diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/registry/dependencies.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/registry/dependencies.ts
index 8d0b47911a9d1..0aac2cf9b67f2 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/registry/dependencies.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/registry/dependencies.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import path from 'path';
 
 import { wrapInASCIIBox } from '@utils/ascii';
 import { hostPlatform, isOfficiallySupportedPlatform } from '@utils/hostPlatform';
+import { getLinuxDistributionInfoSync, isDebianBasedDistro } from '@utils/linuxUtils';
 import { spawnAsync } from '@utils/spawnAsync';
 import { getPlaywrightVersion } from '../userAgent';
 import { deps } from './nativeDeps';
@@ -90,6 +91,19 @@ export async function installDependenciesWindows(targets: Set<DependencyGroup>,
 }
 
 export async function installDependenciesLinux(targets: Set<DependencyGroup>, dryRun: boolean) {
+  if (!isDebianBasedDistro()) {
+    const distroId = getLinuxDistributionInfoSync()?.id || 'this distribution';
+    const message = [
+      `'install-deps' can only install system dependencies on Debian and Ubuntu.`,
+      `On ${distroId}, install the libraries Playwright's browsers need using your`,
+      `distribution's package manager (e.g. zypper, dnf or pacman).`,
+    ].join('\n');
+    if (dryRun) {
+      console.log(message); // eslint-disable-line no-console
+      return;
+    }
+    throw new Error(message);
+  }
   const libraries: string[] = [];
   const platform = hostPlatform;
   if (!isOfficiallySupportedPlatform)
@@ -229,7 +243,10 @@ export async function validateDependenciesLinux(sdkLanguage: string, linuxLddDir
   // Check Ubuntu version.
   const missingPackages = new Set();
 
-  const libraryToPackageNameMapping = deps[hostPlatform] ? {
+  // Only translate libraries to apt package names on Debian/Ubuntu; on other distributions the
+  // names would be wrong, so we report the missing libraries instead (see the `else` branch below).
+  const isDebianBased = isDebianBasedDistro();
+  const libraryToPackageNameMapping = isDebianBased && deps[hostPlatform] ? {
     ...(deps[hostPlatform]?.lib2package || {}),
     ...MANUAL_LIBRARY_TO_PACKAGE_NAME_UBUNTU,
   } : {};
@@ -285,13 +302,24 @@ export async function validateDependenciesLinux(sdkLanguage: string, linuxLddDir
       `<3 Playwright Team`,
     ]);
   } else {
-    // Unhappy path: we either run on unknown distribution, or we failed to resolve all missing
-    // libraries to package names.
+    // Unhappy path: we either run on a non-Debian distribution, or we failed to resolve all
+    // missing libraries to package names.
     // Print missing libraries only:
     errorLines.push(...[
       `Missing libraries:`,
       ...[...allMissingDeps].map(dep => '    ' + dep),
     ]);
+    if (!isDebianBased) {
+      const distroId = getLinuxDistributionInfoSync()?.id || 'this distribution';
+      errorLines.push(...[
+        ``,
+        `Playwright's automated dependency installer ('install-deps') supports only Debian and`,
+        `Ubuntu. On ${distroId}, install the packages that provide the libraries listed above`,
+        `using your distribution's package manager (e.g. zypper, dnf or pacman).`,
+        ``,
+        `<3 Playwright Team`,
+      ]);
+    }
   }
 
   throw new Error('\n' + wrapInASCIIBox(errorLines.join('\n'), 1));
@@ -313,7 +341,7 @@ async function executablesOrSharedLibraries(directoryPath: string): Promise<stri
     return [];
   const allPaths = (await fs.promises.readdir(directoryPath)).map(file => path.resolve(directoryPath, file));
   const allStats = await Promise.all(allPaths.map(aPath => fs.promises.stat(aPath)));
-  const filePaths = allPaths.filter((aPath, index) => (allStats[index] as any).isFile());
+  const filePaths = allPaths.filter((aPath, index) => allStats[index].isFile());
 
   const executablersOrLibraries = (await Promise.all(filePaths.map(async filePath => {
     const basename = path.basename(filePath).toLowerCase();
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/mcp/browserFactory.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/mcp/browserFactory.ts
index 70cf0878e55d7..db34d9a13acc8 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/mcp/browserFactory.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/tools/mcp/browserFactory.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ import crypto from 'crypto';
 import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 
+import { getLinuxDistributionInfoSync, isDebianBasedDistro } from '@utils/linuxUtils';
+
 import { playwright } from '../../inprocess';
 import { defaultCacheDirectory } from '../../server/registry/index';
 import { testDebug } from './log';
@@ -78,8 +80,7 @@ export interface BrowserContextFactory {
 
 function browserInfo(browser: playwrightTypes.Browser, config: FullConfig): BrowserInfo {
   return {
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-restricted-syntax
-    guid: (browser as any)._guid,
+    guid: (browser as unknown as { _guid: string })._guid,
     browserName: config.browser.browserName,
     launchOptions: config.browser.launchOptions,
     userDataDir: config.browser.userDataDir
@@ -121,8 +122,7 @@ async function createRemoteBrowser(config: FullConfig): Promise<BrowserWithInfo>
   // shape.
   const remote = config.browser.remoteEndpoint!;
   // `remoteHeaders` is for back-compat, `remoteEndpoint.headers` takes precedence.
-  // eslint-disable-next-line no-restricted-syntax
-  const remoteHeaders = (config.browser as any).remoteHeaders as Record<string, string> | undefined;
+  const remoteHeaders = (config.browser as { remoteHeaders?: Record<string, string> }).remoteHeaders;
   const remoteOptions = typeof remote === 'string'
     ? { endpoint: remote, headers: remoteHeaders }
     : { ...remote, headers: { ...remoteHeaders, ...remote.headers } };
@@ -181,11 +181,16 @@ async function createPersistentBrowser(config: FullConfig, clientInfo: ClientInf
     const browserContext = await browserType.launchPersistentContext(userDataDir, launchOptions);
     const browser = browserContext.browser()!;
     return browser;
-  } catch (error: any) {
+  } catch (error: unknown) {
+    if (!(error instanceof Error))
+      throw error;
     throwIfExecutableMissing(error, config);
     if (error.message.includes('cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory')) {
       const browserName = launchOptions.channel ?? config.browser.browserName;
-      throw new Error(`Missing system dependencies required to run browser ${browserName}. Install them with: sudo npx playwright install-deps ${browserName}`);
+      if (isDebianBasedDistro())
+        throw new Error(`Missing system dependencies required to run browser ${browserName}. Install them with: sudo npx playwright install-deps ${browserName}`);
+      const distroId = getLinuxDistributionInfoSync()?.id || 'this distribution';
+      throw new Error(`Missing system dependencies required to run browser ${browserName}. On ${distroId}, install the libraries it needs using your distribution's package manager (e.g. zypper, dnf or pacman).`);
     }
     if (error.message.includes('ProcessSingleton') || error.message.includes('exitCode=21'))
       throw new Error(`Browser is already in use for ${userDataDir}, use --isolated to run multiple instances of the same browser`);
@@ -229,8 +234,8 @@ export function isProfileLocked(userDataDir: string): boolean {
       const fd = fs.openSync(lockPath, 'r+');
       fs.closeSync(fd);
       return false;
-    } catch (e: any) {
-      return e.code !== 'ENOENT';
+    } catch (e: unknown) {
+      return (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code !== 'ENOENT';
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/utils/linuxUtils.ts b/packages/utils/linuxUtils.ts
index 86d6362588694..168d1a16c842c 100644
--- a/packages/utils/linuxUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/linuxUtils.ts
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ let didFailToReadOSRelease = false;
 let osRelease: {
   id: string,
   version: string,
+  idLike: string,
 } | undefined;
 
-export function getLinuxDistributionInfoSync(): { id: string, version: string } | undefined {
+export function getLinuxDistributionInfoSync(): { id: string, version: string, idLike: string } | undefined {
   if (process.platform !== 'linux')
     return undefined;
   if (!osRelease && !didFailToReadOSRelease) {
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ export function getLinuxDistributionInfoSync(): { id: string, version: string }
       osRelease = {
         id: fields.get('id') ?? '',
         version: fields.get('version_id') ?? '',
+        idLike: fields.get('id_like') ?? '',
       };
     } catch (e) {
       didFailToReadOSRelease = true;
@@ -43,6 +45,19 @@ export function getLinuxDistributionInfoSync(): { id: string, version: string }
   return osRelease;
 }
 
+// Distributions whose system dependencies Playwright can install or describe with apt.
+// ID_LIKE covers derivatives (e.g. Pop!_OS, Mint, Kali) that set it to "debian"/"ubuntu".
+const DEBIAN_BASED_DISTRO_IDS = new Set(['ubuntu', 'debian', 'pop', 'neon', 'tuxedo', 'linuxmint', 'raspbian']);
+
+export function isDebianBasedDistro(): boolean {
+  const info = getLinuxDistributionInfoSync();
+  if (!info)
+    return false;
+  if (DEBIAN_BASED_DISTRO_IDS.has(info.id))
+    return true;
+  return info.idLike.split(' ').some(like => like === 'debian' || like === 'ubuntu');
+}
+
 function parseOSReleaseText(osReleaseText: string): Map<string, string> {
   const fields = new Map();
   for (const line of osReleaseText.split('\n')) {