How to install Wine on Mint 21.1

[karlchen]

Question:

What is the easiest and safest way of installing Wine on Linux Mint 21.x?

Short Answer:

Provided there is no previous Wine installation present on your system or any left over Wine parts from a failed Wine installation attempt,
then the answer can be found on the Linux Mint 21.x Release Notes webpages.
In all other case, please, read the longer answer in the post below.

Wine
To install the complete version of WINE, open a terminal and type:
apt install wine-installer
Among other things, this will install wine-desktop-files, which adds menu entries for regedit, your C:\ drive and other items which are missing from upstream WINE.

It is really as simple as that. Using the wine-installer will give you Wine 6.0.3 from the Linux Mint software repositories.
This will work on all Mint 21.x releases, no matter whether your desktop environment is Cinnamon, Mate or xfce.

Though the Release Notes do not mention so, but before installing Wine, take a manual Timeshift snapshot. You want a Timeshift snapshot, because Wine is very complex. In case something fails, uninstalling Wine and all its dependencies is quite a complex operation. Restoring the Timeshift snapshot will be much easier.

After you have installed Wine by executing the commandline given above, you should launch "Configure Wine" from the Mint application menu - Submenu "Wine" and configure Wine.
Once you have finished this step as well, you are ready to install Windows applications through Wine.

Note:
Please, be aware that not all Windows applications will work perfectly, when invoked by Wine. Before installing a Windows application under Wine, you may like to check the WineHQ Application Database, WineHQ AppDB, in order to find out how Wine users rate a specific application when run under Wine. Applications rated Platinum or Gold should work almost perfectly. Any lower rating promises serious trouble.

[karlchen]

Longer Answer:

• Make sure that no Wine software is present on your system. The Linux Mint wine-installer will only work correctly, in case no previous Wine installation exists on your system and no left over parts of a failed Wine installation.
  Therefore make sure that the terminal command

  Code: Select all

  dpkg --list *wine*

  displays the following output:
  dpkg-query: no packages found matching
  Provided it does, carry on with the next step.
  Else uninstall all Wine related software packages by executing the terminal command:

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt-get purge *wine*

  You may have to execute

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt-get autoremove

  next in order to remove any left over dependent packages, too.
• Make sure that your system can use 32-bit software, too, in addition to the default 64-bit software. Execute the terminal command

  Code: Select all

  dpkg --print-foreign-architectures

  Provided the output is simply i386, you are good to go and carry on with the next step.
• Take a manual Timeshift snapshot. You want a Timeshift snapshot, because Wine is very complex. In case something fails uninstalling Wine and all its dependencies is quite a complex operation. Restoring the Timeshift snapshot will be much easier.
• Refresh the list of available software by executing the terminal command

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt update

  Provided its output ends with the lines

  Code: Select all

  Reading package lists... Done
  Building dependency tree... Done
  Reading state information... Done
  All packages are up to date.

  you are good to carry on with the next step.
• Execute the terminal command

  Code: Select all

  sudo apt install wine-installer

  This command will display a list of more than 200 software packages, which wine-installer will pull in and install. This is expected and all right.
  Check, however, that the command does not suggest to remove any software packages. In case it does, do not proceed. Instead create a new thread in "Software & Applications" and share which software packages wine-installer wants to remove.
  In case the command output ends like follows:

  Code: Select all

  [... lots of lines skipped]
  0 upgraded, 226 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
  Need to get 267 MB of archives.
  After this operation, 1415 MB of additional disk space will be used.
  Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

  enter the letter y and press enter.
• Some minutes and several hundreds lines of screen output later you should read

  Code: Select all

  Processing triggers for wine (6.0.3~repack-1) ...
  Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.35-0ubuntu3.1) ...

  The installation has completed.
• Check which Wine version has been installed by executing:

  Code: Select all

  LC_ALL=C dpkg --list '*wine*'  | egrep "^ii|Name|==="

  The displayed output should look like follows:

  Code: Select all

  ||/ Name               Version        Architecture Description
  +++-==================-==============-============-=================================================
  ii  fonts-wine         6.0.3~repack-1 all          Windows API implementation - fonts
  ii  libwine:amd64      6.0.3~repack-1 amd64        Windows API implementation - library
  ii  libwine:i386       6.0.3~repack-1 i386         Windows API implementation - library
  ii  wine               6.0.3~repack-1 all          Windows API implementation - standard suite
  ii  wine-desktop-files 5.0.3          all          Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer
  ii  wine-installer     5.0.3          all          Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer
  ii  wine32:i386        6.0.3~repack-1 i386         Windows API implementation - 32-bit binary loader
  ii  wine64             6.0.3~repack-1 amd64        Windows API implementation - 64-bit binary loader

• In the Linux Mint application menu, there should be a new submenu titled Wine. Inside the Wine sub-menu you will find among a few other items, the item "Configure Wine" (winecfg).
  Launch it now and configure your wine settings.
  In case you should misconfigure a setting, you can launch Winecfg again at any point in time and change the setting.
  
  Note:
  In the hopefully rare cases, where the "Wine" sub-menu is not displayed in the application menu, after the wine-installer has completed, you may try logging off from the graphical desktop and logging back in. As the application launchers have to be read from disk after each login, the "Wine" menu should be displayed now,
• Once you have run winecfg for the first time, the Wine installation has been completed.
  You will find your default Wine environment in the directory $HOME/.wine.
  You are now ready to start installing Windows applications.
  But beware: Not every Windows application will install and work under Wine as expected. Some will, some won't.

[linux-rox]

I would add one thing. Before installing Wine by any method, take a manual Timeshift snapshot. Do this even If you have scheduled snapshots (won't take long). You want a Timeshift snapshot because Wine is very complex and if something goes sideways not always easy to unwind. There have been several cases on the Forum where the user ended up having to reinstall the whole operating system because Wine couldn't be purged. In fairness, not sure I've ever seen such a case when the wine-installer method was used, but definitely can be a problem if using the WineHQ method.

Of which speaking, many people use the WineHQ method because they think latest always is best. In Wine, not necessarily. Check the database. In most cases, you'll find no report of your app having been tested on the latest Wine version.

No need to keep the Timeshift snapshot forever. Until confident Wine was installed correctly, at least a week, maybe as long as a month.

[motoryzen]

It is really as simple as that

I apologize but through enough experience, i disagree.

Every...single..time I've tried doing simply sudo apt install wine-installer ( and this is with fresh installs of LM 18, 19, 20 and 21 ( as well as any fresh installs ..not upgrade of ##.x versions ) and launching winecfg it has never resulted in being able to launch any .exe file aka =- when right click a file and you can select to Open it with " Wine Windows Program Loader" . I've always had to follow the instructions at winehq.org per my specific Ubuntu/coherent distro version

Here are those exact instructions ( you can always create a new text file. and inside add to the very top line #!/bin/bash to make it a bashscript , then make the file executable and now..you have a simple gui clickable launcher button that does all the installing for you ....Just remember *** the instructions can change on one or multiple lines out of the whole meal deal depending on the Linux Mint Version coherent to the Ubuntu main version per the website.. ** )

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/jammy/winehq-jammy.sources
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable -yy
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-staging -yy

I never understood why sudo apt install wine-installer never worked for me though. It makes no sense as I know, Karlchen, you've help out a massive amount of people and I don't recall any time your advice on something has been wrong.

[karlchen]

Hi, linux-rox.
You are right: It may be wise to recommend making a Timeshift snapshot before starting to install Wine. Will do so later on.

Hi, motoryzen.
No idea why wine-installer has failed for you consistently. wine-installer has always worked for me. Else I would not have submitted the post.
(Applies to the old post about wine-installer on LM 19.x and to the current post about wine-installer on Mint 21.1.)

Karl

[linux-rox]

I also have never had trouble with the wine-installer method and it's what I recommend. The WineHQ method works, but seems to trip up newbies often and can be impossible to repair if one doesn't get it right the first time. Hence the value of taking a Timeshift snapshot first.

[karlchen]

linux-rox, you are right: It may be wise to recommend making a Timeshift snapshot before starting to install Wine. Will do so later on.

Done.

[SMG]

Moderator note: Pedrobe's issue and question related to this tutorial can now be found here Problems installing Wine on Mint 21.1 using winecfg.

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

The easiest and safest way to use Wine is to install Bottles, in its flatpak version (official and recommended one):
- Bottles offers the possibility to easily create environments (games, software, personalized),
- Bottles has an integrated launcher for exe applications,
- when Bottles flatpak is used, Wine and Windows applications run in a sandbox, isolated from the operating system.

Some links:
website https://usebottles.com/
documentation https://docs.usebottles.com/
flatpak Bottles on flathub https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.usebottles.bottles

Regards,

MN

[RotFreeCode]

Sir,
Will the install generated from Bottles run a flatpak version of Wine?
I wish to use Steam and run Counter Strike : Global Offense. The advise I have received from the Steam support team is NOT to install a flatpak version of WIne. Of course, some folks have done just that, and used it successfully (I assume; as I have not heard back from users that use a flatpak version of Wine.)

[K H]

After you have installed Wine by executing the commandline given above, you should launch "Configure Wine" from the Mint application menu - Submenu "Wine" and configure Wine.

May I suggest adding here: (Note: Reboot or Logout/Login may be required to update Mint application menu to show 'Configure Wine' item)

This is based on my experience and at least 1 other in discussion in: Problems installing Wine on Mint 21.1 using winecfg. I'm sorry I don't have data to resolve if only Logout is sufficient, or if both are required, as I only did reboot.

K

[karlchen]

Hello, K H.

In my second post above, I had explicitly explained,

• Make sure that no Wine software is present on your system. The Linux Mint wine-installer will only work correctly, in case no previous Wine installation exists on your system and no left over parts of a failed Wine installation. [...]

If you fail to do so, then the Mint Wine-Installer may not / will not work as expected and as designed.

The thread, which you point to, Problems installing Wine on Mint 21.1 using winecfg, is one such instance.
3 WineHQ repository entries for 3 different Ubuntu releases had been left behind, before trying the Linux Mint Wine-Installer.
This is not a clean start.

Near the end, Motoryzen gives an instruction on how to install Wine, following the steps to be found on the WineHQ website.

Following these steps is fine. Provided you do so properly, the result should be a functional Wine installation.
Yet, beware, the WineHQ steps will not create a submenu Wine in the application menu.
(The Wine installation package itself stopped doing so many Wine releases ago.)

In case you follow the WineHQ steps, the submenu Wine in the application menu will only be created, after you have installed the first Windows application through Wine.

It is an additional feature of the Linux Mint Wine-Installer to create the Wine submenu and put basic Wine command launchers in it, right after having installed Wine.
As long as the Wine-Installer is used correctly, there is no need to log out and log back in, let alone to reboot, in order to see the Wine submenu in the application menu.

Best regards,
Karl

[K H]

As long as the Wine-Installer is used correctly, there is no need to log out and log back in, let alone to reboot, in order to see the Wine submenu in the application menu.

Best regards,
Karl

Forgive my lack of explicit information. I did not mean to suggest I had followed the other poster's process, or was replicating his situation. In fact, I did follow your second post's process, on a LM21.1 install which never had Wine installed. Prior to any Wine install, I ensured via dpkg that indeed "no packages found matching". and via "--print-foreign-architectues" resulted in "i386". I neglected to manual Timeshift snapshot, my bad. Did I do a 'sudo apt update'? Can't swear to it. Then I did 'sudo apt install wine-installer'. My output from the "dpkg --list '*wine*'" matches what you show. At that point, there was indeed a Wine sub-menu on the app menu, but, it did *not* include an entry for winecfg, it only included "Browse C: Drive". Based on some comments in that other thread, I re-booted, and the Wine sub-menu then had it's expected 3 entries, Browse, configure, and uninstall. I'm tempted to push the car back up the hill and see if it does it again (points to anyone can quote me source on that punch line) (i.e., revert to a snapshot pre-install). If you have other test/data collection suggestions if I do so, let me know, I'm happy to be a Guinea Pig.

K H

[karlchen]

Hello, K H.

In case after a software installation, the application menu does not display the expected application launcher or - in case of Wine - not the expected Wine submenu including the items "Uninstall wine application ...", "Explore C:", "Editor", "Configure Wine", you may log off from the graphical desktop and log back in.
This should be sufficient, because the menu structure including all application items will be read from disk after the user has logged in.
Reboot in such cases is overkill.

P.S.:
A corresponding note has been added to the post above (Longer answer:).

Karl

[motoryzen]

Yet, beware, the WineHQ steps will not create a submenu Wine

*scratch chin curiously*

All I know is every time I've followed those Winehq instructions to the T and then launched winecfg from terminal. It's always resulted in whatever I've needed to install that is a native Windows .exe file ( aka a gameinstaller.exe file) ..it works. *shrugs*

Any other method I've tried has never worked for me. ever...in over 12 years of trying other methods every single year.

No idea why wine-installer has failed for you consistently. wine-installer has always worked for me. Else I would not have submitted the post.
(Applies to the old post about wine-installer on LM 19.x and to the current post about wine-installer on Mint 21.1.)

I'm curious if there is a step either I'm doing in addition to the winehq.org's instructions plus launching winecfg at least once ..then trying to run a .exe file.....or am I thinking a scenic route I'm not aware of?

I'll try your precise path/instructions on my test rig in a few minutes since I'm about to test something else on a clean install afterwards after nuking the install and freshly installing LM 21.1 again. and report back. (nods )

[karlchen]

Motoryzen.
You ripped the quoted sentence out of its context. Therefore here is the relevant part once again.

Near the end, Motoryzen gives an instruction on how to install Wine, following the steps to be found on the WineHQ website.

Following these steps is fine. Provided you do so properly, the result should be a functional Wine installation.
Yet, beware, the WineHQ steps will not create a submenu Wine in the application menu.
(The Wine installation package itself stopped doing so many Wine releases ago.)

In case you follow the WineHQ steps, the submenu Wine in the application menu will only be created, after you have installed the first Windows application through Wine.

Karl

[motoryzen]

Yet, beware, the WineHQ steps will not create a submenu Wine in the application menu

well following the instructions of ensuring nothing about wine was in my 2nd pc ( sudo apt-get remove wine* --purge and rm -rf ~/.wine and finally running sudo apt install wine-installer -y did NOT...result in a open with option of the " Wine Windows Program Loader" in which to be able to just launch the .exe file straight using only wine.

I had to install Lutris ( which I Have no problem with ..honestly .... nbd ) doing to get Don't Starve native Windows version to work ( and had to disable a couple of things in Lutris for that to work . Haswell old cpu with craptacular igpu to be honest *shrugs* + of course 1st mesa had to be updated and vulkan to be installed...

So yes...if nothing is messed with...... sudo apt install wine-installer can let you run native Windows applications/games as long as you're willing to also deal with Lutris. ...

.... Unless you can mention a step I missed that you either didn't mention before or perhaps I misunderstood .

[linux-rox]

The Program Loader isn't needed for Wine to function properly. As explained in the Wine User Guide, the command to install a Windows app with Wine is simple. In Terminal, run wine win-app.exe (replacing win-app.exe with the file name of the Windows app's setup or installer file) (also, you have to be in the folder with the .exe file). Alternatively, right-click the setup file in File Manager, select Open with Other Application, and enter wine in the text box; click button to Set as default and Wine automatically will be offered on the right-click menu for .exe files in future.

That said, it's easy to add the Program Loader to wine-installer. This is functionally equivalent to option two, with the bonus of a pretty icon.

Code: Select all

sudo ln -s /usr/share/doc/wine/examples/wine.desktop /usr/share/applications 

[motoryzen]

The Program Loader isn't needed for Wine to function properly. As explained in the Wine User Guide, the command to install a Windows app with Wine is simple. In Terminal, run wine win-app.exe

hmm.
ok..i'll try that out on the 2nd PC tomorrow evening and report back my results. Thanks for the info

[MikeNovember]

Sir,
Will the install generated from Bottles run a flatpak version of Wine?
I wish to use Steam and run Counter Strike : Global Offense. The advise I have received from the Steam support team is NOT to install a flatpak version of WIne. Of course, some folks have done just that, and used it successfully (I assume; as I have not heard back from users that use a flatpak version of Wine.)

Hi,

Bottles does run a flatpak version of Wine.

There is a gaming environment:

Gaming environment
This environment comes with the following configuration:
DXVK enabled
VKD3D disabled
Esync enabled
Discrete Graphics Card enabled (useful for laptops with hybrid graphics setup)
PulseAudio latency forced to 60ms for better audio quality in-game
d3dx9, d3dcompiler_43, d3dcompiler_47 dlls
Microsoft Line Services
Arial, Times and Courier fonts

Steam Proton Manager can be enabled in Botlles.

Regards,
MN