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How to run windows application on Linux using Wine 7.8

Run Windows Application on Linux

looking for the way to install and use Windows applications on Linux PC? Yes, it’s possible, There’s a Linux application called Wine that allows you to run Windows software within Linux. Here in this post, I’ll show you what is Wine and how to use it to run Windows applications on Linux.

What is wine for Linux Ubuntu?

Wine for Linux was developed in 1993, is a recursive acronym for “Wine Is Not an Emulator,” though this doesn’t make it true that it is not an emulator. Rather than acting as a full emulator, it implements a compatibility layer, providing alternative implementations of the DLLs that Windows programs call, and processes to substitute for the Windows NT kernel.

Rather it is a compatibility layer for running Windows apps 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. Or we can say in simple words Wine converts internal Windows commands to commands your Linux system can natively understand.

Wine 7.8 Released on 6 May 2022

The Wine team has announced that the stable release Wine 7.8 is now available.

This release represents a year of development effort and over  8,300 individual changes. It contains a large number of improvements that are listed in the release notes below. The main highlights are:

  • Arabic text shaping.
  • More WinRT support in WIDL.
  • VKD3D version 1.2 is used for Direct3D 12.
  • Support for Rosetta’s memory layout on M1 Macs.
  • Support for Thumb-2 mode on ARM.
  • Various bug fixes.

Download Wine Linux 7.8 

Install wine on ubuntu

Installing Wine on Ubuntu is as easy as firing up a terminal and running these commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install wine

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

sudo dpkg –add-architecture i386

This will add 32bit architecture support on your distro which will benefit you in installing specific software.

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, and 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 a 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 configurations.
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.

Finding an Application in Wine Application Database

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

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:

winecfg

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

$HOME/.wine/c_drive

Installing an Application with Wine

Installing an application with wine is simple and easy like double-clicking on the installation file. First of all download the Windows app you looking to install. for example Download Notepad++ and save it to the desktop.

Right-click on the installation file and select Open With Other application.

Then select Wine Windows Program Loader.

And follow on-screen instructions to install the application.

Hope you find this post helpful to run Windows Apps on Linux distribution, Face any difficulties feel free to discuss on the comments below.

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