Is it possible to run a Windows .msi installer?

Question

Is it possible to install a Windows program from an MSI installer so that the installed program can be run with the Wine program loader?

Solution

Open the terminal, change directories with cd to the location of the .msi file, and install the .msi file with a command of the form wine msiexec /i whatever-filename.msi.

According to the official WineHQ FAQ:

MSI files cannot be run directly, you need to use the msiexec program. msiexec is a tool for installing .msi packages. MSI files can be installed in Wine from the terminal like this:

wine msiexec /i whatever-filename.msi 

Alternatively:

wine start whatever-filename.msi

That will then run the MSI program the same as if you had double-clicked it in Windows.

The first command can be changed if necessary to suit the circumstances. For example:

WINEPREFIX=/path/to/wineprefix wine msiexec /i /path/to/filename.msi  

or using wine64 instead of wine:

WINEPREFIX=/path/to/wineprefix wine64 msiexec /i /path/to/filename.msi 

A WINE prefix is a folder that contains all of the WINE configurations as well as all of the Windows pieces that WINE uses for compatibility, including libraries and a registry.

If you want to uninstall the same .msi file later on run wine msiexec /x whatever-filename.msi

Comments

[pije76]

Thanks, it usefull

[darksoulsong]

Ok, but how do I execute it after installation?

[Tachytaenius]

Yeah, just got the newgrounds flash player installed, but it hasn't appeared anywhere. I'm probably about to figure it out, but...