The major problem new Linux users face is ‘how do I install XYZ.exe here?’, ‘Why can’t I run exe files?’. The question is phrased in many different ways, but the essence is always the same – how to install Windows applications on Linux machines? First, Linux machines do not have a fixed extension for any executable file. We have permissions. Each file has 3 permissions – read, write and execute. All files marked as executable files can be executed provided they have a certain logical structure.
OKay, I admit I went a bit too far here. We will concentrate on installing Windows applications on Linux in this tutorial. You will need following things
- A computer with Ubuntu Linux installed (Any Linux distribution would be fine, but this tutorial is based on Ubuntu 10.10).
- Administrative (root) access.
- Internet access.
- Moderate to Lower-High patience
Now, we will first be installing the application called Wine. Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. Think of it as an open source implementation of the Microsoft API (Application Program Interface).
Unless the program you wish to install is a peculiar one, you probably will not face problems with Wine, however, it’s still best to check with the Wine database at appdb.winehq.org and check the status just in case.
Installing Wine
Once you have satisfied yourself we can move on to installation of Wine on Ubuntu. Open the Software Sources menu by going to System > Administration > Software Sources. Then select the Third Party Software tab and click Add.
Installing Wine on Ubuntu
Click on Add Source, refresh the package list and then head over to Applications ? Add/Remove and search for Wine and install it. Alternatively, you can also do this from the command line by
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine
Whichever method you opt for, install Wine because that’s what we are here to do.
Configuring Wine
Before using Wine, it is necessary to create the pseudo C:\ drive where your Windows applications will be installed. Enter Wine configuration mode by issuing following command on your machine,
winecfg
You can also select the Configure Wine option in the Applications ? Wine menu. This will create the .wine directory in your home directory. This is used to store all the configurations and the pseudo C drive. It also contains a bunch of other things including but not limited to the registry structure like that in Windows, configurations settings like the Windows version to be emulated, DLL overrides and specific memory related settings. We don’t need to go into the details of those at this moment.
Installing Applications
To install Windows applications with Wine, follow the instructions below,
- Download the Windows application you wish to install and place it in a convenient directory.
- Open the terminal on your system.
- Change to the directory where the application installer is located.
- Issue the command wine followed by the name of the application to install it.
e.g.:
wine someApplication.exe
Remember to give the full name of the application along with the extension.
Running the Wine applications
Most application installed via Wine will end up in a special Wine menu in your main menu and you can directly launch those applications from there.
Uninstalling the applications
To uninstall the applications, open up a terminal and type “uninstaller” – this will open up a program which lets you uninstall applications from Wine. Running uninstall programs directly via Wine should also work normally. Alternatively, you could also simply delete the folder of the application but it leaves traces of that application behind in the registry and other configuration files.
That’s it for now folks. We will take a look at Wine configuration in detail in our future posts.
Sir, the new Linux 10.04 refuses to allow the installation of almost all .exe files. The following error comes up: The file ‘/home/jeffrey/Downloads/unconfirmed 69603.download’ is not marked as executable. If this was downloaded or copied form an untrusted source, it may be dangerous to run. For more details, read about the executable bit. I have WINE installed, but again, this new version of linux is blocking almost all .exe files. What to do?
http://stream-recorder.com/forum/blocked-wine-start-unix-problem-opening-exe-t6560.html
Hello Jeff (I have removed your email from the comment for security reasons).
First, the extension of file is .download. Which means either the file was not downloaded successfully, or it was downloaded but the extension remained at .download.
In either case, make sure that the downloaded file is complete and uncorrupted. Change the extension by renaming the file to appropriate one (.exe,.bat,.com).
Then, right click that file and go to properties ? Permissions. Under that permissions tab, there is an option to make the file executable, so, mark that file as executable file.
Now, open your terminal (gnome terminal, under Main Menu ? Applications ? Accessories ? Terminal). Then move into the directory where you have downloaded your file. (In this case, /home/jeffrey/Downloads/unconfirmed 69603.download). And then give command, ‘wine unconfirmed\ 69603.download’.
I still believe that you should try and check if the file is complete and uncorrupted. If it is complete and if it still doesn’t work, let us know and we will try to resolve the error.
I did exactly that, but a message pops up when i mark it executable, it says that i can change it because its a read only, so i try to change it to read and write and the same message appears.
Did you try it as root?
In the terminal type sudo su, enter your password.
Then issue a chmod 755 /path/to/file command and make it executable.
Check this for more information – http://www.noob2geek.com/linux/file-permissions-in-ubuntu/
Yes sir! This worked perfect! Thanks so much for your time in responding.
Jeff
[...] You need to have Wine installed on your Ubuntu. To find out how to install Wine, read this. [...]
wine: cannot find L”C:\\windows\\system32\\Packet.exe”
this is the error i get i dont know what to do pls help
Your wine installation is flawed. Try reinstalling the wine packages.
hey there i have the same problem as the person above, cannot find L”C:\\windows\\system32\\SETUP.exe
but i have removed and reinstalled in twice and the same thing..
and what do you mean by part number three of…. Change to the directory where the application installer is located. please help me out. much appriecative. thanks
Hi John,
What I mean in step 3 is – if you download the exe file in /home/aditya/Downloads then, you first need to do cd /home/aditya/Downloads and then issue the command. It’s just for the beginners that do not know the basics.
Try changing the permissions to the .wine directory to 755.
The problem is in Maverick 10.10 that in Ubuntu software center is Wine Beta (it will show message that its non executable because of security reasons). The proper installation of wine (which runs exe) is in the Synaptic package manager as “wine 1.2″
Thats it… and i`m the user that hates terminal. Perhaps U are wiser… but the solution U write here is for geek ;]
hi tomek,
will installing wine 1.2 solve the problem?
yep… dont use beta. uninstall beta if you already heve it and get wine 1.2. Some progs r not workin correctly like easy thumbnails and vso image resizer… earlier it worked. but there is still many progs that work correctly
Hello!
I used wine to install freedur and I got the program completely installed and now the program itself will not open up, it just says its loaded and it never appears to actually open. I am a complete linux new-be, anything you know that could help?
You should rather look for this type of program in mozilla plugins… (if you use mozilla) or wait for linux designed version, or there already is similiar program in linux.
It wont be working on linux by wine. Its not autonomical exe like photo editing programs or etc. Its corelated with other windows and browser functions.
For Lindy: http://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/8zxrl/is_there_something_like_freedur_for_ubuntu/
There is a program in ubuntu which can help you- its VIDALIA. Read the topic above (but its for geeks ;] )
hi tom, it says Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘RsGoldHack.exe. I need this really bad. i installed wine but its not working. Like why though? i even put the link. sudo apt-get install then the link or RsGoldHack.exe and it doesnt work. so please could u reply and tell whats wrong please?
Cos U propably did something wrong from the beginnning. Normally you should run wine, select exe, but installable! not .exe from catalog cutten from windows OR PREPARED TO BE AN INSERT INTO WINDOWS GAME. I think this hack may not work… i dont know exactly its build type. Try to find solution at game`s fans sites. And remember.. im noob too.. ask somoene else too
Hello! Completely stupid here! I installed wine via terminal as you described. Seems that all went well until I came to the EULA screen. I couldn’t figure out how to press, click, or acknowledge the button. So I just killed the process. I am brand new to ubuntu ver 11.**. I have an installation disk for my wireless adpater “Belkin F5Db053v4″. I completely do not know how to install it or anything on ubuntu! It seems like that all of the info I get is for people who either know ubuntu, or has some experience with it. In other words, after I closed the EULA screen, I became a complete bonehead! Even after I installed wine, if it even installed, the only place I could find anything about wine confg was in “Applications”, and then “Other”. And then it has a “Configure Wine” there. I clicked on that and it brought up a screen with 7 tabs and the words “Default Settings” in the white screen area. Below that I clicked on “Add Application”, I went to “Look In” and found the “Installer exe.” on the disk, clicked on it, clicked on “Open”, and it brought me back to the 7 tab screen and the “Installer.exe” was below the “Default Settings” in the white screen area. I clicked on “Ok” and that was as far as I got! Nothing happened and I don’t know what to do next! I just plain don’t know! Can you help me out?
I didn’t install wine 1.2 via terminal, but via software center.
And all my knowledge is based on windows… i only compared and deduced how to work in linux in its similiarities.
So If you were unable to do something like I… you probably did something wrong what i`ll not figure out.
sir,
when I tried to install ubuntu11.04 with wine I t is installed in c drive what to do to install it in current ubuntu drive (E)
Joseph,
I am not exactly sure what you mean when you say install Ubunu with wine? Please elaborate.
Ok so I have only just started using Ubuntu today so thought I would try and install Incredimail as I love it!
Managed to finally figure out how to get wine installed and find the cd in the terminal but when I type in wine appname.exe nothing….it just gives me another line to fill in…really strange. No error no nothing…
And yep being very new to this terminal commands and that are very alien to me.
Thanks
Kriss
You have just started the adventure with Ubuntu and immediately started to work with terminal? Madness
D
Just play with Software Center. Dont touch terminal or you`ll gray. Keep happy as on this avatar. Read the discussion above about WINE if your ask was about installing apps from windows (i deduced that).
Or better forget about Incredimail. Linux has its own proposals for you. If you don`t like to work in browser with your emails, then maybe Thunderbird? Sorry for little OT.
LOL…I actually ended up going back to Windows…not for the reason that Wine wouldn’t work properly but basically I had too much software that I have bought that only runs on windows.
But thanks for the advice!
Kriss
Aah – that is too bad. Hope you come back to the Linux world soon. Sadly a lot of people start off with terminal too soon as tomek_PL said. Some hit the nail and go on and those who miss it usually never return
I have tried it several times over the last couple of years and I do really like the Ubuntu interface and everything but found I missed the ‘ease’ of Windows…one thing that Ubuntu really needs is a device detector that actually loads the driver for you…that is so much easier than finding drivers that work with it manually.
I also had it running as a dual drive and at first I could read and correct everything on the C drive but I installed something not sure what and everything became read only and I couldn’t get it to go back. So tried to take it off and totally cleaned the computer some how….so damn lucky as I had done a back up…phew
Kriss
Yes. My story was the same. I was unable to find a substitute for progs like: Easy thumbnails, Jpeg crops, Aimp… etc. I heard on forums that i can replace aimp with xmms…and etc… it was`nt even standing near it .
For me I had Nero and AVS neither of which work on Linux systems and they are brilliant programs. oh and of course Photoshop…yes Gimp is ok and started with that but photoshop does a few more things…although by the look the next release of Gimp will have a few more tweaks that I might like.
Kriss
I have installed wine and can open exe files, but i dont know where to save the program which I am installing. I’m trying to install the old game Sim Tower, and i can get to the install screen, and the game even installs into the C drive, but then times out. Which drive do i choose to install this game? It is old, so i have to type in the drive the old school way rather than search for an appropriate drive/folder.