How To Run Windows Applications On Linux [Beginners Guide]

Last updated September 12, 2019 By Munif Tanjim 41 Comments

As you’re here, I’m going to assume that you’re a Linux user. And every once in a while, you find yourself asking: can I run windows applications on Linux?.

Answer to that question is yes. Yes, you can run Windows applications in Linux. Here are some of the ways for running Windows programs with Linux :

Both of them works just fine. But they are somewhat resource hungry.

If you only need to use a small Windows application, installing Windows on a separate HDD partition or as a Virtual Machine is not efficient. Moreover, Virtual Machine can’t utilize the total power of your machine. So, what is the solution?

No worries, there is another way to use Windows software on Linux. It’s called Wine. If you aren’t yet familiar with it or you are a beginner in the world of Linux, this article is for you.

In this beginner’s guide, I’ll show you what is Wine and how to use it to run Windows software on Linux. I have used Ubuntu here as Ubuntu is one of the best Linux distros for beginners, but any other Linux distribution will have more or less same steps (except for the commands in Arch or Fedora based distros).

Using Wine to run Windows programs in Linux

Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. And WINE is actually an acronym for that. And as previously stated, it’s not even a virtual machine.

Rather it is a compatibility layer for running Windows applications on UNIX-like or POSIX-compliant operating systems (e.g. Linux, Mac, BSD). While a virtual machine or emulator simulates internal Windows logic, Wine translates those Windows logic to native UNIX/POSIX-complaint logic.

In simple and non-technical words, Wine converts internal Windows commands to commands your Linux system can natively understand.

Installing Wine

There are various ways to install Wine on your system. As this is a beginners’ guide, I’ll describe the most straightforward one here.

Almost all the Linux distros come with Wine in their package repository. Most of the time the latest stable version of Wine is available via package repository. Installing Wine on Ubuntu is as easy as firing up a terminal and running these commands:

However, if you are using an 64bit installation of Ubuntu, you will need to run these additional commands:

This will add 32bit architecture support on your distro which will benefit you in installing specific software. If you don’t know whether you have a 32bit installation or 64bit, check this article: 32bit or 64bit Ubuntu?

What Windows applications are Supported by Wine?

There is a large number of Windows applications that are currently fully supported by Wine. They will run without any hassle.

However, new Windows applications are being developed every day. Many of them wouldn’t function as we want on Wine. But the development pace of Wine is also rapid, support for new applications is being added all the time.

And there is a dedicated database for keeping track of just that.

Wine Application Database has almost 24,000 applications rated with different status depending upon how well that applications run in Wine. If you want to quickly check the rating of the application you want to use in Wine, you can take a look there. Here are the meaning of those ratings:

• Platinum: These applications install and run flawlessly in out-of-the-box Wine.
• Gold: These applications work flawlessly with some special configuration.
• Silver: Applications with minor issues are tagged as Silver.
• Bronze: The Bronze ones have major issues that seriously affect usage.
• Garbage: These simply won’t run on Wine.

Reviews, Installation Procedure, which Wine version it was tested against and various useful data are also available for each application here.

Of course, Wine Application Database is mostly user-generated data, so you are always welcome to try running an application with a different version of Wine and share your result with rest of the community.

Finding an Application in Wine Application Database

Let’s see how we can find an application in Wine Application Database.

Go to Wine Application Database. Click Browse Apps from the left sidebar.

Write the name of the application you want to find in the Name field.

Click on the link to the application from the search result.

You’ll see a description of the application. There will be a list of various versions with their compatibility rating with a specific Wine version.

Let’s click on the latest version link.

This is the main page you need to check. There will be detailed information about that specific version.

You’ll get an idea of what will work and what will not. Also, the installation procedure will be included here if any additional tasks are needed for installation.

Getting Started with Wine

Before we go on installing and running applications in Wine, we should have clear idea about a few things and about how to configure Wine for usage:

WinePrefix

Windows applications need a C: drive. Wine uses a virtual C: drive for this purpose. The directory of this virtual C: drive is called wineprefix. First of all, we need to create a wineprefix. For doing that, fire up a terminal and enter this command:

This will create a wineprefix and open the configuration window for Wine. You can change the configuration options if you want or let it be as is for time being and close it. Now, you can locate the virtual C: drive at

The general rule is to install each new application into a fresh wineprefix. We can create and maintain multiple wineprefix manually. But that task would seem rather tedious for the beginners. So, we will skip that part for now. But, later I’m going to show the way for doing that part with ease.

Installing an Application with Wine

Installing a supported application in Wine is generally as easy as double-clicking on the installation file. However, we are now going to see a step-by-step guide for installing 7-zip on Wine.

First of all, check for 7-zip rating on Wine Application Database. It has Platinum rating, so we are good to go. Open Wine configuration ( winecfg ) and set the Windows Version to Windows 7.

Right-click on the 7-zip installation file and select Open With Wine Windows Program Loader.

See that destination folder path? 7-zip installation has recognized the virtual C: drive from wineprefix.

Finish the installation and go to the installation directory [ $HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/7-zip/ ] from the file browser.

Right-click on 7zFM.exe and go to Properties > Open With.

Select Wine Windows Program Loader and close the window. Double-click on 7zFM.exe.

And there you go! For creating a shortcut on your desktop, right click on the file.

Now move the Link to Desktop.

Now, you can run 7-zip just from your desktop. All you have to do is double-click on the icon.

If you want to access your files on Linux, they are generally located in Z: Drive.

You can use the 7-zip just as you would use it on Windows – for extracting and creating archives and such.

Let’s make things (a lot) Easier

You might have noticed that, at Wine Application Database, with every version of application review a specific Wine version is mentioned.

It is because of the rapid development rate of Wine. Though an application runs with the current version of Wine, it might not run with a future version, because of the changes made.

Also, I’ve mentioned about installing each application in its own fresh wineprefix. So that, an application has no chance of interfering with another. And doing all these manually, usually from the terminal, is time-consuming, tiresome and at times, confusing.

PlayOnLinux is here to rescue. It provides a nice interface for doing all these things easily. For installing PlayOnLinux on Ubuntu, simply run this command:

You can easily perform every task related to Wine with PlayOnLinux from a beautiful and intuitive graphical interface:

• Installing & Uninstalling applications.
• Creating, Updating & Removing wineprefixes.
• Maintain Wine of different architecture and versions.
• Run & Create shortcut for installed applications.
• And so on…

But still, you will need to check Wine Application Database for reviews, installation procedures and such.

Advantages of using Wine

When it comes to running Windows applications on Linux system, Wine provides many advantages over using emulators or virtual machines.

• Performance: Wine is immune to the performance loss that otherwise occurs while emulating.
• Native Experience: There is no need to open Wine before running a Windows application. Exactly how Wine works will be more clear from this quote from official site,

Wine can be thought of as a Windows emulator in much the same way that Windows Vista can be thought of as a Windows XP emulator: both allow you to run the same applications by translating system calls in much the same way. Setting Wine to mimic Windows XP is not much different from setting Vista to launch an application in XP compatibility mode.

Wine Derivatives

There are quite a number of projects for running Windows applications on other platforms, based on Wine:

• CrossOver: CrossOver is a developed by the company named CodeWeavers. It is directly based on Wine with a few tweaks and proprietary add-ons. In fact, CodeWeavers employs a large portion of Wine developers. Unlike the rapid releases of Wine, CrossOver releases are more stable. The one and major downside is that Crossover is not free.
• PlayOnLinux: PlayOnLinux is completely based on Wine. And provides easier route for installing and managing application with Wine. PlayOnLinux is free.
  It is also available for Mac as PlayOnMac.
• ReactOS: ReactOS is an entirely different open-source operating system for running Windows applications. It reuses a considerable amount of codes from Wine. However, this is a project under development for more than a decade and I won’t recommend it.

Additional Tips on using Wine

Winetricks

This is another important part of using Wine. Winetricks is a helper script to download and install various redistributable runtime libraries needed to run some applications in Wine. These may include replacements for components of Wine using closed source libraries. Winetricks comes with Wine installation on Ubuntu.

For starting winetricks, run this command:

There are many options for helping you with various tasks.

Installing an Application with Winetricks

If you Install an app from winetricks, it will be installed in a separate wineprefix. Let’s install VLC:

It will then begin to download the VLC installation files. And then guide you through the rest of the process. It’s pretty simple.

Install Windows DLL or components and others

You can select a wineprefix from winetricks and install various libraries and components required by the application you want to run and also perform other operations.

N.B.: If using winetricks seems complicated to you, it’s perfectly okay. I feel the same way too. I always use PlayOnLinux for this reason. PlayOnLinux can do everything you might need to do from winetricks.

For more information you can check Wine FAQ and Documentation.

I hope you find this complete beginner’s guide to using Wine in Linux helpful. Now you can run Windows programs in Linux without installing a virtual machine or dual booting.

Let us know if you have any questions or opinion in the comment section below.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

Взаимодействие Windows с Linux Windows interoperability with Linux

В подсистеме Windows для Linux (WSL) постоянно улучшается интеграция между Windows и Linux. The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is continuously improving integration between Windows and Linux. Можно сделать следующее. You can:

• Запустить средства Windows (например, notepad.exe) из командной строки Linux (например, Ubuntu). Run Windows tools (ie. notepad.exe) from a Linux command line (ie. Ubuntu).
• Запустить средства Linux (например, grep) из командной строки Windows (например, PowerShell). Run Linux tools (ie. grep) from a Windows command line (ie. PowerShell).
• Совместное использование переменных среды между Linux и Windows. Share environment variables between Linux and Windows. (сборка 17063+) (Build 17063+)

Если вы используете Creators Update (октябрь 2017 г., сборка 16299) или Юбилейное обновление (август 2016 г., сборка 14393), перейдите к более ранним версиям Windows 10. If you’re running Creators Update (Oct 2017, Build 16299) or Anniversary Update (Aug 2016, Build 14393), jump to the Earlier versions of Windows 10.

Запуск инструментов Linux из командной строки Windows Run Linux tools from a Windows command line

Запускайте двоичные файлы Linux из командной строки Windows (CMD или PowerShell), используя wsl (или wsl.exe ). Run Linux binaries from the Windows Command Prompt (CMD) or PowerShell using wsl (or wsl.exe ).

Например: For example:

Двоичные файлы вызываются следующим образом. Binaries invoked in this way:

• Используется тот же рабочий каталог, что и для текущей командной строки или сеанса PowerShell. Use the same working directory as the current CMD or PowerShell prompt.
• Файл выполняется от имени пользователя WSL по умолчанию. Run as the WSL default user.
• Требуются те же права администратора Windows, что и у вызывающего процесса и терминала. Have the same Windows administrative rights as the calling process and terminal.

Команда Linux после wsl (или wsl.exe ) обрабатывается как любая команда, выполняемая в WSL. The Linux command following wsl (or wsl.exe ) is handled like any command run in WSL. Можно выполнять sudo, конвейерную передачу и перенаправление файлов. Things such as sudo, piping, and file redirection work.

Пример использования sudo для обновления дистрибутива Linux по умолчанию: Example using sudo to update your default Linux distribution:

Имя пользователя дистрибутива Linux по умолчанию будет указано после выполнения этой команды, и вам будет предложено указать пароль. Your default Linux distribution user name will be listed after running this command and you will be asked for your password. После правильного ввода пароля дистрибутив скачает обновления. After entering your password correctly, your distribution will download updates.

Смешивание команд Linux и Windows Mixing Linux and Windows commands

Ниже приведено несколько примеров смешиваний команд Linux и Windows с помощью PowerShell. Here are a few examples of mixing Linux and Windows commands using PowerShell.

Чтобы выполнить команду Linux ls -la для вывода списка файлов и команду PowerShell findstr для фильтрации результатов слов, содержащих git, объедините команды: To use the Linux command ls -la to list files and the PowerShell command findstr to filter the results for words containing «git», combine the commands:

Чтобы выполнить команду PowerShell dir для вывода списка файлов и команду Linux grep для фильтрации результатов слов, содержащих git, объедините команды: To use the PowerShell command dir to list files and the Linux command grep to filter the results for words containing «git», combine the commands:

Чтобы использовать команду Linux ls -la для вывода списка файлов и команду PowerShell > out.txt для вывода этого списка в текстовый файл с именем out.txt, объедините команды: To use the Linux command ls -la to list files and the PowerShell command > out.txt to print that list to a text file named «out.txt», combine the commands:

Команды, передаваемые в wsl.exe , перенаправляются в процесс WSL без изменения. The commands passed into wsl.exe are forwarded to the WSL process without modification. Пути к файлам должны быть указаны в формате WSL. File paths must be specified in the WSL format.

Чтобы выполнить команду Linux ls -la для вывода списка файлов в пути файловой системы Linux /proc/cpuinfo с помощью PowerShell, сделайте следующее: To use the Linux command ls -la to list files in the /proc/cpuinfo Linux file system path, using PowerShell:

Чтобы выполнить команду Linux ls -la для вывода списка файлов в пути файловой системы Windows C:\Program Files с помощью PowerShell, сделайте следующее: To use the Linux command ls -la to list files in the C:\Program Files Windows file system path, using PowerShell:

Запуск инструментов Windows из Linux Run Windows tools from Linux

WSL может запускать средства Windows непосредственно из командной строки WSL с помощью [tool-name].exe . WSL can run Windows tools directly from the WSL command line using [tool-name].exe . Например, notepad.exe . For example, notepad.exe .

\’` as the file path.» Currently it I can just enter `notepad.exe foo.txt` and it seems to work fine, so explaining a situation where the file path is needed would be helpful. —>

Приложения, выполняемые таким образом, обладают следующими свойствами. Applications run this way have the following properties:

• Рабочим каталогом остается каталог командной строки WSL (в большинстве случаев; исключения описаны ниже). Retain the working directory as the WSL command prompt (for the most part — exceptions are explained below).
• Они имеют те же разрешения, что и процесс WSL. Have the same permission rights as the WSL process.
• Они выполняются от имени активного пользователя Windows. Run as the active Windows user.
• Они отображаются в диспетчере задач Windows так, как если бы они выполнялись непосредственно из командной строки. Appear in the Windows Task Manager as if directly executed from the CMD prompt.

Исполняемые файлы Windows, выполняемые в WSL, обрабатываются аналогично собственным исполняемым файлам Linux — конвейерной передаче, перенаправлению и даже фоновому режиму работы. Windows executables run in WSL are handled similarly to native Linux executables — piping, redirects, and even backgrounding work as expected.

Чтобы запустить средство Windows ipconfig.exe , использовать средство Linux grep для фильтрации результатов IPv4, а также средство Linux cut для удаления полей столбцов из дистрибутива Linux (например, Ubuntu), введите: To run the Windows tool ipconfig.exe , use the Linux tool grep to filter the «IPv4» results, and use the Linux tool cut to remove the column fields, from a Linux distribution (for example, Ubuntu) enter:

Давайте рассмотрим пример сочетания команд Windows и Linux. Let’s try an example mixing Windows and Linux commands. Откройте дистрибутив Linux (например, Ubuntu) и создайте текстовый файл: touch foo.txt . Open your Linux distribution (ie. Ubuntu) and create a text file: touch foo.txt . Теперь используйте команду Linux ls -la , чтобы отобразить список файлов прямого доступа и сведения об их создании, а также средство Windows PowerShell findstr.exe , чтобы отфильтровать результаты и отобразить только файл foo.txt : Now use the Linux command ls -la to list the direct files and their creation details, plus the Windows PowerShell tool findstr.exe to filter the results so only your foo.txt file shows in the results:

Средства Windows должны иметь расширение файла, его регистр символов должен совпадать с регистром в имени файла и эти файлы должны быть исполняемыми. Windows tools must include the file extension, match the file case, and be executable. Неисполняемые файлы, в том числе сценарии пакетного выполнения и Non-executables including batch scripts. собственные команды командной строки, такие как dir , можно выполнять с помощью команды cmd.exe /C . CMD native commands like dir can be run with cmd.exe /C command.

Например, отобразите список содержимого каталога C:\ файловой системы Windows, введя: For example, list the contents of your Windows files system C:\ directory, by entering:

Или выполните команду ping , чтобы отправить запрос проверки связи на веб-сайт microsoft.com: Or use the ping command to send an echo request to the microsoft.com website:

Параметры передаются в двоичный файл Windows без изменений. Parameters are passed to the Windows binary unmodified. Например, следующая команда откроет C:\temp\foo.txt в notepad.exe . As an example, the following command will open C:\temp\foo.txt in notepad.exe :

Этот способ также будет работать: This will also work:

Совместное использование переменных среды между Windows и WSL Share environment variables between Windows and WSL

Решение WSL и Windows совместно используют WSLENV — специальную переменную среды, созданную для взаимодействия Windows и дистрибутивов Linux, запущенных в WSL. WSL and Windows share a special environment variable, WSLENV , created to bridge Windows and Linux distributions running on WSL.

Свойства переменной WSLENV : Properties of WSLENV variable:

• она используется совместно и существует в средах Windows и WSL; It is shared; it exists in both Windows and WSL environments.
• это список переменных среды, которые совместно используют Windows и WSL; It is a list of environment variables to share between Windows and WSL.
• она позволяет форматировать список переменных среды для корректного использования в Windows и WSL. It can format environment variables to work well in Windows and WSL.
• она может использоваться в потоке между WSL и Win32. It can assist in the flow between WSL and Win32.

До выпуска сборки 17063 единственной переменной среды Windows,, к которой могла получить доступ WSL, была PATH (это позволяло запускать исполняемые файлы Win32 из WSL). Prior to 17063, only Windows environment variable that WSL could access was PATH (so you could launch Win32 executables from under WSL). Начиная со сборки 17063, WSLENV поддерживается. Starting in 17063, WSLENV begins being supported. WSLENV учитывает регистр. WSLENV is case sensitive.

Флаги WSLENV WSLENV flags

В WSLENV доступны четыре флага, влияющие на способ преобразования переменной среды. There are four flags available in WSLENV to influence how the environment variable is translated.

Флаги WSLENV : WSLENV flags:

• /p преобразовывает пути WSL и Linux в пути Win32 и наоборот; /p — translates the path between WSL/Linux style paths and Win32 paths.
• /l указывает, что переменная среды представляет собой список путей; /l — indicates the environment variable is a list of paths.
• /u указывает, что эту переменную среды следует добавлять только при запуске WSL из Win32; /u — indicates that this environment variable should only be included when running WSL from Win32.
• /w указывает, что эту переменную среды следует добавлять только при запуске Win32 из WSL. /w — indicates that this environment variable should only be included when running Win32 from WSL.

При необходимости флаги можно комбинировать. Flags can be combined as needed.

Узнайте больше о WSLENV, ознакомившись с часто задаваемыми вопросами и примерами установки значения WSLENV для объединения других предварительно определенных переменных среды с суффиксом в виде косой чертой и флагами для указания способа перевода значения и передачи переменных скрипту. Read more about WSLENV, including FAQs and examples of setting the value of WSLENV to a concatenation of other pre-defined environment vars, each suffixed with a slash followed by flags to specify how the value should be translated and passing variables with a script. В этой статье также показано, как настроить среду разработки с помощью языка программирования Go для совместного использования GOPATH с WSL и Win32. This article also includes an example for setting up a dev environment with the Go programming language, configured to share a GOPATH between WSL and Win32.

Отключение взаимодействия Disable interoperability

Пользователи могут отключить возможность запуска средств Windows для отдельного сеанса WSL, выполнив следующую команду в качестве привилегированного пользователя. Users may disable the ability to run Windows tools for a single WSL session by running the following command as root:

Чтобы повторно включить возможность запуска двоичных файлов Windows, закройте все сеансы WSL и повторно запустите bash.exe или выполните следующую команду от имени привилегированного пользователя. To re-enable Windows binaries, exit all WSL sessions and re-run bash.exe or run the following command as root:

Отключение взаимодействия не будет сохраняться между сеансами WSL, оно снова будет включено при запуске нового сеанса. Disabling interop will not persist between WSL sessions — interop will be enabled again when a new session is launched.

Предшествующие версии Windows 10 Earlier versions of Windows 10

В предшествующих версиях Windows 10 для команд взаимодействия существует несколько различий. There are several differences for the interoperability commands on earlier Windows 10 versions. Если вы используете версию Creators Update (октябрь 2017 г., сборка 16299) или Юбилейного обновления (август 2016 г., сборка 14393) Windows 10, мы рекомендуем выполнить обновление до последней версии Windows. Если это невозможно, мы выделили некоторые отличия при взаимодействии ниже. If you’re running a Creators Update (Oct 2017, Build 16299), or Anniversary Update (Aug 2016, Build 14393) version of Windows 10, we recommend you update to the latest Windows version, but if that’s not possible, we have outlined some of the interop differences below.

• bash.exe заменен на wsl.exe ; bash.exe has been replaced with wsl.exe .
• параметр -c не требуется для выполнения одной команды wsl.exe ; -c option for running a single command isn’t needed with wsl.exe .
• путь Windows включен в переменную $PATH WSL. Windows path is included in the WSL $PATH .
• Процесс отключения взаимодействия не изменяется. The process for disabling interop is unchanged.

Команды Linux можно запускать из командной строки Windows или из PowerShell, но для ранних версий Windows необходимо использовать команду bash . Linux commands can be run from the Windows Command Prompt or from PowerShell, but for early Windows versions, you man need to use the bash command. Например: For example:

Такие функции, как ввод, конвейерная передача и перенаправление файлов, работают должным образом. Things such as input, piping, and file redirection work as expected.

Команды WSL, передаваемые в bash -c , перенаправляются в процесс WSL без изменения. The WSL commands passed into bash -c are forwarded to the WSL process without modification. Пути к файлам должны быть указаны в формате WSL, кроме того, необходимо внимательно экранировать соответствующие знаки. File paths must be specified in the WSL format and care must be taken to escape relevant characters. Пример: Example:

При вызове средства Windows из дистрибутива WSL в ранних версиях Windows 10 необходимо указать путь к каталогу. When calling a Windows tool from a WSL distribution in an earlier version of Windows 10, you will need to specify the directory path. Например, в командной строке WSL введите: For example, from your WSL command line, enter:

В WSL эти исполняемые файлы обрабатываются аналогично собственным исполняемым файлам Linux. In WSL, these executables are handled similar to native Linux executables. Это означает, что добавление каталогов в путь Linux и их конвейерная передача между командами выполняется должным образом. This means adding directories to the Linux path and piping between commands works as expected. Например: For example: