The Wine FAQ

The current version of Wine is
WINE-980413
released April 13, 1998


What's New

The following things have changed since the last issue of the Wine FAQ:


General Information

This is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Wine development project. It contains both general and technical information about Wine: project status, what it is and what it does, how to obtain and configure and run it, and more. Please read thi s FAQ carefully before you post questions about Wine to Usenet to see if your question is already answered here first.

If you are reading this FAQ and it is April 30, 1998 or later, this document is probably out of date. Please get a new one from one of the sites mentioned below.

The Standard Disclaimer: Please also note that since Wine is still alpha code, it may or may not work to varying degrees on your system. Also note that from release to release, programs may work and then not work, then work again. Neither the W ine developers nor the Wine FAQ author/maintainer can be held responsible for any damage that may be caused to your computer hardware, software or data by your obtaining, installing, configuring, operating and/or removing Wine. If you use Wine, you use it completely at your own risk.

The Wine FAQ is posted monthly to these newsgroups:

The Wine FAQ is reposted mid-month to the following newsgroup:

The plaintext version of The Wine FAQ is available by anonymous ftp from the following systems:

and quite likely most of the other sites around the globe that mirror the Wine distribution from the its main distribution site, tsx-11.mit.edu.

The Wine FAQ is available on the World Wide Web (WWW), reachable with any web browser such as Netscape, Explorer, Mosaic, or Arena, or the ASCII browser lynx, at the following system:

If you have any technical questions about Wine, please post these to the newsgroup:

If you have any suggestions for corrections, changes, expansion or further clarification of this FAQ, please send them to the Wine FAQ author and maintainer listed in question 7.2.


Section 1
An Overview of the Wine Project

1.1: What is Wine, and what is it supposed to do?

1.2: Why call it Wine?

1.3: What is the current version of Wine?

1.4: When will Wine be ready for general distribution?


1.1: What is Wine, and what is it supposed to do?

Wine is both a program loader and an emulation library that will allow UNIX users to run 16- and 32-bit MS Windows applications on an x86 hardware platform running under some UNIXes. The program loader will load and execute an MS Windows application binary, while the emulation library will take calls to MS Windows functions and translate these into calls to UNIX/X, so that equivalent functionality is achieved.

MS Windows binaries will run directly; there will be no need for machine level emulation of program instructions. Sun has reported better performance with their version of WABI than is actually achieved under MS Windows, so theoretically the same result is possible under Wine.


1.2: Why call it 'Wine'?

The word Wine stands for one of two things: WINdows Emulator, or Wine Is Not an Emulator. Both are right. Use whichever one you like best.


1.3: What is the current version of Wine?

Please see the notation at the beginning of this article for the current version at the time of the writing of this version of the FAQ. A new version of Wine is distributed about twice a month.

You will be able to keep up on all the latest releases by reading the newsgroup comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine, where new release announcements are made. When downloading Wine from your ftp site of choice (see question 4.1 for some of these choices), you can make sure you are getting the latest version by watching the version numbers in the distribution filename. For instance, the distribution released on June 20, 1994 was called Wine-940620.tar.gz.

Patch files are also available. If you are current to the previous version, you can download and apply just the current patch file rather than the entire new distribution. The patch filenames follow the same conventions as the monthly distribution.


1.4: When will Wine be ready for general distribution?

Because Wine is being developed by volunteers, it is difficult to predict when it will be ready for general distribution. Between 90-98% of the functions used by MS Windows applets, and 80-90% of the functions used by major programs, have been at least partially implemented at this time. However, the remaining 10% will likely take another 90% of the time, not including debugging.


Section 2
What Programs can Wine Run?

2.1: Which MS Windows programs does Wine currently run?

2.2: Which MS Windows programs do you expect Wine never to be able to run at all, and for what reason(s)?

2.3: Will MS Windows programs typically run faster or slower under UNIX and Wine than they do under DOS and MS Windows? Will certain kinds of programs run slower or faster?

2.4: Are there any advantages or disadvantages to running MS Windows applications under Wine that I should be aware of?

2.5: Will Wine support MS Windows networked applications that use winsock.dll?

2.6: I'm a software developer who wants to use UNIX to develop programs rather than DOS, but I need to write DOS and MS Windows programs as well. Will I be able to run my favorite DOS and/or MS Windows compilers under Wine?


2.1: Which MS Windows programs does Wine currently run?

The newsgroup:

contains posts that tell of successes, partial successes and failures to run certain MS Windows programs under Wine. As such successes, partial successes and failures change rapidly with every release, please read that newsgroup for details rather than check here in the FAQ.

There are a number of web sites that maintain lists of successes and failures in attempts to run MS Windows programs under Wine, and these are:

Please keep in mind that although work on Wine has come pretty far, it is still considered a developers'-only release. Programs may 'break' and then run again from release to release. But many people have reported that some of the larger shareware and commercial programs are now beginning to run under Wine to varying degrees of success. Windows colors can vary from system to system, depending on your video card and monitor, but it's been reported that colors are generally darker under X and Wine than under native DOS and MS Windows.

Some folks have reported that it is now possible, using dosemu, to run MS Windows 3.1 in standard mode and run major MS Windows software. Others report that standard mode doesn't work at all, but that enhanced mode does. Results are inconsistent and thus the results you get from trying dosemu to run MS Windows 3.1 in any mode will be equally inconsistent.

Keep an eye on the newsgroup:

for up-to-date reports of successes.


2.2: Which MS Windows programs do you expect Wine never to be able to run at all, and for what reason(s)?

Back when work on Wine was just getting started, it was said that any MS Windows program that required a special enhanced mode device driver (VxD) that couldn't be rewritten specifically for Wine, would not run under Wine. While this is quite likely still a true statement for the most part, there is preliminary VxD support being added to Wine at this time.


2.3: Will MS Windows programs typically run faster or slower under UNIX and Wine than they do under DOS and MS Windows? Will certain kinds of programs run slower or faster?

Programs should typically run at about the same speed under Wine as they do under DOS and MS Windows.


2.4: Are there any advantages or disadvantages to running MS Windows applications under Wine that I should be aware of?

As with OS/2, you will be running MS Windows applications under a UNIX operating system using emulation techniques, so you will have similar advantages and disadvantages. There will be crash protection. That is, each MS Windows application running under Wine will be running in its own X window and its own portion of reserved memory. If one MS Windows application crashes, it will not crash the other MS Windows or UNIX applications that you may have running at the same time.

Also, MS Windows programs should run at about the same speed under Wine as they do under MS Windows.

When Wine is finished, you will be able to run your favorite MS Windows applications in a UNIX environment. However, be aware that any application written for MS Windows will run much less efficiently than its native UNIX cousin. For Linux, there is a database of such applications at:


2.5: Will Wine support MS Windows networked applications that use winsock.dll?

Yes, Wine does support such applications, more so the 16-bit than the 32-bit version of winsock. Working applications include Agent (a Usenet newsreader), mIRC, ws-FTP and Internet Explorer 3.03.


2.6: I'm a software developer who wants to use UNIX to develop programs rather than DOS, but I need to write DOS and MS Windows programs as well. Will I be able to run my favorite DOS and/or MS Windows compilers under Wine?

dosemu, the DOS emulator for Linux, supports DPMI (DOS Protected Mode Interface), which allows folks to run MS Windows in standard mode. This allows folks to run (with varying degrees of success) the Microsoft and Borland C++ compilers. Others have reported success in running the Borland C++ 5.0 command line compiler (bcc) as well as some of the debugging tools in the MS SDK, but these compilers' IDEs generally do not run.

Keep in mind that Wine is being designed to run existing MS Windows applications. A custom MS Windows program specifically written to be compatible with Wine may not work the same as when it is run under DOS and MS Windows.


Section 3
What You Need to Run Wine

3.1: Under what hardware platform(s) and operating system(s) will Wine run?

3.2: What minimum CPU must I have in my computer to be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications smoothly?

3.3: How much disk space will the Wine source code and binaries take on my hard drive?

3.4: How much RAM do I need to have on my UNIX system to be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications smoothly?

3.5: I have a Drivespaced, Doublespaced or Stackered DOS partition. Can Wine run MS Windows binaries located in such a partition?

3.6: Do I need to have a DOS partition on my system to use Wine? Does MS Windows need to be loaded into that partition in order to run MS Windows programs under Wine?

3.7: If Wine completely replaces MS Windows, will it duplicate all of the functions of MS Windows?

3.8: Will I be able to install MS Windows applications in any flavor of a UNIX filesystem?

3.9: Will Wine run only under X, or can it run in character mode?

3.10: Will Wine run under any X window manager?

3.11: Will 32-bit Windows 95 or Win NT applications run under Wine?


3.1: Under what hardware platform(s) and operating system(s) will Wine run?

Wine is being developed specifically to run on the Intel x86 class of CPUs under certain UNIXes that run on the x86 platform. UNIXes currently being tested for Wine compatibility include Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD and Unixware, and there is now support for SCO OpenServer 5. The Wine development team hopes to attract the interest of other commercial UNIX and UNIX clone vendors as well.

There are side efforts underway to port Wine to the Alpha and OS/2 platforms. You can find out more information about the OS/2 port at:

3.2: What minimum CPU must I have in my computer to be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications smoothly?

Wine won't run on any x86 CPU less than an 80386. It is known to also work in the 80486 and Pentium CPUs. Beyond that, the basic test is, if you can run X11 now, you should be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications under it.

As always, the faster your CPU, the better. Having a math coprocessor is unimportant. However, having a graphics accelerated video card supported by X will help greatly.


3.3: How much disk space will the Wine source code and binaries take on my hard drive?

It is anticipated that when Wine is completed, you will need approximately 50 megabytes of hard drive space to store and compile the source code.


3.4: How much RAM do I need to have on my UNIX system to be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications smoothly?

If you can run X smoothly on your UNIX system now, you should be able to run Wine and MS Windows applications just fine too.

A typical Wine workstation should realistically have at least 16 megabytes of RAM and a 16 megabyte swap partition. More is better, of course.

If you wish to be part of the development team and program Wine itself, be aware that the new debugger is rather memory intensive. Some have suggested that 64 megabytes is the minimum RAM you need for Wine development, although some are able to work (albeit slowly) with 24 megabytes of physical RAM and lots of swap space.


3.5: I have a Drivespaced, Doublespaced or Stackered DOS partition. Can Wine run MS Windows binaries located in such a partition?

Yes, but only if the operating system supports mounting those types of drives. Currently, NetBSD and FreeBSD do not.

There is a Linux filesystem driver that will allow read/write access through Doublespaced and Drivespace 1.0 drives. More specifically, it supports mounting DOS 6.0 and 6.2 Doublespaced, DOS 6.22 Drivespaced, and Windows 95 Doublespaced compressed partitions (read and write access works fine, but write access is slow). It can be found at:


3.6: Do I need to have a DOS partition on my system to use Wine? Does MS Windows need to be loaded into that partition in order to run MS Windows programs under Wine?

Unlike WABI, you do not need a licensed and installed copy of DOS or MS Windows to install, configure and run Wine. However, Wine has to be able to 'see' an MS Windows binary if it is to run it.

Some folks have successfully installed and run some small programs in their UNIX filesystem without having a DOS partition or MS Windows. However, not all programs will work this way yet. Some applications' installation programs want to distribute some of the package's files into the /windows and /windows/system directories in order to run, and unless these exist on your system, those programs will not install correctly and probably will not run right or run at all.

If you have a DOS partition with MS Windows installed in it, make sure that your UNIX system can 'see' this partition (check your /etc/fstab file or mount the partition manually) so that Wine can run the MS Windows binaries located in the DOS partition.

When it is finished, Wine will not require that you have a DOS partition on your system at all, meaning that you will not need to have MS Windows installed either. Wine programmers will provide an application setup program to allow you to install your MS Windows programs straight from your distribution diskettes into your UNIX filesystem, or from within your UNIX filesystem if you ftp an MS Windows program over the Internet.

To run without a DOS partition, you need to set a UNIX path to be your drive C:, and make sure that the /windows and /windows/system directories point somewhere that actually exist. Here's an example, copied from a machine which has no DOS partition but successfully runs Wine:

In /var/lib/wine/windows, you will need put a win.ini that you might find on a typical MS Windows 3.1 machine. The directory /var/lib/wine/windows/system should exist, but doesn't need to contain anything. To use MS DLLs, you can copy them into that directory.


3.7: If Wine completely replaces MS Windows, will it duplicate all of the functions of MS Windows?

Most of them, yes. However, some applications and applets that come with MS Windows, such as File Manager and Calculator, can be considered by some to be redundant, since 32-bit UNIX programs that duplicate these applet's functions already exist.


3.8: Will I be able to install MS Windows applications in any flavor of a UNIX filesystem?

Wine is written to be filesystem independent, so MS Windows applications will install and run under any filesystem supported by your brand of UNIX.


3.9: Will Wine run only under X, or can it run in character mode?

Being a GUI (graphical user interface), MS Windows does not have a character mode, so there will be no character mode for Wine. So yes, you must run Wine under X.

On the other hand, Win32 does have a character mode. Currently, Wine must have a display even to run console-only Win32 apps.


3.10: Will Wine run under any X window manager?

Wine is window manager independent, so the X window manager you choose to run has no bearing on your ability to run MS Windows programs under Wine. Wine uses standard X libraries, so no additional ones are needed. Wine has its own window management, which acts like MS-windows. It can be turned off to use the native window manager with the -managed command-line switch.


3.11: Will 32-bit Windows 95 or Win NT applications run under Wine?

Wine developers have already incorporated some Win32 code into Wine, and improvements appear with every new release of Wine.


Section 4
How to Find, Install, Configure and Run Wine

4.1: Where can I get Wine?

4.2: If I do not have an Internet account, how can I get Wine?

4.3: How do I install Wine on my hard drive?

4.4: How do I compile the Wine distribution source code?

4.5: How do I configure Wine to run on my system?

4.6: How do I run an MS Windows program under Wine?

4.7: I have installed and configured Wine, but Wine cannot find MS Windows on my drive. Where did I go wrong?

4.8: I think I've found a bug. How do I report this bug to the Wine programming team?

4.9: I was able to get various MS Windows programs to run, but parts of them do not work. What is wrong?

4.10: I have run various MS Windows programs but since the program menus do not work, how can I exit these programs?

4.11: How do I remove Wine from my computer?


4.1: Where can I get Wine?

Because of lags created by using mirror, word of this newest release may reach you before the release is actually available at the ftp sites listed here. The sources are available from the following locations:

It should also be available from any site that mirrors tsx-11 or sunsite. Notes from the latest release:

[ begin included text ]

This is release 980413 of Wine, the MS Windows emulator.

This is still a developer's only release. There are many bugs and many unimplemented API features. Most applications still do not work correctly.

Patches should be submitted to Alexandre Julliard <julliard@lrc.epfl.ch >. Please don't forget to include a ChangeLog entry.

WHAT'S NEW with Wine-980413 (see ChangeLog for details):

See the README file in the distribution for installation instructions.

If you submitted a patch, please check to make sure it has been included in the new release. If you want to get the new releases faster, you can subscribe to the wine-patches mailing list by sending a mail containing 'subscribe wine-patches your_address' to:

[ end included text ]

Some of these ftp sites may archive previous versions of Wine as well as the current one. To determine which is the latest one, look at the distribution filename, which will take the form Wine-[yymmdd].tar.gz. Simply replace [yymmdd] in the distribution filename with the numbers for year, month and date respectively. The latest one is the one to get.

Patch files are also available, so that you don't have to download, install and configure the entire distribution each week if you are current to the previous release. Patch file release names follow the same numbering convention as do the general releases, and take the form Wine-[yymmdd].diff.gz.

Patch files are available from the following sites:

Note that any mirror of tsx-11 will likely carry the Wine distribution and diff files, but may not be listed here in this FAQ.

If you are mirroring the Wine distribution from the tsx-11 site and wish to be listed here in this FAQ, please send email to the FAQ author/maintainer listed in question 7.2


4.2: If I do not have an Internet account, how can I get Wine?

Some CD-ROM archives of Internet sites, notably those from Walnut Creek that archive ftp.cdrom.com and sunsite.unc.edu, may include some versions of Wine on their CD releases. However, the age of these distributions should always be questioned, as the 'snapshot' of the ftp site may have been taken anywhere from 1-4 months (or more) prior to the CD's pressing date.

Your best bet to get the very latest distribution of Wine, if you do not have your own Internet account, is to find a friend who does have an Internet account and have him/her ftp the necessary file(s) for you.

If you have an email account on a BBS that can reach the Internet through a gateway, you may be able to use 'email ftp' to get the Wine release sent to you; check with your BBS system operator for details.

If you are running a BBS that is not connected to the Internet but does offer the Wine distribution for download, and would like to be listed in this FAQ, please forward such information to the FAQ author/maintainer as listed in question 7.2.


4.3: How do I install Wine on my hard drive?

Just un-gzip and un-tar the file, and follow the instructions contained in the README file that will be located in the base Wine directory.


4.4: How do I compile the Wine distribution source code?
4.5: How do I configure Wine to run on my system?

All of the directions to perform these two steps are located in the README file that will be located in the base Wine directory after you ungzip and untar the distribution file.


4.6: How do I run an MS Windows program under Wine?

Assuming you are running X already, call up an xterm window. Then, at the shell prompt, type:

Another X window will pop up on top of the shell window and the binary should begin to execute.

Let's assume that you want to run MS Windows' Solitaire. Under DOS, you had previously installed MS Windows on your C: drive under the subdirectory /windows. Under UNIX, you have mounted the C: drive under /dos/c. To run MS Windows Solitaire, you would type


4.7: I have installed and configured Wine, but Wine cannot find MS Windows on my drive. Where did I go wrong?

First, make sure that you have mounted your DOS partition into your UNIX filesystem, either by putting the entry into /etc/fstab, or by manually mounting it.

Remember too that unless your version of UNIX can see through it, or you are running a utility that can see through it, your DOS partition must not be located on a Drivespaced, Doublespaced or Stackered partition, as neither Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD or Wine can (without add-ons) currently 'see' files located in these compressed DOS partitions.

Next, check your path statements in the wine.conf file. No capital letters may be used in paths, as they are automatically converted to lowercase.


4.8: I think I've found a bug. How do I report this bug to the Wine programming team?

Bug reports should be posted to:


4.9: I was able to get various MS Windows programs to run, but parts of them do not work. What is wrong?

Wine is not complete at this time, so some of each programs' features may not work. They will in time as more of the MS Windows API calls are included in Wine.


4.10: I have run various MS Windows programs but since the program menus do not work, how can I exit these programs?

Kill the xterm shell window that you called up to run your MS Windows program, and the X window that appeared with the program will be killed too.


4.11: How do I remove Wine from my computer?

All you have to do is to type:

Make sure that you specify the exact path when using the powerful 'rm -fR' command. If you are afraid that you might delete something important, or might otherwise delete other files within your filesystem, change into each Wine subdirectory singly and delete the files found there manually, one file or directory at a time. Neither the Wine developers and programmers, nor the Wine FAQ author/maintainer, can be held responsible for your deleting any files in your own filesystem.


Section 5
How to Get Help with Wine

5.1: Is there a Usenet newsgroup for Wine?

5.2: Is there a World Wide Web site for Wine?


5.1: Is there a Usenet newsgroup for Wine?

Yes, and it's called:

The newsgroup serves as a place for developers to discuss Wine, and for minor announcements for the general public. Major announcements will be crossposted to other appropriate groups, such as the following newsgroups:

If your Usenet site does not carry these newsgroups, please urge your sysadmin and/or uplink to add them.

There is also an archived version of the newsgroup at:


5.2: Is there a World Wide Web site for Wine?

Here are a few sites reachable with your favorite web browser:

If you are installing or maintain a WWW page pertaining to Wine that would be useful for others to read, please inform the FAQ author/maintainer as detailed in question 7.2 for inclusion in the next edition of the Wine FAQ.


Section 6
How You Can Help with the Wine Project

6.1: How can I help contribute to the Wine project, and in what way(s)?

6.2: I want to help beta test Wine. How can I do this?

6.3: I have written some code that I would like to submit to the Wine project. How do I go about doing this?


6.1: How can I help contribute to the Wine project, and in what way(s)?

You can contribute programming skills, or monetary or equipment donations, to aid the Wine developers in reaching their goal. To find out who, what, where, when and why, please post your desire to contribute to:


6.2: I want to help beta test Wine. How can I do this?

Beta testers are currently not needed, as Wine is still Alpha code at this time. However, anyone is welcome to download the latest version and try it out at any time.


6.3: I have written some code that I would like to submit to the Wine project. How do I go about doing this?

Send your weekly code contributions to:

You should verify that your code was included in the subsequent release of Wine, as project managers cannot guarantee that the mail server will not suffer some computer failure that will cause loss of your message and code after it is received.


Section 7
Who's Responsible for Wine?

7.1: Who is responsible for writing and maintaining the Wine source code?

7.2: Who is responsible for writing and maintaining the Wine FAQ?

7.3: Who are the folks and organizations who have contributed money and/or equipment to the Wine project?


7.1: Who is responsible for writing and maintaining the Wine source code?

Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. Please see the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list.


7.2: Who is responsible for writing and maintaining the Wine FAQ?

This FAQ was written and is being maintained by:

who is not involved in coding Wine. Please do not email technical questions about the Wine project to the FAQ maintainer, but rather post them to the newsgroup:

7.3: Who are the folks and organizations who have contributed money or equipment to the Wine project?

People and organizations who have given generous contributions of money and equipment include David L. Harper, Bob Hepple, Mark A. Horton, Kevin P. Lawton, the Syntropy Institute, and James Woulfe.


COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The Wine FAQ is Copyright © 1995-1998 by P. David Gardner, 1107 Fair Oaks Ave., #175, South Pasadena CA 91030 USA. Voicemail (818) 441-5091. Email: Dave Gardner <dagar@pacbell.net>, Personal URL: http://home.pacbell.net/dagar/. Permission is hereby granted to link to, copy, archive and republish this FAQ in its entirety, provided that all information contained herein is kept intact and that no portion is altered in any way without prior written permission of the Author. If you have any questions concerning these permissions, please email or write me at one of the addresses contained herein for further clarification.