Run windows application from linux

WinApps for Linux

Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office/Adobe in Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) and GNOME/KDE as if they were a part of the native OS, including Nautilus integration for right clicking on files of specific mime types to open them.

Proud to have made the top spot on r/linux on launch day.

WinApps was created as an easy, one command way to include apps running inside a VM (or on any RDP server) directly into GNOME as if they were native applications. WinApps works by:

Running a Windows RDP server in a background VM container
Checking the RDP server for installed applications such as Microsoft Office
If those programs are installed, it creates shortcuts leveraging FreeRDP for both the CLI and the GNOME tray
Files in your home directory are accessible via the \\tsclient\home mount inside the VM
You can right click on any files in your home directory to open with an application, too

Currently supported applications

WinApps supports ANY installed application on your system.

It does this by:

Scanning your system for offically configured applications (below)
Scanning your system for any other EXE files with install records in the Windows Registry

Any officially configured applications will have support for high-resolution icons and mime types for automatically detecting what files can be opened by each application. Any other detected executable files will leverage the icons pulled from the EXE.

Note: The officially configured application list below is fueled by the community, and therefore some apps may be untested by the WinApps team.

	Adobe Acrobat Pro (X)		Adobe Acrobat Reader (DC)
	Adobe After Effects (CC)		Adobe Audition (CC)
	Adobe Bridge (CS6, CC)		Adobe Creative Cloud (CC)
	Adobe Illustrator (CC)		Adobe InDesign (CC)
	Adobe Lightroom (CC)		Adobe Photoshop (CS6, CC)
	Adobe Premiere Pro (CC)		Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
	Explorer (File Manager)		Internet Explorer (11)
	Microsoft Access (2016, 2019, o365)		Microsoft Excel (2016, 2019, o365)
	Microsoft Word (2016, 2019, o365)		Microsoft OneNote (2016, 2019, o365)
	Microsoft Outlook (2016, 2019, o365)		Microsoft PowerPoint (2016, 2019, o365)
	Microsoft Project (2016, 2019, o365)		Microsoft Publisher (2016, 2019, o365)
	Powershell (Standard, Core)		Visual Studio (2019 — Ent\|Pro\|Com)
	Windows (Full RDP session)

Step 1: Set up a Windows Virtual Machine

The best solution for running a VM as a subsystem for WinApps would be KVM. KVM is a CPU and memory-efficient virtualization engine bundled with most major Linux distributions. To set up the VM for WinApps, follow this guide:

If you already have a Virtual Machine or server you wish to use with WinApps, you will need to merge kvm/RDPApps.reg into the VM’s Windows Registry. If this VM is in KVM and you want to use auto-IP detection, you will need to name the machine RDPWindows . Directions for both of these can be found in the guide linked above.

Step 2: Download the repo and prerequisites

To get things going, use:

Step 3: Creating your WinApps configuration file

You will need to create a

/.config/winapps/winapps.conf configuration file with the following information in it:

The username and password should be a full user account and password, such as the one created when setting up Windows or a domain user. It cannot be a user/PIN combination as those are not valid for RDP access.

When using a pre-existing non-KVM RDP server, you can use the RDP_IP to specify it’s location
If you are running a VM in KVM with NAT enabled, leave RDP_IP commented out and WinApps will auto-detect the right local IP
For domain users, you can uncomment and change RDP_DOMAIN
On high-resolution (UHD) displays, you can set RDP_SCALE to the scale you would like [100|140|160|180]
To add flags to the FreeRDP call, such as /audio-mode:1 to pass in a mic, use the RDP_FLAGS configuration option
For multi-monitor setups, you can try enabling MULTIMON , however if you get a black screen (FreeRDP bug) you will need to revert back
If you enable DEBUG , a log will be created on each application start in

Step 4: Run the WinApps installer

Lastly, check that FreeRDP can connect with:

You will see output from FreeRDP, as well as potentially have to accept the initial certificate. After that, a Windows Explorer window should pop up. You can close this window and press Ctrl-C to cancel out of FreeRDP.

If this step fails, try restarting the VM, or your problem could be related to:

You need to accept the security cert the first time you connect (with ‘check’)
Not enabling RDP in the Windows VM
Not being able to connect to the IP of the VM
Incorrect user credentials in

/.config/winapps/winapps.conf

Not merging install/RDPApps.reg into the VM

Then the final step is to run the installer which will prompt you for a system or user install:

This will take you through the following process:

Adding pre-defined applications

Adding applications with custom icons and mime types to the installer is easy. Simply copy one of the application configurations in the apps folder, and:

Edit the variables for the application
Replace the icon.svg with an SVG for the application (appropriately licensed)
Re-run the installer
Submit a Pull Request to add it to WinApps officially

When running the installer, it will check for if any configured apps are installed, and if they are it will create the appropriate shortcuts on the host OS.

Running applications manually

WinApps offers a manual mode for running applications that are not configured. This is completed with the manual flag. Executables that are in the path do not require full path definition.

Checking for new application support

The installer can be run multiple times, so simply run the below again and it will remove any current installations and update for the latest applications.

Optional installer command line arguments

The following optional commands can be used to manage your application configurations without prompts:

Black window: This is a FreeRDP bug that sometimes comes up. Try restarting the application or rerunning the command. If that doesn’t work, ensure you have MULTIMON disabled.

Some icons pulled from
- Fluent UI React — Icons under MIT License
- Fluent UI — Icons under MIT License with restricted use
- PKief’s VSCode Material Icon Theme — Icons under MIT License
- DiemenDesign’s LibreICONS — Icons under MIT License

About

Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office/Adobe in Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) and GNOME/KDE as if they were a part of the native OS, including Nautilus integration.

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How To Run Windows Applications On Linux [Beginners Guide]

Last updated September 12, 2019 By Munif Tanjim 42 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.

Finding an App in Wine AppDB

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

Wine AppDB name filter

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.

Wine AppDB Application page

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.

Detailed Information about Application

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

WinePrefix C: Drive

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.

7-zip Installation File

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

7zip Setup Directory on Wine

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.

Set Default .exe Loader

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.

Creating 7-zip shortcut

Now move the Link to Desktop.

Move shortcut to Desktop

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

Run 7zip from desktop

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

Linux directory 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:

Winetricks – Install an app

Winetricks – 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.

Winetricks Libraries & Components

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.

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