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A lot of people make the mistake of downloading Wine and expecting it to work out of the box with their Windows applications. It should be noted that Wine is simply a compatibility layer by itself; it does not include the necessary drivers and library files needed to run most Windows applications.
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A lot of people make the mistake of downloading Wine and expecting it to work out of the box with their Windows applications. It should be noted that Wine is simply a compatibility layer by itself; it does not include the necessary drivers and library files needed to run most Windows applications.
That’s where applications like PlayOnLinux and WineTricks come in to play. They add the necessary drivers and library files required to run most Windows applications. In this article I’m going to give you a quick overview of these applications and their capabilities.
PlayOnLinux
PlayOnLinux is an application installer. With it you can install a great variety of Windows applications. Adobe Photoshop CS4, Black & White 2, and Warcraft are just a few of the applications this program allows you to install. Installation is easy – just select the application you want to install from the list and follow the on screen instructions. This is the best program for Linux newbies to try first as it does not require any knowledge of how Wine works. In fact, PlayOnLinux comes with its own installation of Wine, making the installation of vanilla Wine irrelevant.
WineTricks
In my humble opinion WineTricks is the best program to use to get Windows programs to work in Wine. It’s an application installer for starters and has a long list of applications you can use it to install. But it also allows you to install the drivers and library files you will need in order to run Windows applications in Wine.
Install an app and Install a game are pretty self-explanatory. These sections are the application installer parts of WineTricks. There will be applications you need from these sections, namely colorprofile, controlpad, psdkwin7, and firefox (or you can use Internet Explorer, which we will find later).
Select the default wineprefix > Install a Windows DLL or Component is where you’ll find all the drivers, and library files necessary to run most Windows applications in Wine. I won’t go through the entire list of files you’ll need as it is incredibly long. Your best bet is to install as many of these files as you possibly can. Go over the whole list a few times as some files will not install until others are installed.
Select the default wineprefix > Install a font is where you will be able to install all the Microsoft core fonts. Keep in mind you must have a legal copy of Windows to do this.
Select the default wineprefix > Run winecfg is where you can the Wine configuration utility. This helps you set up your drives, audio, and other features.
Select the default wineprefix > Run regedit allows you to run the Windows registry editor. From here you can add, edit, and delete registry entries.
Select the default wineprefix > Run taskmgr allows you to run the Windows task manager. From here you can start and stop Windows application tasks.
As you have probably noticed, I skipped over some of the options available in WineTricks. My reason is that they don’t apply to our particular situation, which is getting Windows applications to run under Wine as a novice user.
Once you have WineTricks set up you should be able to run most Windows applications under Wine.
Conclusion
It’s relatively simple to get Windows applications to run under Wine. You just have to have the right tools to do it. With applications like WineTricks and PlayOnLinux in the picture, just about anyone should be able to run most Windows applications under Wine. Full Story |
