Install, 2026-10-23 (UTC+8). Command exactly as on ollama.com/download/linux. Box: Debian-based Linux, sudo available, no systemd, no GPU.

08:47:06
>>> Installing ollama to /usr/local
ERROR: This version requires zstd for extraction. Please install zstd and try again:
  - Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install zstd
  - RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: sudo dnf install zstd
  - Arch: sudo pacman -S zstd

real	0m1.132s
user	0m0.077s
sys	0m0.017s
exit=1
08:47:07
--- run 2 08:47:11
>>> Cleaning up old version at /usr/local/lib/ollama
>>> Installing ollama to /usr/local
ERROR: This version requires zstd for extraction. Please install zstd and try again:
  - Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install zstd
  - RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: sudo dnf install zstd
  - Arch: sudo pacman -S zstd

real	0m0.908s
user	0m0.057s
sys	0m0.038s
exit=1
08:47:12
--- run 3 08:48:21
>>> Cleaning up old version at /usr/local/lib/ollama
>>> Installing ollama to /usr/local
>>> Downloading ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst

[curl progress bar removed]
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>>> Creating ollama user...
>>> Adding ollama user to video group...
>>> Adding current user to ollama group...
>>> Creating ollama systemd service...
WARNING: systemd is not running
WARNING: Unable to detect NVIDIA/AMD GPU. Install lspci or lshw to automatically detect and install GPU dependencies.
>>> The Ollama API is now available at 127.0.0.1:11434.
>>> Install complete. Run "ollama" from the command line.

real	0m14.640s
user	0m3.230s
sys	0m6.557s
exit=0
08:48:35

--- zstd install between run 1/2 and run 3 (the installer's own error told us to) ---
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
E: Unable to locate package zstd
Unpacking zstd (1.5.7+dfsg-1) ...
Setting up zstd (1.5.7+dfsg-1) ...

--- after run 3 ---
$ ollama -v
Warning: could not connect to a running Ollama instance
Warning: client version is 0.40.8
(The installer printed 'The Ollama API is now available at 127.0.0.1:11434' but did not start a server: it had warned 'systemd is not running'. We started it with 'ollama serve' as the manual-install docs say.)
08:49:22 ollama serve -> 'Listening on 127.0.0.1:11434 (version 0.40.8)'; GET / -> 'Ollama is running'; ollama -v -> 'ollama version is 0.40.8'. No account or sign-in was asked for at any point.