Wine

Wine

Developers
	Wine authors
Release dates
Linux	July 4, 1993
macOS (OS X)	2008

Wine is a free and open source compatibility layer that aims to allow computer programs written for Windows to run on Linux and OS X by translating Windows system calls into POSIX-compliant system calls, recreating the directory structure of Windows systems, and providing alternative implementations of Windows system libraries, system services through wineserver and various other components (such as Internet Explorer, the Windows Registry Editor, and msiexec).

The software is not an emulator, hence its original acronym Wine Is Not an Emulator. The main advantage it gives is the ability to run any software regardless of the Windows system was made for, so if an older Windows 95 game does not work in a native OS such as Windows 10 or has compatibility issues which renders the game broken, it will most likely work on Wine. A full DirectX 10 and 11 support has been added since version 3.0.

Key points

It is recommended to use wrappers or launchers to run Windows applications with Wine/Proton. Otherwise you should be familiar with your system's shell to manage Wine prefix manually.

Some games may have performance and multiplayer issues or don't work at all when run with Wine/Proton. You can check compatibility and potential fixes on ProtonDB.

Wine/Proton utilizes environment variables to modify how application is run. Consult wiki and GitHub repos for details.

General information

WineHQ website

Proton games database

Wrappers and launchers

Bottles - Windows software launcher on Linux

Heroic - unified cross-platform game launcher for Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime

Lutris - unified game launcher on Linux for Epic, GOG, Humble Bundle and Steam

SteamPlay - inbuilt Steam wrapper around Proton (also works with custom Wine/Proton builds)

Communities

r/wine_gaming - subreddit about using Wine for gaming

r/linux_gaming - subreddit about gaming on Linux

r/macgaming - subreddit about gaming on macOS

r/SteamDeck - subreddit about gaming on SteamDeck console

Further reading

WineHQ wiki

Wine user's guide

Gaming on Linux

Linux Gaming wiki

Versions

According to WineHQ there are Stable, Development and Staging Wine releases:

The stable branch is on an annual release schedule, with minor updates as needed (usually every 10-12 weeks). This version is intended for users whose applications and games already work well in the existing code, and who are not interested in testing new versions.

The development is on a biweekly release schedule. This branch is the main branch, where bug fixing occurs and new features are added. It is recommended for users who want or need the latest features and bugfixes. Users of applications/games for which the stable branch does not work should always test the development release before filing bugs.

Since September, 2015 there has been a third official branch known as staging. This branch includes several hundred experimental patches that are not yet ready for inclusion in the main branch and is recommended for users of applications/games affected by bugs marked STAGED as well as those interested in helping to test experimental patches.

Installation

Linux

In most cases you don't need to install Wine on your system because most of the launchers have inbuilt Wine/Proton management. You may want to use external Wine/Proton managers like ProtonUp-Qt to add custom Wine/Proton builds into Steam though.

In case you would like to manage Wine prefix by yourself, you have two installation options on 64-bit systems since Wine 7.0: traditional multiarch/multilib and newer with WoW64 support. The latter is still considered experimental and may have performance issues: for e.g., in OpenGL on Fedora starting with 40 release, so use it with caution.

Arch and Arch-based: EndeavourOS, Garuda, Manjaro

Consult Wine - ArchWiki for details.

For multilib setup enable multilib repository by uncommenting section in /etc/pacman.conf:

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

and upgrade the system. Then install desired Wine version:

sudo pacman -S wine-stable  # OR wine OR wine-staging

For WoW64 setup you can install either development or staging version (note, that there is no stable version):

sudo pacman -S wine-wow64  # OR wine-wow64-staging

Debian

Consult Wine - Debian Wiki and Debian - WineHQ Wiki. Following steps are given for the installation from a standard distro repository.

For multiarch setup enable 32-bit packages:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update

Then install either stable:

sudo apt install wine wine32 wine64 libwine libwine:i386 fonts-wine

or development version:

sudo apt install wine-development wine32-development wine64-development libwine-development libwine-development:i386 fonts-wine

For WoW64 setup install 64-bit components only:

sudo apt install wine wine64 libwine fonts-wine

Fedora

Consult Wine - Fedora Docs and Fedora - WineHQ Wiki.

For multiarch setup package manager will handle dependencies itself:

sudo dnf install wine

For WoW64 setup add WineHQ repo:

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/fedora/$(rpm -E %fedora)/winehq.repo

Then install desired version from WineHQ:

sudo dnf install winehq-stable  # OR winehq-devel OR winehq-staging

OpenSUSE

Consult Wine - openSUSE Wiki.

Unlike other distros openSUSE maintain WineHQ repository themselves, allowing to install the latest Bleeding Edge version from GitHub as a snapshot:

sudo zypper install wine  # OR wine-staging OR wine-snapshot

Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based: Elementary, Mint, ZorinOS

Consult Wine - Ubuntu Community Help Wiki and Ubuntu - WineHQ Wiki. Following steps are given for the installation from a standard distro repository.

For multiarch setup package manager will handle dependencies itself:

sudo apt-get install wine

For other distributions follow its official documentation/wiki or compile Wine from the source code

MacOS

Consult MacOS - WineHQ Wiki for details.

You can install Wine either with Homebrew:

brew install --cask --no-quarantine wine-stable  # OR wine@devel OR wine@staging

or with MacPorts:

sudo port install wine-stable  # OR wine-devel OR wine-staging

Graphics

If you are on a 64-bit Linux system and depending on the distro, make sure you have 32 bit drivers installed. WIthout it you will receive the “Direct rendering is disabled, most likely your OpenGL drivers have not been installed correctly” message.

If installed, make sure to reset the display server.

Audio

Currently, Wine best supports ALSA if you are on Linux, but on a 64-bit system you must install the 32-bit versions, this also counts for PulseAudio and OSS (In this case, all you need is the ALSA-OSS package, as the OSS kernel will not suffice).

Keep in mind that for some games, such as Skyrim, will use an advanced sound system. For this case you need the 32 bit version of OpenAL as well.

In MIDI’s case, Wine has an excellent support for it. You should either use Timidity or Fluidsynth and set one of them up.

As for audio in Mac OS, CoreAudio works out of the box with the software.

General

By default, Wine will be already set to handle Windows files such as .exe,.bat,.msi etc. Running one of them will invoke the software and handle the rest in its default WINEPREFIX folder located at ~/.wine. If you are required to run the program in the terminal, however, this can be done by using the wine command.

A Wine prefix is the directory used for managing your Windows files, by default it will use the ~/.wine folder, if using Linux, and depending on the architecture of your system, it will be made for 64-bit applications or 32-bit. If the game you currently wish to run works only on 16-bit system, you may wish to create a 32-bit Wineprefix folder. This can be done with this command:

WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/<new folder name>

WINEARCH is responsible for choosing the Windows architecture to support when creating a new prefix. There are only two options to choose from:

• win32 - Create a 32-bit environment
• win64 - Create a 64-bit environment.

WINEPREFIX is used to choose which folder will store configuration files and installed Windows programs. It will be created if it doesn't exist.

Load custom DLLs

By default, Wine loads its builtin DLLs over the native ones. This, however, will cause custom DLLs (suck as widescreen patches) to not load. To fix this, Wine needs to be told to prefer the native DLLs over the builtin ones. There are various ways to do it:

• Set the environment variable WINEDLLOVERRIDES. For example, to override dsound.dll and dinput8.dll, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound,dinput8=n,b".
• Launch winecfg, and set the overrides in the "Libraries" tab.
• Front ends often have settings to configure DLL overrides.

Wine AppDB Rating System

While checking WineHQ's Application Database you may encounter these ratings and here are their meanings.

Platinum

The program installs and works flawlessly out of the box, without any changes in winecfg.

Gold

The application works without any problem once you make some DLL override or change some settings in winecfg or installing a third-party software.

Silver

The program works great for "normal" use with some of the exceptions such as issues with handling the DRM, the game works in singleplayer but not in multiplayer etc.

Bronze

The software works, but has some issues for normal use such as graphical glitches/issues, run slower than it should, font issues etc.

Garbage

The application does not work, cannot be installed or it will run but will show many errors that will make it unusable regardless of used settings.

It's best to check the information, comments or the bug list for the current software to learn how to get it to work or even check if it's fixed when it comes to Gold, Silver or even Bronze rating.

Tweaking Wine

Winecfg

Winecfg is a GUI (graphical user interface) configuration tool for Wine. It allows you to change options for both the default setting and for specific applications. These options include the way Wine loads DLLs, graphical settings (including Window settings, screen resolution/DPI), desktop integration, drives and audio). It can be accessed with winecfg command, you can use it with WINEPREFIX to specify which Wine folder you wish to configure.

A run-down on the different tabs of Winecfg is available on the Wine Wiki.

Winetricks

Winetricks is a script which allows you to install base requirements for running Windows applications. It is mainly used to install additional DLL libraries to make the program work, in case if it doesn’t. Besides that it also contains other stuff such as launching the Winecfg, installing the benchmark, install the game using pre-compiled script etc. from the default Wine folder. The program can be run with the winetricks command to launch the GUI version by default (Using -h argument will show additional options), you can combine with other Wine commands to be more specific.

For example:

• WINEPREFIX=~/.wine32 winetricks will launch Winetricks, but all the changes or installations are done in the .wine32 folder. If an additional library or program is required, specify them after the command to not have to constantly go through menus to install them.
• WINEPREFIX=~/.wine32 winetricks steam will let Winetricks install Steam on a .wine32 folder. Of course, you can specify multiple libraries you wish to install and combine it with some arguments available for this software.
• WINEPREFIX=~/.wine32 winetricks -q steam dotnet40 will let Winetricks not only to install Steam, but .NET Framework 4.0 as well, and the -q argument will make sure not to ask any questions for each application/library.

Front-Ends

If you do not wish to use the Terminal, there are some front-ends which will make your Wine experience much easier.

Steam Play/Proton

The Linux Steam client has an integrated fork of Wine for games that lack a native Linux version.^[1] Compatibility can be checked by the community database ProtonDB.

PlayOnLinux/PlayOnMac

This Python-based program allows you to install any Windows program using the pre-made scripts which makes the process automatic or perform it manually in case if the script does not exist. The main advantage of it is the ability to download and use multiple Wine version and ease of managing and configuring the prefixes. The main drawback, however, is in its slow development time and outdated libraries that are available in the Additional Libraries. This program was made for simplicity in mind.

Crossover

A commercial version of Wine which includes scripts, patches, GUI and third-party software programs (Which are never accepted by Wine Project). It is available for both Mac and Linux. Despite being a paid product, the patches are later added to the Wine Staging and buying the software will support the Wine developers. Version 19 allows for running 32-bit Windows programs, including games, on macOS Catalina.^[2]

Wineskin

A Mac exclusive tool used to make wrappers to run Windows software in Mac OS X. Which converts it into an .app file which allows you to run the converted program into a native system.

Q4Wine

Front-end made in Qt4 environment for Linux system. Its main advantage is the ability to use libraries from the Winetricks, built in WineApp Database, additional options such as mounting the ISO and its simplicity. The drawback of it however are no pre-compiled scripts which will automatically install the game along with required libraries and in some cases, specific Wine version which the game works without any major issues and requiring you to compile/install the specific Wine version of your choice if you want to use multiple Wine versions.

Improvements

Run the game in OpenGL/Vulkan mode

Run the game in OpenGL/Vulkan mode
If the game supports OpenGL/Vulkan, it is recommended to run it to avoid any performance issue. Many games accept the -opengl parameter, however in case of recent games you may have to set it up to run in Vulkan through the game’s options or using the -vulkan command prompt. Mac OS does not support Vulkan API.

Show FPS overlay in games

Show FPS overlay in games
Wine features an embedded FPS monitor which works for all graphical applications once you use WINEDEBUG=fps command. You can also use this script with the xosd package installed in order to display the FPS counter on top of the window.

Issues Fixed

.NET/Mono

Some Windows applications require the .NET software framework to run (Wine will instruct you to install if an application you try to run requires it), which is not compatible with Wine. However, an open source piece of software called Mono was made to replace it. You can install it via installing winetricks and entering this line into the Terminal/shell:

winetricks mono210

If the wine-mono is already installed from the distribution's repository, then it is not required.

D-Bus (OS X)

D-Bus Issue (macOS)

Some Windows applications require the D-bus process to run, in order to communicate with certain other applications. While it is installed alongside Macports, it will not run unless you tell it to. You only need to do this once, and then the process will run every time on startup: sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist

Fonts do not show properly

Fonts do not show properly
Install corefonts, if that does not work, use allfonts as a last resort from winetricks.

"16-bit LDT support may be missing." error

"16-bit LDT support may be missing." error
Use sudo echo 1 > /proc/sys/abi/ldt16 command

Dual Head Setup/ Different Resolution Issue on a 64-bit Linux system

Dual Head Setup/ Different Resolution Issue on a 64-bit Linux system
Install the 32 bit package of XRandR, if the dual-head issue still persists, install 32 bit LibXinerama as well.

Nothing appears after running a game patch/patched game

Nothing appears after running a game patch/patched game
Use wineconsole cmd command and, from there, navigate to the game/patch folder and run the EXE file.

Winecfg fails to detect the audio driver despite being installed (Linux)

References

Winecfg fails to detect the audio driver despite being installed (Linux)
On a 32-bit architecture of the Wineprefix in a 64-bit system: Open the Registry Editor with regedit command Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER → Software → Wine → Drivers Add the Audio string and use “alsa” as it’s value If the Wineprefix is in 64-bit architecture, you may have to recreate the prefix.

API