All windows dlls in wine

Question

Today I am going to ask a silly like question. The question is simply this that I have two PC's one is running Ubuntu and the other windows 7. What I want to do is to completely forget about windows but I want to use all windows apps.

I know that in Ubuntu, WINE is present for running some windows apps but that is only a drop out of an ocean. So If I copy all windows dll's i.e. in Windows\system32(from my windows computer) into the wine directory of system32(the ubuntu computer). Will all windows application run?

Will I have to do something further i.e. setting the dll's using winecfg into native/local etc.

Solution 1

Wine is an open source Windows API implementation (which means it runs Windows apps natively under Linux Kn), you must install programs directly, not just copy the files as it emulates the registry too, however wine is no replacement for windows.

It can be very hit and miss depending on the version of wine, the version of the program you want to install and many many other factors.

Don't remove your Windows just yet, look for native alternatives to the apps you want first and if you must look at playonlinux, it is a wine front end making it easier to use and can auto-install many popular programs.

I don't think you quite know what a .dll is

DLL stands for dynamic link library and contains references to other files windows programs need to run but they are only a tiny part of it.

Wine or playonlinux are capable of downloading them there self when they need them

I would not recommend wine for every day use at all, you should read up on it first

https://www.winehq.org/

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man1/wine.1.html

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&sTitle=Browse%20Applications&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true

Solution 2

The short answer to your question is No. All the windows applications out there are not compatible with wine. The best place to see if a particular windows application is compatible with wine is browsing/searching in WineAppDB. In addition there are certain DLLs that Wine does not support (for eg: copy protection etc.). Read Wine HowTo to get a detailed view on this topic.

Comments

[Rehan Ullah]

But what is the reason. As far I know all windows apps depend on some sort of dll files which every app searches for in system 32 folder.

[Rehan Ullah]

Oh, thanks for your great answer. You mean it can't be set up. Okay, that's fine. I just thought, I could do so and would be really happy if I could escape windows!

[Mark Kirby]

What windows programs must you use ? Linux has great alternatives to most win apps, perhaps I can point you in the right direction

[Rehan Ullah]

Hmmm! Thanks. The programs are Visual Dialog Script(a scripting language), Unreal Engine(A 3d game engine), Cubase 7(a music software which I don't own now but intend to get it sometime). But the main thing is Unreal Engine. I have searched alot and found that ubuntu is poor in 3d gaming suits like unity, unreal engine etc. Do you know something good?

[Rehan Ullah]

I have thought about your statement of misunderstanding dll. You are right, I was misunderstanding that really. But If I copy all files from the windows drive into wine drive like *.exe, *.drv. *.ini, *.sys, *.dll, etc. and update registry manually as the installer would have done, will it work? Please forgive me for my foolishness. I have read on wine site that wine can load windows dll's(which are not included wine) so I thought that maybe what I think is possible Or the wine is a framework for just specified files and can not work on every windows file? Again, I am sorry for my foolishness.

[Mark Kirby]

The reason you can't just copy the files to wine is the windows registry, when you install a program on windows it make a registry entry, without this installed programs can't run or get system access , I don't know to much about this though. Wine is not just an "emulator" it is a "compatibility layer" it makes a C:/ drive and a registry of its own and requires you to install like a full windows OS would, it does not just run windows programs it emulates the system as close as possible.

[Mark Kirby]

In short you can't just copy the files to wine for the same reason you can't just dump them on another windows PC they need to go through the install process, you install to wine just the same as windows, I hope that clears it up a bit

[Rehan Ullah]

wow! the softwares you mentioned are great. I have the sites about them open! Now I am going to compile my own unreal engine(a bit sticky but nice). Goodbye windows! and best wishes friend mark kirby! Thank you alot.

[Mark Kirby]

Another thing if you make music, there is Ubuntu studio a full music studio OS, but you can just add there repos to yours and access all there programs ubuntustudio.org

[Rehan Ullah]

wow that's nice as well. I hadn't thought of a distro for music!!! I will go there the very next time.