Set environment variables (add to .bashrc ):

ANSYS, Inc. provides the free (classic interface, not the newer Discovery Live) for Windows and macOS. No .deb , no .rpm . Yet buried inside the Windows .exe is a cross-platform solver core. The real magic? The Linux version of the solver (Mechanical APDL, Fluent) runs natively. The missing piece is the Workbench GUI.

The engineering simulation community has long favored Linux for its stability, security, and superior handling of high-performance computing tasks. However, for students and beginners looking to run the free version on a Linux distribution (such as Ubuntu, Fedora, or CentOS), the path is not as straightforward as it is for Windows users.

Run the license manager (the student license is local, no internet required after activation). Fire up a test:

HPC (High-Performance Computing) clusters almost exclusively run on Linux.

While commercial Ansys products support various Linux distributions like Red Hat and Ubuntu, the free student bundle is restricted to Windows. Students who need to use Ansys on Linux typically have two main options: