ripper

John the Ripper is available on most Unix-like systems via package managers, or you can build from source to get the latest Jumbo features and OpenCL GPU support.

Recommendation: For CTFs and password cracking competitions, always install the Jumbo version — it includes hundreds of additional hash formats and the full suite of extraction tools.

Linux (Kali / Debian / Ubuntu)

APT (Debian / Kali / Ubuntu)

bash

1sudo apt update && sudo apt install john

Verify Installation

bash

1john --version

Info

Kali Linux ships with john pre-installed and includes all hash extraction utilities.

macOS (Homebrew)

Install via Homebrew

bash

1brew install john

Run John

bash

1john --version

Build from Source (Jumbo)

Building from source gives you the most up-to-date Jumbo version with OpenCL GPU acceleration and the largest set of hash formats.

Clone and Build

bash

1git clone https://github.com/openwall/john.git
2cd john/src
3./configure && make -sj4

Quick Build with all optimizations

bash

1cd john/src
2./configure --enable-opencl && make -s clean && make -sj$(nproc)

Tip

--enable-opencl enables GPU acceleration via OpenCL. You need OpenCL drivers installed for your GPU vendor.

Windows

Download Prebuilt Binaries

Download John the Ripper Jumbo from the official site or use an automated binary release:

bash

1https://www.openwall.com/john/k/john-1.9.0-jumbo-1.tar.xz

Warning

The Windows version is distributed as a zip archive. Extract it to a folder (e.g., C:\john) and run john.exe from the command prompt.

Verify Your Installation

After installation, verify that John is properly installed and see the build features:

Show version and format count

bash

1john --version

List all supported hash formats

bash

1john --list=formats

Show available cracking modes

bash

1john --list=modes

List external mode formats

bash

1john --list=external

Next: Single Crack Mode