PlayOnLinux apps lost Internet access?

[stuartv]

I am running Mint 18.1 w/Cinnamon. Kernel 4.4.0-128.

I have had PlayOnLinux running MS Office 2010 for a year or two now and it has been fine.

I keep my system updated with all patches that Software Manager shows as available.

I also have VirtualBox running with a guest VM that is Windows 7 and also has Office 2010 installed.

Around yesterday sometime, my Outlook 2010 (on Mint) stopped having a connection to my Exchange Server. I have been working on restoring it ever since. Through it all, if I go into my Windows VM, Outlook there is working just fine. So, I know my machine has connectivity and my Exchange Server is up/available.

At this point, the last things I did are:

I uninstalled PlayOnLinux and all the Wine components using Software Manager. I deleted the .wine and .PlayOnLinux folders from my home folder.

I then using Software Manager to reinstall Wine. That gave me version 1.6.2 - which I did not run. I also installed the Wine Gecko and Mono packages.

Then I installed PlayOnLinux, also using Software Manager. This gives me version 4.2.10. The latest, via the POL website is 4.2.12, I believe. But, 4.2.10 (and the other Wine stuff) is what I have had and been using with no problems for a year or two.

I ran POL and chose to install Office 2010. POL downloaded and installed Wine 1.7.52 and I also saw dialogs for it downloading and installing gecko and mono. POL created a virtual drive called Office2010 and it appears to be set to use the Wine that it downloaded - not the older version I got from Software Manager.

The Office 2010 went fine, including validating my product key at the beginning of the install. But, the apps don't have Internet connectivity. If I run Outlook and try to create my email profile, it can't connect to my Exchange server. If I run Word, it asks if I want to activate my product over the Internet. I say yes and it gives me a message that it can't connect to the server.

I cannot figure out what is going on or what happened to break my install and is now keeping it broken. Is it possibly the latest kernel?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Like I said, all these components, with the same versions, as far as I can tell, have been working fine for a long time. I really don't understand how uninstalling everything and starting over from scratch (AFAIK, anyway) would not put things back to working again.

[Hoser Rob]

WIne is actually pretty unreliable, and apps that do work have had a bad habit of suddenly not doing so anymore. I'd probably check the Wine forums.

[Flemur]

I cannot figure out what is going on or what happened to break my install and is now keeping it broken. Is it possibly the latest kernel?

Have you tried the previous (working?) kernel?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

A more common problem is *preventnig* wine programs from accessing the internet.

Anyway, search for something like "internet access" here:
https://www.winehq.org/search/

Edit: I *think* you need "internet explorer" (drive_c/windows/system32/iexplore.exe, etc) for access...?

[stuartv]

I cannot figure out what is going on or what happened to break my install and is now keeping it broken. Is it possibly the latest kernel?

Have you tried the previous (working?) kernel?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

A more common problem is *preventnig* wine programs from accessing the internet.

Anyway, search for something like "internet access" here:
https://www.winehq.org/search/

Edit: I *think* you need "internet explorer" (drive_c/windows/system32/iexplore.exe, etc) for access...?

I went all the way back to kernel 4.4.0-53, which I KNOW used to work. Same behavior.

I do have iexplore there. I tried to run it but nothing happens.

[stuartv]

I figured out how to run iexplorer, and it comes up and works fine. I went to www.google.com, no problem.

I ran iexplorer from the command line. I tried running Outlook and Word the same way and they got the same errors they have been getting.

[Flemur]

I figured out how to run iexplorer, and it comes up and works fine.
I ran iexplorer from the command line. I tried running Outlook and Word the same way and they got the same errors they have been getting.

You already did the other stuff I'd suggest: "deleted the .wine and .PlayOnLinux folders from my home folder."

Perhaps installing a newer wine?

Code: Select all

$ wine --version
wine-3.0.1

Although most of my wine programs have been running fine with the wine versions, 3.0 made a big difference with photoshop.

[stuartv]

I figured out how to run iexplorer, and it comes up and works fine.
I ran iexplorer from the command line. I tried running Outlook and Word the same way and they got the same errors they have been getting.

You already did the other stuff I'd suggest: "deleted the .wine and .PlayOnLinux folders from my home folder."

Perhaps installing a newer wine?

Code: Select all

$ wine --version
wine-3.0.1

Although most of my wine programs have been running fine with the wine versions, 3.0 made a big difference with photoshop.

I did try it with Wine 3.0.1 and had the same results. But, I'm not sure that PlayOnLinux used the version of Wine that I downloaded and installed. I say that because when I scratched everything and started over, I got Wine 1.6 from Software Manager, then installed POL from Software Manager. When I ran POL, it downloaded and installed Wine 1.7.

It seems dumb to have both versions of Wine installed, but apparently I do and I had the same setup before, when my Office apps worked...

One thing that keeps me from wanting to just download and install all the latest is that I'm afraid something won't work because of the kernel I'm using (4.4). Or whatever other reasons that Wine 1.6 and POL x.y.10 are the latest versions in Software Manager, instead of Wine 3 and POL x.y.12.

I need to bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer kernel and the latest Mint. But, I also run VirtualBox and I think I will have to upgrade that at the same time - also to a version that is not available through Software Manager. Sometimes, Linux is a serious PITA! My Win7 VM is way older than Mint 18 and it still runs everything I need it to...

[Flemur]

It seems dumb to have both versions of Wine installed, but apparently I do and I had the same setup before, when my Office apps worked...

I think POL does that - I've never used POL and don't know much about it.

One thing that keeps me from wanting to just download and install all the latest is that I'm afraid something won't work because of the kernel I'm using (4.4).

But they worked previously ...

[/quote]I need to bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer kernel and the latest Mint. But, I also run VirtualBox and I think I will have to upgrade that at the same time - also to a version that is not available through Software Manager. Sometimes, Linux is a serious PITA! My Win7 VM is way older than Mint 18 and it still runs everything I need it to...[/quote]
FWIW, I upgraded 18.1 -> .2 -> 18.3 pretty painlessly.
Virtualbox (and video drivers) vs kernels is a PITA, with the stupid compile errors and such.
Here's why:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... em_kernels
Linux = monolithic kernel = it has too much stuff in it.

I was glad that Wine 3.0 let me reliably run the stuff I used to need vbox for - no more virtualbox! (Also no more nvidia drivers because everything works great without them - no serious "gaming")

[stuartv]

It seems dumb to have both versions of Wine installed, but apparently I do and I had the same setup before, when my Office apps worked...

I think POL does that - I've never used POL and don't know much about it.

One thing that keeps me from wanting to just download and install all the latest is that I'm afraid something won't work because of the kernel I'm using (4.4).

But they worked previously ...

I need to bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer kernel and the latest Mint. But, I also run VirtualBox and I think I will have to upgrade that at the same time - also to a version that is not available through Software Manager. Sometimes, Linux is a serious PITA! My Win7 VM is way older than Mint 18 and it still runs everything I need it to...[/quote]
FWIW, I upgraded 18.1 -> .2 -> 18.3 pretty painlessly.
Virtualbox (and video drivers) vs kernels is a PITA, with the stupid compile errors and such.
Here's why:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... em_kernels
Linux = monolithic kernel = it has too much stuff in it.

I was glad that Wine 3.0 let me reliably run the stuff I used to need vbox for - no more virtualbox! (Also no more nvidia drivers because everything works great without them - no serious "gaming")
[/quote]

Yeah, I wish Wine was all I needed and could dispense with VBox. But, I'm working for a customer where I have to remote into machines at their site. That means I have to run their VPN software. And their IT department has not bothered to enable VPN client support for Linux. I can run the VPN client software on my Mint box, but their VPN server won't let me connect because they don't have rules configured to allow it. And it's a government agency, so there is not much chance of getting them to change their VPN setup just for me. So... I have to keep running an actual Windows VM...

Anyway... I guess I'll make another try or two. Maybe try Wine 3.0.1 with no POL. Or try the latest POL without first installing a standalone instance of Wine.

I just really wish I could figure out what the setup I was using before can't be made to work again. At first I was starting to suspect that my hosted Exchange provider did something that broke access from Wine. But, then I noticed that Word can't connect to the Internet to activate the product. So, I guess it is not anything to do with my Exchange server...

[JerryF]

...
It seems dumb to have both versions of Wine installed, but apparently I do and I had the same setup before, when my Office apps worked...
...

That's the whole idea for PlayOnLinux. You can select a different Wine version for a particular program that you know will work with that version.

[stuartv]

...
It seems dumb to have both versions of Wine installed, but apparently I do and I had the same setup before, when my Office apps worked...
...

That's the whole idea for PlayOnLinux. You can select a different Wine version for a particular program that you know will work with that version.

Cool. But, the only thing I am using POL for (so far) is running Office. So, I reckon I should blow it all away and then reinstall POL clean, without installing a separate version of Wine first. I'm not using Wine 1.6, so no reason to install it before setting up POL. It seems to install Wine 1.7.something itself when I run the POL package to install Office 2010.

[JerryF]

Cool. But, the only thing I am using POL for (so far) is running Office. So, I reckon I should blow it all away and then reinstall POL clean, without installing a separate version of Wine first. I'm not using Wine 1.6, so no reason to install it before setting up POL. It seems to install Wine 1.7.something itself when I run the POL package to install Office 2010.

That sounds like a good idea.