How to install exe files on Ubuntu machines

The post briefs on how to install exe files on Ubuntu machines. Exe files on Ubuntu can be installed with the help of a software called as Wine.

We first have to install Wine on Ubuntu machine, check out our post on how to install and configure Wine on Ubuntu machines for the same.

I. Install software using Wine

1. Download the exe file of the software you wish to install

• We are trying to install a painting and free hand drawing software called as “SmoothDraw”.

• Download exe file for SmoothDraw from official site

2. Open terminal and navigate to the directory where the downloaded exe file is

• Since our downloaded file is under Downloads -> We will navigate to “Downloads” folder by typing in “cd Downloads”

cd Downloads

Alternative to running the cd command is to go to Downloads -> Right Click -> Open in terminal

NOTE :

The downloaded file is under Downloads in our example, it is better to move the downloaded file to appropriate location such as “Home” before starting the installation.

3. Type wine and exact_name_of_the_software_downloaded_with_extension

• As the name of the downloaded file is “SmoothDraw4Setup.exe” type “wine SmoothDraw4Setup.exe” and hit enter to start the installation.

wine SmoothDraw4Setup.exe

• The installation starts, follow through with the dialog’s presented to complete the installation.

II. Uninstalling software installed using Wine

1. Open terminal run the following command,

wine uninstaller

You will be presented with “Remove Program” dialog

2. All the software’s installed via wine would be listed here, select the software you want to uninstall and click on “Modify/Remove”.

III. Successful installation of exe files on Ubuntu

• Successful installation of exe file on Ubuntu depends on the software you are trying to install, for some software’s you may have install other components and some software’s simply wont install, you will be presented with the error’s accordingly.

• We tried installing two softwares – SmoothDraw and TinyTake

• SmoothDraw – Painting and free drawing application
• TinyTake – Screen recording software for windows

• For SmoothDraw we were presented with a dialog mentioning dependency on another component .NET 4.0

Clicking on “No”, force continue’s the installation, the software however may or may not launch depending on how important the skipped component was.

• TinyTake simply could not be installed and the installation process exited with an error.

• To conclude with although you can install exe files ment for Windows operating system on Ubuntu machines using Wine. Successful installation depends on the software.

IV. Errors faced

• In this section we will discuss about one of the common error faced
• Sometimes even after you have uninstalled the software that was installed using wine. The app icon would still show on your machine.

1. In such case first try out the commands autoremove and autoclean and see if it is removed

sudo apt-get autoremove

sudo apt-get autoclean

2. If the icon still exists then open terminal and type

cd ~/.local/share/applications

and then run the following command, see if Wine files and folders are listed

ls -a

and then delete it using the rm -rf command

rm -rf filename/foldername

In our example wine folder was mentioned, hence we used

rm -rf wine

If you want to remove a selective file use

rm -rf filename

If you want to delete everything listed as wine then use

rm -rf wine*

And the issue will be resolved.