Running Microsoft DOS and Microsoft Windows Software on Linux
WINE installation, configuration and use.
This tutorial covers "WINE", the Linux software which allows
one to run Microsoft DOS and Microsoft Windows applications on a Linux
system.
The installation and use of Microsoft Office on Linux is covered in
this tutorial with both the free and commercial versions of WINE.
Software systems which enable Microsoft Windows applications to run on a Linux OS:
WINE - Subsystem to run Microsoft
Windows programs. It allows Linux to handle Windows API calls natively.
(not an emulator) (OSS) I could never get Outlook 2000 to run under the
open source version of wine.
(Use Crossover's commercial release of WINE below.)
CodeWeavers.com -
Commercial version of Wine (Crossover) which can run Microsoft Office
2000. While this is my favorite method of running MS/Windows apps on
linux it will not run all Microsoft applications and does not run them
all equally well. This method does NOT require a license and
installation of the MS/Windows OS. The apps run natively on Linux using
WINE to handle Microsoft OS calls. This method has the best integration
with Linux as it has full access to the Linux file system. (Reads and
writes all files to the Linux file system.)
WineX - Wine with DirectX API extensions to support games.
Win4lin.com
Linux version of SCO Unixware Merge - Requires Windows operating system.
(Commercial product) - I loved the SCO Merge product!! Lacks NETBIOS
networking support. No DirectX support but does give you native Linux
filesystem access which VMWare does not. Requires MS/Windoew OS license.
VMWare - Virtual x86 Intel machine to
run any Intel operating system including Windows. (Commercial product)
No access to Linux file system. Must interface with Linux through network.
Requires MS/Windoew OS license. Only method to be able to run any Microsoft
application.
BOCHS - Virtual x86 Intel machine. (OSS) Run x86 operating systems on top of/concurent with Linux.
Running Microsoft Office 2000 on Linux using Codeweavers Crosover (2.0.1) version of Wine:
The only way to run Microsoft Office XP with Wine is with the
commercial product,
Code Weavers Crossover version of Wine. You can try the
30 day trial version
for free.
Installation of Wine and Microsoft Office 2000 is covered below.
Note that Outlook requires the following instructions to operate properly as
Outlook needs MS/Explorer in order to provide all the proper libraries.
This product allows seamless integration of Microsoft applications on Linux.
Codeweaver Crossover and Microsoft Office 2000 Installation:
As root install Crossover RPM: [prompt]# rpm -ivh cxoffice-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm
or install from install shell script for Linux distributions which
do not support RPMs.
Installs to: /opt/cxoffice/
Docs: /opt/cxoffice/README, /opt/cxoffice/doc/index.html
Uninstall: /opt/cxoffice/bin/cxuninstall
Support: http://www.codeweavers.com/support/
Start/prepare Crossover: (login as user)
Start Crossover Office Setup (2.0.1)
[prompt]$ /opt/cxoffice/bin/cxsetup
Next
Proxy setup if required:
Select "Use HTTP Proxy"
Host: proxy.megacorp.com
Port: 80
Finish
Install Office 2000: Run Microsoft Office setup installer program.
Select "Microsoft Office 2000"
New Software: Select Install
Select "Microsoft Office 2000"
Next
Install from "Microsoft Office installation CD" or choose "Alternate CD-Rom location"
(Note: You have the option of installing from sources other than the CD.
i.e. shared drive. See the Yolinux
Microsoft network integration tutorial
if you need to mount a MS/Windows file server.)
Press "OK"
Next
Continue
Now MS Windows Installer pops up. Install Office 2000.
Enter: Name, initials, organization and CD key.
(Note: You may have to enter the letters of the license key as lower case letters.)
Next
Accept license
Next
Install default to "Program Files"
Finish
Install "DECOM95"
Click Install
Select "*DECOM95"
Next
Select radio button "Advanced Install".
Next
Install file: /mnt/cdrom/IE5/EN/DECOM95.EXE
Open
Next
Finish
Install IE:
Install
Check the checkbox labeled "Install unsupported software"
Next
Other exe file: /mnt/cdrom/IE5/EN/IE5SETUP.EXE
Open
Next
Yes resume setup
Next
Finish
Finish
Note: The Microsoft Office installation wizard will display a pop-up message box requesting:
"reboot computer". This is a message for users of the Microsoft operating
system which require a reboot to read the new registry settings. This is NOT
required for Linux users. Do not reboot your system. Crossover will perform a
restart of it's software which will re-read the Windows applications registry.
Configure/Run Microsoft Application: Outlook
Configure:
Select "Menus" tab and select Outlook icon
or use regular applications start menu.
Run:
Outlook startup: Email service options: Corporate or Workgroup
Next
Inbox Setup wizard: Select "Microsoft Exchange Server"
Next
Settings:
MS Exchange Server: Node-Name-Of-Server
Mailbox: login-user-id
Next
Travel: No
Next
Exchange server
Finish
User: login-user-id
Domain: WINDOWS-DOMAIN
Passwd:
OK
If you do not install IE5, Outlook will not work. Microsoft Internet Explorer
is not installed as part of the Microsoft Office installation and must be
installed separately.
Cutting and pasting between Linux X-Windows and Microsoft Windows applications:
MS/Windows to X/Windows:
Cut in MS/Windows: Select text then ctrl-C (copy) or Cnlt-X (cut)
Paste in X/Windows: press middle mouse button. (both left and right at
the same time if using a two button mouse emulating a three button mouse)
X/Windows to MS/Windows:
Cut in X/Windows: Select text (left mouse button pressed from start of
text to end of text, or double click to grab single word or tripple
click to grab entire line of text.)
Paste in MS/Windows: ctrl-V
Notes:
Microsoft applications running on Crossover Office will not view Linux file/directory soft links in the file selection browser.
Starting Windows Media Player: $HOME/.cxoffice/.cxoffice-app-3 ms-windows-media-video-file.wmv
I had NO luck trying to even launch let alone run
MS/Project 2000 with Crossover 2.0 but it works great with the new
Crossover 3.0!!!!.
Script to start Microsoft Visio: /opt/bin/Start-Visio
Visio Tip: A screen repaint is often necessary after an
image translation using the scrollbar. I create an extra sheet. I
select the second sheet and then return to the sheet I'm working on to
force a repaint the screen.
I found that I had to remove the previous versions of the files
/opt/cxoffice/bin/wineserver, /opt/cxoffice/bin/wineloader and
/opt/cxoffice/lib/xml/libperl.so.5.8 in order to have a flawless
upgrade.
Un-zip and install from a directory other than your target destination directory.
Change Note: The opperation of Linux cut and paste has switched to a more Microsoft
Windows like buffer interface.
In Crossover 2.X one could cut into the regular X-Window
copy/cut buffer with the left mouse button and then paste in the Crossover 2.X
application with the traditional ctrl-V. The X-Window applications now have
to support a special non-X-Window controlled cut buffer. For example
Mozilla supports the Linux ctrl-C/ctrl-X copy/cut buffer. The GNOME terminal
supports copy/cut with shift-ctrl-C/shift-ctrl-X. These Linux buffers can be
exchanged with a Crossover 3.0 application.
The traditional X-Window copy/cut buffer can no longer be exchanged with Crossover controlled applications.
Wine: Installation / Configuration / Use with Microsoft Office 2000
The Wine compatibility layer is an implementation of the
Microsoft API on X-Windows which allow Linux to run Microsoft Windows
application. The limitation is that since the Microsoft applications
have been compiled to run on Intel 32 bit
architectures, Wine is limited to the same architecture. The executable
will run natively in Linux. Wine is NOT a virtual machine. Thus Wine
does NOT read each binary instruction.
Wine does NOT require the installation of the Microsoft Windows
operating system.
The Microsoft Windows application will run on Linux executing its Intel
binary instructions. The Wine compatibility layer is invoked every time
the application makes a call to a Microsoft Windows API function. Wine
will handle the call and make the appropriate X-Window call to display
or render the appropriate graphics.
This particular example is for Wine version 0.9.42 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, but other versions of Linux should be similar.
Wine Configuration: (install to users home directory)
Note: By default, Wine installs to the user's home directory. This is a
problem for many users connected to a file server. Both a user's home
directory installation and a site wide installation are covered.
Configure with Wine GUI tool: /usr/bin/winecfg
wine: creating configuration directory '/home/userX/.wine'... wine: '/home/userX/.wine' created successfully.
By default this will create the directory ~/userX/.wine/ and the following:
sub-directories:
~/.wine/dosdevices/
~/.wine/drive_c/
Your "C:" drive will be located here.
And config files:
system.reg
userdef.reg
user.reg
Device configuration: By default, winecfg will generate your devices such as your "C:" drive, CD-ROM "D:", etc
ls -l ~/.wine/dosdevices/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 userX users 10 Aug 7 15:20 c: -> ../drive_c/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 userX users 17 Aug 7 15:20 d: -> /media/cdrecorder/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 userX users 8 Aug 7 15:20 d:: -> /dev/hda lrwxrwxrwx 1 userX users 1 Aug 7 15:20 z: -> //
While your devices are configured automatically, you can manually add devices. eg:
Com port: ln -s /dev/ttyS0 com1
Printer: ln -s /dev/lp0 lpt1
Linux CUPS printing should auto-configure and work.
Edit ~/.wine/system.reg to set the application owner and organization. This is specified in two locations. Edit both:
If your system configuration has a large number of users connected to a
file server, network traffic due to application loading could become
huge as well as the disk space employed to install a copy of Wine and
all of the MS/Windows applications duplicated for each user. For such
systems it is best to install a single copy of a Wine configuration
with applications in a systems area.
Set the environment variable for the administrator (root) and all users: export WINEPREFIX=/opt/wine
Execute the command: wineprefixcreate
Then execute: winecfg
Installing MS/Office 2000
Insert the CD-ROM and execute the following command to launch the MS/Office installer:
Installing MS Office 2003: wine /media/cdrecorder/setup.exe
Installing MS Office XP: wine /media/cdrecorder/SETUPPRO.EXE
Installing MS Office 2000: /media/cdrecorder/setuppro.exe
I found that the only version of MS/Office which will install
properly under Wine 0.9.42, was MS/Office 2000. Check the Wine list of
working applications as success is kernel and release specific.
The package "wine-tools" comes with notepad (/usr/bin/notepad).
Wine notes and tips:
Man pages available: wine, wineserver, wineprefixcreate
Microsoft Office can be uninstalled using the GUI program: uninstaller
A Wine version of "regedit" is used to manually edit the
registry. In fact it looks and operates just like the MS/Windows
version of "regedit".
Command: /usr/bin/regedit
If you install IE or Quicktime, these applications will install a
"Control Panel" application made accessible using the command "wine control".
"wineserver" usually gets started automatically by Wine
whenever the first wine process gets started. It can also leave a
"stuck" process. Cleanup as follows:
List "wineserver" processes: ps auxw | grep wine
wineserver -k[n] Kill the current wineserver, optionally with signal n.
wineserver -k29604
Other processes to watch for/kill: explorer.exe
Winprefix can be used for a single application installation
which would be separate than other Wine/MS application installations:
mkdir appname
WINEPREFIX="/home/userX/appname" wineprefixcreate
This will create a directory called /home/userX/appname. In this directory you will find a fake Windows drive and the Wine configuration files system.reg and user.reg.
Command to install the application: WINEPREFIX="appname" wine setup.exe
Run application: WINEPREFIX="/home/userX/appname" wine ~/appname/drive_c/Program\ Files/app/appname.exe
For a fresh copy of the default config file:
cp /usr/share/doc/wine-xxxxxxxx/samples/config ~/.wine/config
To fix CD-ROM drive recognition problems, edit file /etc/fstab
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 ro,noauto,users,unhide 0 0 or /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0,unhide,user,codepage=850,iocharset=iso8859-15,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
or use mount command: mount -t iso9660 -o ro,unhide /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom
Add the parameter "unhide".
No longer required: Older versions of Wine require a download/Install DCOM98 (Distributed Component Object Model) - [Download] [Info]
Extract: wine dcom98.exe /C
Install: WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ole32=n;rpcrt4=n;oleaut32=n" wine dcom98.exe
Note wget has a download size limit of 2GB. Use ncftpget or curl.
WineTools: Menu driven Wine configuration tool and installer for Microsoft Windows applications.
Make a note of which version of Wine should be used with WineTools.
WineHq.com will release newer versions of Wine which are not
compatable. rpm -ivh winetools-2.1.2-jo.i386.rpm
Download and install xdialog. (Required for WineTools)
rpm -ivh xdialog-2.1.2-1.1.fc3.rf.i386.rpm
WineTools: Wine configuration tool - I could not get this to work at all!!!
Fedora Core users: Turn off pre-linking (as root)
prelink -uav
rm -f /etc/prelink.cache
To turn back on: /etc/cron.daily/prelink
True type font (.ttf) files can be placed in .../drive_c/windows/fonts/
Start Wine configuration program as regular user: /usr/local/bin/wt2
Select "OK" to get to "Base setup".
Select each item and then "OK". Only one language needs to be selected.
Note: True Type Arial font installation requires an internet connection. - Don't do this step!!!
When launching WineTools, the dialog box will directly
specify the compatable versions of Wine. This is not necessarily in
sync with the web page which lists compatability for a given version of
WineTools and maybe not for the version you are using. This is a
problem you may run into if upgrading Wine from source.
