If you’re a molecular scientist or educator working in an institutional environment, you’ve likely run into this frustration: installing scientific software often requires administrator rights. This can mean long delays while waiting for IT approval, unnecessary barriers when testing tools on shared machines, and missed opportunities for fast iterations in your research or teaching.
This is a common pain point in molecular modeling workflows—and it’s one that SAMSON elegantly avoids.
Installing SAMSON Without Admin Rights
SAMSON, the integrative molecular design platform, is designed with flexibility in mind—including how it gets installed. Unlike many modeling platforms, SAMSON installs directly into a user’s home directory. There’s no need for administrator privileges. In fact, SAMSON goes one step further: it will refuse to run with administrator privileges at startup to encourage secure usage habits.
This lightweight installation approach is particularly useful in the following scenarios:
- University labs where software installation is controlled by IT policies
- Shared workstations used by students, researchers, or visiting scholars
- Virtualized environments where root access is more complicated
- Cross-platform setups (Windows, macOS, Linux) that need a consistent, user-controlled experience
Getting started is simple: you download the platform, enter your email and SAMSON key (provided in your SAMSON Connect account), and let the installer do the rest—no permissions dialog, no system-level configuration.
What You Need Before Installing
Before installing SAMSON, make sure your system meets these basic requirements:
- Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, macOS 12+ (Intel or ARM), or modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 42+, etc.).
- Graphics Support: OpenGL 4.1-compatible GPU with updated drivers for best performance.
If you’re on Linux, depending on your distribution, you may need to install the following packages:
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sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0 libatomic1 # for Ubuntu-like systems sudo dnf install xcb-util* # for CentOS-like systems |
If you plan to run SAMSON on a virtual machine, make sure to enable hardware GPU acceleration—OpenGL support is key.
Platform Specific Notes
macOS users: After installing, you may need to enable full disk access for SAMSON depending on your system settings. Learn more in the Troubleshooting section of the documentation.
Linux users: You can create an alias in your terminal config file for easier launching:
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alias samson='$HOME/OneAngstrom/SAMSON-Application/9.0.0/Binaries/SAMSON-Core.sh' |
Why This Matters
By removing installation hurdles, SAMSON allows users—from students in training labs to seasoned molecular modelers—to stay focused on science rather than system configuration. It’s a small difference, but one that adds up to improved workflows and fewer bottlenecks.
To explore more about SAMSON’s cross-platform installation and requirements, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/getting-started/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.