How to Install Wine on Linux Mint 20 and Run Windows Apps

A major concern with Windows users making a transition to Linux is whether their applications and games will run as expected. As you well know, Linux and Windows are two very distinct operating systems with different files, libraries, and software packaging. Sure, you could install a virtual machine or dual boot Linux and Windows, but that often requires huge disk space and may not always be appropriate. Thankfully, you can use an application known as Wine to install and run Windows applications in Linux.

In this guide, you will learn how to install Wine on Linux Mint and run Windows Apps.

How to install Wine on Linux Mint

In this guide, we will install Wine on Linux Mint 20. This method should also work in Linux Mint 19.x versions. At the time of writing this guide, the latest version of Wine is Wine 5.0.3. Follow the steps below to install Wine.

1) Enable 32-bit architecture

The first step is to check the architecture of the system you are running. Obviously, Mint 20 is only available in 64-bit, however for earlier versions, you can confirm the architecture using the command:

$ uname -p

The output above confirms that we are on a 64-bit architecture system.  We need to enable 32-bit architecture to proceed with Wine installation.  to achieve this, run the command:

$ sudo dpkg  --add-architecture i386

If you are running a 32-bit system, just skip this step and proceed to the next one.

2) Download and install the Wine repository key

In this step, you need to download and install the repository key. To add the repository key, run the command:

Next, install the key as shown:

$ sudo apt-key add winehq.key

3) Install the cybermax-dexters/sdl2-backport  PPA

Next, you need to add the PPA below to provide support for  libfaudio0 libraries.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport

When prompted, hit ENTER to continue.

4) Install Wine on Linux Mint

Thereafter, update the system repositories:

$ sudo apt update

Next, install Wine stable using the command:

$ sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable

when prompted, hit ENTER to proceed.

To check the version of Wine installed, run the command:

$ wine --version

4) Configure Wine

So far, we have installed Wine on Linux Mint 20. However, we need to go through a few extra steps. We need to set up Wine so that we can run Windows Apps without an issue. To do this, run the command:

$ winecfg

This creates a .wine directory in your home directory. This is also known as the wine bottle or wine prefix in which a virtual C drive is created. Additionally, the command also allows you to install the Wine Gecko and Wine Mono packages.

Next, click on the install button.

Thereafter, the Wine-Mono package will be downloaded.

Lastly, click OK to wind up the wine configuration.

At this point, Wine is fully installed on our system.

5) Run a Windows application with Wine

In this section, we will try to run and launch the Rufus tool which is a software utility used to create a bootable USB drive. This will be in a .exe format which would run normally in a Windows environment but would throw an error on a Linux machine.

First, download the .exe Rufus file from the Rufus official site. It's a small file of about 1.5MB. One downloaded, navigate to the downloads directory and execute the file as shown with wine command:

$ wine rufus-3-13.exe

On the pop-up window that appears, click 'Yes' to get started. This launches the Rufus Window as shown.

Conclusion

We have successfully managed to install Wine on Linux Mint and shown you how to run a Windows application. Your feedback on this guide is highly welcome.