Will windows applications run on linux

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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How to run Windows software on Linux

In this article you will learn how to run windows applications on Linux/Ubuntu 18.04 using Wine and other alternatives. Wine ( Wine Is Not an Emulator ), is an open source application which is provided as a compatibility layer in Linux . It is used to bridge the gap between Linux and windows worlds so that applications that are meant for Windows could run on Linux.
An emulator or a virtual machine would simulate internal Windows logic whereas Wine would transform Windows logic into native UNIX/POSIX compliant logic.
This is said, not all Windows based applications can run on Linux and even if they do run, their behavior will differ from that in their natural Windows environment. Wine has a database (AppDB) which lists all applications that have been properly tested and confirmed to work on Linux.

Wine installation

Usually, the latest stable version of Wine can be found in the package repository and is offered by most Linux distros. The version that is available in the repositories however may not be the latest version of Wine.

We will first update the packages list via the command :

sudo apt update

Now run the following command in order to install wine :

sudo apt install wine

Run windows programs on linux using wine

As you can see, there are two versions of Wine : a stable version and a development version.

The development version

In order to install the development version, run he command below :

sudo apt install wine-development

Now to verify the Wine version ,type in the command below :

The stable version

The WineHQ repository contains standard Wine packages that you can be downloaded and installed on your system. Follow the steps below to install the stable version of Wine:

a – To add i386 architecture, run the command below before installing a 64-bit version of Wine:

sudo dpkg –add-architecture i386

This is in case you are using a 64 bit installation of Ubuntu. In order to know whether you are using a 32 or 64 bit , you may want to read our article here.

b – To add the WineHQ signing key, issue the command below :

wget -qO- https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key | sudo apt-key add –

c – To add the corresponding repository from the WineHQ, execute the command below :

sudo apt-add-repository ‘deb http://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ artful main’

d – The stable version can now be installed by executing the command below :

sudo apt-get install –install-recommends winehq-stable

Run windows on linux using wine-hq

This will require 411 MB of additional disk space. Go ahead and hit Y when prompted.

As before, issue the command below to discover the version :

Supported applications by Wine

Installing the latest version of Wine is important since the developers are adding more Windows applications every now and then. As mentioned earlier, Wine provides an updated list of all supported applications which can be found here.

You have the possibility to check the health of each application when it runs on Wine. This is represented by a rating which consists of the following values:

• Platinum: Applications will run flawlessly
• Gold: Applications work flawlessly but some special configuration is needed.
• Silver: Applications with minor issues.
• Bronze: Applications have major issues that might hamper its functionality.
• Garbage: These Applications will not run on Wine.

This can be found by clicking on Browse Apps item on the left hand side when you visit the WineHQ website. You also have at your disposal other filtering options as shown below :

Here we are looking for applications which contain the word adobe.
If you click on a link, you will see more details, for instance when you click on Adobe Audition, you would get the details below :

This might help you decide which version of the application you would want to install.

Wine configuration

On windows, software applications need a C: drive. To support Windows based applications, Wine uses a virtual C: drive which has a directory called wineprefix that needs to be created beforehand using the the winecfg command. This will set up the Wine environment:

Once this is completed, wineprefix will be created and the configuration window for Wine will open up. You should be able to configure several Wine settings but the default settings should suffice in most cases.

You should be able to locate the virtual C: drive at :

This drive will contain the following items which are familiar for Windows users:

How to install applications with wine ?

Any supported application can be installed using Wine very easily much like in Windows. We provide a short guide below on how to install a simple application on Wine.

You would first need to download the application. Here we will download Notepad++ from the Notepad++ website.

Once the download is available on your machine, select the downloaded file and right click on it. A pop-menu will appear with some proposed applications. Select “Open With Wine Windows Program Loader”.

Once the installation wizard starts, select your preferred language and proceed to the installation of Notepad++.

Windows applications will be installed in the /.wine/drive_c/ directory.

In order to launch the Notepad++ , open up the directory

/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Notepad++ and double click on the file notepad++.exe.

PlayOnLinux

PlayOnLinux is a powerful GUI based utility that allows Windows applications to be easily installed on Linux. Once installed, PlayOnLinux offers a long list of applications that you can select and install.

We will show below how to install PlayOnLinux on Ubuntu 18.04.

PlayOnLinux installation

PlayOnLinux can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Center. Go ahead and open up Ubuntu Software Center :

Now click the search button on the top right hand corner and type in PlayOnLinux :

Once you click on the area above, you will see the screen below which contains the installation button :

Go ahead and hit that button. You will be prompted to enter your password. Once this is done, the installation process will start. This might take up to two minutes.

Using PlayOnLinux

Once PlayOnLinux has been installed, click on the launch button :

Or go to the Dash and type in PlayOnLinux :

Now that the program window has showed up :

Click on ‘Install a Program’ menu item. The screen below will appear containing several categories and software titles that can be installed.

Feel free to click on the top icons so that you could see the corresponding applications. Once you find the software you are looking for, select it and click on the install button which is located on the bottom right hand corner. Unlike Wine, many applications will need an installation CD or an installation file which need to be downloaded.

As it is the case with Wine, some applications will not work flawlessly. You might want to visit the support page to find out if the app is well supported.

Winepak

Many software developers and third party app vendors rely on a well known packaging format for Linux called Flatpak. Flatpak offers a cross platform framework which enables users to package their Linux applications once in order to distribute them for all Linux distros. You can find out more about Flatpak in our article on how to install and uninstall applications on Ubuntu.

Winepak is a free open source utility that aims to package Wine applications using Flatpak’s packaging feature. This will allow you to use Winepak’s repository to search for and install your desired application. For instance, games like Fortnite, Overwatch and World of Warcraft can be downloaded and installed.You can contribute to Winepak project on GitHub.
Using Winepak, you could install a Windows application on Linux using a single command.

Winepak installation

In order to install Winepak, follow the steps below :

1 – If flatpak is not already installed in your computer , you may want to follow the instructions in our article on how to install and uninstall applications on Ubuntu.

2 – The Flathub repository would need to be added by issuing the following command :

In Flatpak, Adding a repository is different when compared to adding an Ubuntu repository. In Flatpak, these are called “remotes,” and they can be added to Flatpak using a simple command. Flathub is the biggest remote for Flatpak.

3 – Now add the winepak repository ia the command:

Searching applications using winepak

In order see all the packages that can be installed from winepak, use the command:

flatpak remote-ls winepak

The most common method to find an application or a game with winepak is to carry out a search. Since winepak is still new, there are not so many games available to install. To search for instance for overwatch, issue the command below :

flatpak search AndroidStudio

This might take some time however since flatpak will be querying its remotes.

Installing applications using winepak

To install an application app_name, run the command below :

flatpak install winepak tld.domain.your_application

To install for instance the AndroidStudio app, issue the command below :

flatpak install com.google.AndroidStudio

CrossOver

CrossOver by CodeWeaver, is a proprietary software, that allows users to run several Windows programs or popular applications on Linux. Some of the supported applications include Intuit Quicken, Microsoft Office (starting from Office 97 to Office 2010) , Photoshop CS and Adobe Photoshop (not all versions are supported). CrossOver can also help gamers run their preferred games such as Guild Wars and World of Warcraft.

CrossOver, which is based on Wine, maintains a full list of the supported applications it can run as well as the programs that it does not support.
Although wine is enough to install windows based applications, CrossOver makes it easier however, for users to install and configure Windows programs on Linux.
CrossOver comes with a 15-day free trial allowing users to check whether their desired software can properly run on Linux .

Virtual machines

Virtual machines can also be used to run Windows applications on your Linux computer. In the distant past, virtual machines would slow down the system since the hardware was not as advanced as it is today. Nowadays however, many computers can run more than one virtual machine with ease.

In order to run a Windows based application, one needs a Windows machine obviously. On Linux, it is possible to install Windows in a “virtual machine” using some applications like VMware,VirtualBox or a built-in KVM, Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine.

You can see above the creation of a virtual machine to run Windows 10 on Ubuntu using Oracle VM VirtualBox manager.

Using this alternative will allow you to install Windows applications on the virtual machine flawlessly or almost ! You will not have to look up which application can run without problems as it is the case with Wine above.

This has some disadvantages however in that it can slow down your computer if it does not have enough RAM. Some PC games which require powerful graphics cards will not perform well. Better run these using Wine. For light applications , this might seem a perfect solution though.

Conclusion

To run Windows applications on Linux, Wine has several advantages when compared to other virtual machines or emulators since it can support a large number of useful Windows programs along with an updated status on their execution behavior. Installing an application using Wine on Linux is a double-click away and does not require Wine to be up and running beforehand. It is a must for Linux users who miss their Windows based software. Q4Wine is a GUI for wine which helps manage wine prefixes and also installed applications.
CrossOver, which is based on wine, makes it easy for users to install Windows applications.
Another alternative would be to install windows on a virtual machine which runs on Linux. although this seems to be the ideal solution it has however some drawbacks in that it can eat up your hardware resources.
PyWinery is an easy and simple graphical wine-prefix manager. It allows users to launch apps, manage and explore configuration of separate prefixes, in a graphical way.
Winepak is recent, but as you may have read, it it is quite powerful when it comes to searching for applications and installing them.
Another straightforward solution would be to use a dual boot, i.e. install Windows alongside Linux. Many Linux users choose the dual boot option especially when they have an SSD since the boot time is fast.Many other programs enable users to install games on Linux such as Lutris, Proton .

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