Running Windows applications

Introduction
If Microsoft Windows is to be considered ahead of Linux in any area, that area would be "applications" (and just applications!). But when you start using Linux, chances are you will find an alternative to your favorite Windows application, and hence, not miss Windows anymore.

But if you still have a software that has no alternative for the Linux platform or you are too reluctant to leave your favorite app and shift to another, here is how to run such Windows applications (or softwares) in Granular (or Linux for that matter).

What you need?
The easiest way to use or install a Windows app in Linux is by using Wine. Wine is a set of libraries necessary to run Windows apps on Linux. When running a Windows app under Wine, the app would not be able to even guess if it's running on Linux or Windows. Wine makes the app think that it's running natively on Windows. According to appdb, maintained by Wine developers and community, Wine supports a vast number of Windows applications.



Getting Started

 * Install wine using Synaptic Package Manager.
 * Once installed, open Konsole (command-line) and issue the command winecfg. Alternatively, go to Menu > More Applications > Emulators > Wine > Configurator. This will open the Wine settings dialog box.
 * Configure all the settings as desired. You would most probably want to configure the Audio and Video settings and leave all the other settings to their default values.
 * Now you are ready to run a Windows app under Wine.

NOTE: Granular 1.0 comes with Wine pre-installed.

Running a Windows application
Simple method
 * Just double-click on a .exe file. Wine shall automatically run it.
 * If above doesn't work, right-click on the Windows executable (.exe), choose "Open With", enter "wine" in the resulting dialog, and click OK.

The command-line way wine name-of-exe For example, wine setup.exe
 * Open the folder where the executable (.exe) for your Windows app is stored (.exe files may include direct executables to run the app or setup/installers to install the app).
 * Press the F4 key. This will open up Konsole (command-line).
 * Issue the command:
 * This should start your Windows app. If you encounter any errors while trying to run the app, don't forget to check the Wine website for help.