WINE Installation and Configuration Tutorial on Linux

About

There is a gap between Windows and Linux. That’s obviously an unpopular thing to say, but it’s undeniable, especially when concerning third party support. Games and professional applications like Photoshop and 3D modeling tools are either woefully under-supported or unsupported altogether. Things have improved over time, but there is still need for a bridge. That bridge comes in the form of WINE.

WINE Installation and Configuration Tutorial on LinuxWINE is not an emulator or a virtual machine. Rather, it is a lightweight compatibility layer that “translates” Windows applications into a language that Linux can work with. For years, WINE has been an invaluable tool for Linux users who just needed that one unsupported application to work. It has also been the answer for gamers looking for their favorite games on Linux, long before Steam was an option.

WINE isn’t perfect. It’s actually far from it. DirectX 10 support is spotty at best and DirectX 11 support is nearly non-existent. It is, however, in constant development, and the developers are always working to improve it. The WINE of today is miles beyond what it was just a few short years ago.

This series of guides will walk you through the tools that WINE provides for getting your Windows programs working on Linux. It does no rely on wrappers and scripts like PlayOnLinux because they aren’t all that reliable. Learning the way WINE actually works may be more difficult and time consuming in the short term, but in the long term, you will not be reliant on external sources to get your applications running. These guides start off with the basics and installation of WINE and progress through configuration tools like winecfg and winetricks. You will be able to create application specific configurations and use different WINE prefixes as well as being able to install Windows dlls and components to add functionality to your applications.



So, get ready to get your hands somewhat dirty. Don’t worry, though, the work will definitely pay off.

Table of Contents

  1. About WINE Installation and Configuration Tutorial
  2. Introduction
  3. Installing WINE
  4. Configuring WINE with Winecfg
  5. Using WINE Prefixes
  6. Configuring WINE with Winetricks