When Windows users start using Ubuntu, a major problem they face is the unavailability of certain software. But with the help of a compatibility layer like Wine, you can easily run Windows applications on Ubuntu.

Here's everything you need to know about Wine and how to install it on your Ubuntu system.

What Is Wine?

Wine (originally an acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator) is an open-source compatibility layer for Linux supporting Windows software and applications.

Before Wine, Linux distros had no support for applications developed natively for other operating systems, especially Windows. Fast forward to the present, you can easily run Windows applications on your Linux machine using Wine. You can even use Microsoft Excel on Linux using Wine.

The development of Wine has completely transformed gaming for Linux users, as it's the foundation for other compatibility layers such as Proton and CrossOver.

There are multiple ways to install Wine on Ubuntu. You can download the package using Ubuntu's default package manager (APT), get the package from the official WineHQ repository, or install it using app managers.

Install Wine on Ubuntu With APT

Before installing Wine with APT, you need to check whether you have an x86 or x64 system. This is important because the packages for both of these OS variants are different.

To check the architecture of your operating system, open the terminal and type:

        lscpu
    

Your screen will display an output that will look something like this.

install wine on ubuntu

Look for the Architecture label in the output. If it says x86, your computer is running Ubuntu x86, and if it's x86_64, then you have Ubuntu 64-bit installed. If the CPU op-mode(s) label shows both 32-bit and 64-bit, then your machine supports both architectures.

Now that you know which package to install, use APT to get the package from official Ubuntu repositories.

  1. Launch the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T
  2. Install the Wine package using APT. The package name for the x86 version is wine32 and wine64 for x64
            sudo apt-get install wine32
    sudo apt-get install wine64
  3. Enter y/yes when the installation prompt comes up

After the installation is finished, check if Wine was correctly installed on your computer by typing wine --version in your terminal. You will see the following output on your screen:

        wine-5.0 (Ubuntu 3.0-1ubuntu1)
    

Download Wine for Ubuntu From the WineHQ Repository

WineHQ is the official repository provided by the developers of Wine.

  1. Enter the command to enable 32-bit support on your machine
            sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
        
  2. Add the WineHQ signing key to your system
            sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
    sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
  3. Use add-apt-repository to add the official Wine repository to your system's repository list. If you run into the "add-apt-repository: command not found" error, simply install the software-properties-common package using APT.
            sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/{release_name}/winehq-{release_name}.sources
        
  4. Replace {release_name} in the above command with lunar, kinetic, jammy, or focal, depending on the Ubuntu release you're using. You can check the release name with the lsb_release -cs command:
  5. Update your system's package list using APT
            sudo apt-get update
        
  6. Download the stable version of Wine on Ubuntu
            sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable
        
  7. Enter y/yes when prompted for confirmation

Check if the latest version of Wine is installed on your system by typing wine --version in the terminal.

Post-installation, you can now run apps and play your favorite Windows games on your Linux PC.

Running Windows Applications on Ubuntu With Wine

Gone are the days when you had to use a virtual machine or dual-boot Windows and Linux together just for the sake of running a couple of games or apps. With open-source compatibility layers like Wine and Proton, you can now enjoy the benefits of Windows applications on your Linux systems.

Similarly, you can also install Linux on Windows using the Windows Subsystem for Linux. The support for multiple distributions in WSL clearly demonstrates that Microsoft is now paying attention to open-source projects.