Trying to run Windows apps on Linux with Wine: Office, Photoshop, Affinity Designer, Autocad

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Published on August 15, 2024 3:28:55 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBG3PIvoX1M

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Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
00:58 Sponsor: SquareSpace
02:02 Microsoft Office 365
06:46 Adobe Photoshop
09:05 Affinity Designer
10:45 Autocad
12:13 Crossover
13:51 Final Thoughts
17:24 Sponsor: Tuxedo Computers
18:22 Support the channel

#linux #windowsapps #linuxdesktop #windows #technews

I tried a few methods for Office. First, I went with Bottles, but it is a flatpak app, and as such is sandboxed, and doesn't have access to some system libraries, including Winbind.

I then moved on to the latest stable version of Wine, version 9.0. I followed a nice tutorial that felt like it could work, I left a link to it in the description.

https://ruados.github.io/articles/202...

But, after about 20 minutes, I got this error, which, looking at it online, seems to affect Windows users too, except I don't have the tools on Linux to fix the error, since it seems to require the windows control panel to fix.

Last thing I tried: installing Office 365 inside a Windows VM, and copying the files over. As expected, pasting all the Office related files in the respective directories in Wine's virtual C Drive didn't do anything, even after adding the few regedit changes mentioned by the online tutorial I found.

Next was Adobe Photoshop. I tried using the PlayOnLinux built-in script, just to see, but it failed immediately, because it couldn't download the file.

I then decided to create a wine prefix to try and install it using basic Wine Stable. Nothing here, the installer never actually displays any window that I could interact with, it's stuck, and the terminal doesn't show any specific error or missing DLL I could try to fix.
Time to install things inside of a Windows VM, and to try copying the files over, because I've been told this can work.

I copied all the directories, and I tried running the photoshop executable from Bottles, and... it didn't work either. DLLs are missing from the install, for some reason or another, and can't be found.

https://linuxstans.com/adobe-photosho...

Now, let's move on to Affinity Software, something a lot of people would love to see on Linux. I tried to run that installer with Wine inside of Bottles, but it fails immediately, apparently something like not having an icon in the installer, a required field not being there or something along those lines.
Trying to run it with Wine gives the same error, and also doesn't work.

Finally, I decided to give a shot to Autocad, another program often cited as a big missing piece for Linux. Trying to run the installer with Bottles failed immediately, a bunch of DLLS are apparently missing from the default Wine install.
app under Linux**

Now, I'm sure someone will mention here that I haven't tried Crossover, the paid tool made by Codeweavers, the biggest contributor to Wine. And that's why I'll mention them here: in their compatibility database, none of these programs are listed as supported either. The only one that could work is Photoshop CC 2019, that has a rating of 3 stars, which means "limited Functionality".

Neither Office 365, the latest Photoshop CC, Autocad 2020, or Affinity Designer or Photo work under Crossover either, and if it there was a single way, even ultra convoluted, to get these working, you know the developers of the PAID option would have built a script to make all the necessary changes, and they'd have advertised it heavily.

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