diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/dependencies.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/dependencies.ts
index 51e692f84c248..f28b94308baf6 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/dependencies.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/dependencies.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import childProcess from 'child_process';
 import * as utils from './utils';
 import { buildPlaywrightCLICommand } from './registry';
 import { deps } from './nativeDeps';
+import { parseOSReleaseText } from './ubuntuVersion';
 
 const BIN_DIRECTORY = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'bin');
 
@@ -53,6 +54,10 @@ export async function installDependenciesWindows(targets: Set<DependencyGroup>,
 }
 
 export async function installDependenciesLinux(targets: Set<DependencyGroup>, dryRun: boolean) {
+  const osReleaseText = await fs.promises.readFile('/etc/os-release', 'utf8');
+  const fields = parseOSReleaseText(osReleaseText);
+  if (fields.get('id') !== 'ubuntu')
+    throw new Error(`Unsupported Linux distribution, only Ubuntu is supported got ${fields.get('id')}!`);
   const libraries: string[] = [];
   for (const target of targets) {
     const info = deps[utils.hostPlatform];