Step 3: Download and install P4V and other client applications | Admin
You will use the P4 Visual Client (P4V) to work with versioned assets via a graphical user interface (GUI). P4V is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
After you complete the steps on this page, you will have:
-
P4 Visual Client (P4V)
-
P4 Admin, the visual administration client for P4 Server
-
P4 Merge, a merging and file comparison tool
-
P4, the command-line client for P4 Server
You will use P4V and P4 Admin to configure security and add users in later steps.
If you installed P4 Server on Windows, you will also use P4V to configure a super user in a later step.
These steps assume that you are installing the server and client applications on different computers. Installing the server on a separate computer ensures that everyone in your organization can access the files as needed.
On this page:
Download the installer
-
Go to the P4V download page.
-
In the Family field, select your operating system. If you are downloading the Windows installer, in the Version field, select (EXE).
-
Click Download.
-
In the download confirmation dialog box, click Download again.
-
After the download is complete, install P4V and other client applications using the steps for your operating system.
Install P4V and other client applications

-
Double-click the downloaded .exe file to start the installer.
-
On the Select Applications screen, make sure all applications, including P4 Admin, are selected. To install P4V in a different folder, click Change and select a folder.
-
Click Next.
-
On the Client Configuration screen, enter or select the following information:
-
Server: P4 Server address. For cloud deployments, you noted this value from your deployment outputs. For on-premises deployments, this is the server address you entered when installing P4 Server.
-
User Name : For cloud deployments, you noted this value from your deployment outputs. For on-premises deployments, enter the user name you used when installing P4 Server. This user has super user permissions, which give you access to perform advanced tasks on the server.
-
Text Editing Application: Accept the default editor or click Browse to select a different application.
-
-
Click Next.
-
On the Ready to install screen, click Install to start installation.
If you are prompted to allow the installer to make changes to your computer, click Yes.
-
When installation is complete, on the Finished installing screen, click Exit.
P4V opens unless you selected not to open it.

For macOS, install P4V, P4 Admin, and P4 Merge first. Then, install the command-line client (P4).
Install P4V, P4 Admin, and P4 Merge
-
Double-click the downloaded .dmg file.
-
Drag p4v, p4merge, and p4admin to the Applications folder.
-
In the Applications folder, double-click p4v. If you are prompted to open it, click Open.
-
In the Open Connection dialog box, enter the following information:
-
Server: For cloud deployments, you noted this value from your deployment outputs. For on-premises deployments, enter the server address you used when installing P4 Server.
-
User: For cloud deployments, you noted this value from your deployment outputs. For on-premises deployments, enter the username you used when installing P4 Server. This user has super user permissions, which give you access to perform advanced tasks on P4 Server.
-
-
Click OK.
-
In the Perforce Password Required dialog box, enter your password and click OK. For cloud deployments, you noted this value from your deployment outputs. For on-premises deployments, enter the password you used when installing P4 Server.
P4V opens.
Install P4
-
Go to the P4 download page.
-
In the Family field, select your operating system and the appropriate Platform.
-
Click Download.
-
In the download confirmation dialog box, click Download again.
-
Double-click the downloaded .tgz file to extract p4.
-
Open a command line window.
-
Make the downloaded p4 file executable:
chmod +x Downloads/helix-core-server/p4
-
Move p4 into
/usr/local/bin
, a common execution path:sudo mv Downloads/helix-core-server/p4 /usr/local/bin/
-
To test that P4 works, in the command line, enter
p4 info
. Installation is successful unless aCommand not found: p4
error is displayed.An error may be displayed that tells you to check
$P4PORT
. P4PORT stores the server address you entered during P4V installation and P4USER is the username you entered.-
To view your default P4 settings, at a command prompt, enter
p4 set
-
To change the P4PORT value, type
p4 set P4PORT=server address
-
Enter
p4 set
again to view the values you set.
-

For Linux, install P4V, P4 Admin, and P4 Merge first. Then, install the command-line client (P4).
Install P4V, P4 Admin, and P4 Merge
P4V is packaged as a compressed file that includes P4V, P4 Merge, P4 Admin, and P4VC. P4VC is a command-line client that can send certain P4 command-line commands to P4V without opening a full P4V instance.
-
Uncompress the .tgz file.
tar xvfz p4v.tgz
New directories are created:
-
p4v-202x.xxxxxx/bin
-
p4v-202x.xxxxxx/lib
-
-
Add the new directories to your
PATH
. For example:PATH="$PATH:~/Downloads/p4v-2024.1.2591061/bin"
-
To start P4V, open a terminal window and enter
p4v
.P4V opens.
To install P4 on a Linux computer where P4 Server is not installed, complete the steps in Install P4.
Install P4
If you installed P4 Server for Linux, P4, a more full featured command-line client than P4VC, was installed on the server. Complete the following steps to install P4 on a Linux computer that does not have P4 Server installed.
These steps are for the Ubuntu package manager for Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat), a popular version of Linux. If you need P4 packages for APT or YUM repositories, or steps to install YUM-based, go to the Perforce Packages page.
-
Make sure you have sudo access on the computer where you are installing P4.
-
Download the Perforce public key:
$ wget https://package.perforce.com/perforce.pubkey
-
Get the fingerprint of the public key:
$ gpg -n --import --import-options import-show perforce.pubkey
-
Verify the downloaded key matches the authentic Perforce fingerprint:
$ gpg -n --import --import-options import-show perforce.pubkey | grep -q "E58131C0AEA7B082C6DC4C937123CB760FF18869" && echo "true"
If the output istrue
, the key is valid. -
Add the public key to your keyring:
$ wget -qO - https://package.perforce.com/perforce.pubkey | sudo apt-key add -
-
Create a file for the Perforce repository:
$ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/perforce.list
-
To add the new repository to the package manager, add the following line to the file you created:
deb http://package.perforce.com/apt/ubuntu noble release
-
Save the file.
-
Refresh local packages:
$ sudo apt-get update
-
Install P4 using the built-in Ubuntu package manager:
$ sudo apt-get install helix-cli
-
Enter
Y
to confirm and wait for installation to complete.
What's next
-
If you installed P4 Server for Windows, finish configuring an administrative user account in P4V.
-
If you deployed P4 in the cloud or on-premises for Linux, an administrative user is already configured. Next, use P4 Admin to configure security.
Go to Step 5: Configure security.