Sometimes, you really do just need to run a Windows app on Linux and perhaps WinBoat might make this easier with its promise of "seamless integration".
We have Wine / Proton of course and they can run a lot, but not everything is possible. WinBoat is different. Instead of running compatibility layers, it runs a real copy of Windows using Docker and KVM under the hood. The developer explains it should run basically everything unless "it requires strong GPU acceleration or kernel-level anticheat". It uses FreeRDP for showing the apps on your Linux desktop, enabling you to interact with them like you would with any other Linux app.
All of this with a good-looking and easy to use interface too.
Pictured - WinBoat, from their GitHub
The biggest issue it has is requiring you to go through and manually install multiple extras, apart from that I absolutely love the idea of this for a few specific apps that just don't work on Linux directly. It's still a work in progress and quite early with it classed as a "beta" so keep that in mind when testing it.
App Highlights:
- Elegant Interface: Sleek and intuitive interface that seamlessly integrates Windows into your Linux desktop environment, making it feel like a native experience.
- Automated Installs: Simple installation process through our interface - pick your preferences & specs and let us handle the rest.
- Run Any App: If it runs on Windows, it can run on WinBoat. Enjoy the full range of Windows applications as native OS-level windows in your Linux environment.
- Full Windows Desktop: Access the complete Windows desktop experience when you need it, or run individual apps seamlessly integrated into your Linux workflow.
- Filesystem Integration: Your home directory is mounted in Windows, allowing easy file sharing between the two systems without any hassle.
- And many more: Smartcard passthrough, resource monitoring, and more features being added regularly.
Check it out on the GitHub page.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky [External Link].
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fenglengshun 3 days ago
Still praying for better virgl support for Windows 10 (and 11) so that we can at least play lighter games on a QEMU/KVM setup. Or perhaps a good, near-universal GPU passthrough setup for single and multi-GPU setups (like that's ever gonna happen).
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Maybe useful for people that absolutely need to run one or two programs that don't properly work with Wine, but otherwise find Linux fulfilling their needs.
For games (that you usually run without running anything else on the PC excepting maybe things like OBS), I suppose dual booting might be a better solution.
For me, none of those will work since I find the hassle of running Windows just too much, and fortunately I don't need any Windows program not running under Wine/Proton.
For games (that you usually run without running anything else on the PC excepting maybe things like OBS), I suppose dual booting might be a better solution.
For me, none of those will work since I find the hassle of running Windows just too much, and fortunately I don't need any Windows program not running under Wine/Proton.
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Does it support having multiple windows installs? Cause there's a game I wanna play (a scooby doo adventure game), but I've only ever gotten it to run in a windows xp VM.
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now we just need an app to run linux apps with "seamless integration"
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@monyarm Out of curiosity, which one is it exactly? Because most XP-era games work well in Wine.
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I guess this isn't actually meant for gaming, but it can be useful for other apps.
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Persephone the Sheep 3 days ago
This could be useful as I have a second computer I use for console mod stuff among other things but some of the stuff I do with consoles is either easier with the Windows tools or are not on Linux (Fatxplorer being one of them). Tho I have learned you need Linux to install PS2 BBN Translation.
@d3Xt3r This was 3 years ago at this point since I've tried but Microsoft Train Simulator didn't work. I don't remember the entire issue at this point as I've forgotten. You can play the game by using Openrails though wine/proton but Openrail is just compatible with the game it's not one to one. I can't remember any other game that I've tried to run that I owned as a kid that doesn't work at all. Hotwheels Stunt Track challenge complains you have an incompatible GPU. I think it does that because it has a list of compatible cards it checks some how the steam run time fixes that.
@d3Xt3r This was 3 years ago at this point since I've tried but Microsoft Train Simulator didn't work. I don't remember the entire issue at this point as I've forgotten. You can play the game by using Openrails though wine/proton but Openrail is just compatible with the game it's not one to one. I can't remember any other game that I've tried to run that I owned as a kid that doesn't work at all. Hotwheels Stunt Track challenge complains you have an incompatible GPU. I think it does that because it has a list of compatible cards it checks some how the steam run time fixes that.
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If it runs an actual Windows instance, does it require a Windows license? 🤔
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I like this idea even though I don't run any vm's or need any windows applications other than games. Having the option is always great.
If they release it on flatpak after the beta period then I think this will help out a lot of people. Especially the ones that always say they don't move over to linix because of Adobe or something similar.
If they release it on flatpak after the beta period then I think this will help out a lot of people. Especially the ones that always say they don't move over to linix because of Adobe or something similar.
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Saw this project last week. Been thinking of setting it up for old Adobe CS6 apps, because those are notoriously broken under Wine, and have been for a very long time. It's also not mentioned here, but I don't think USB passthrough has been implemented yet, so you won't be able to use controller firmware updaters and the like. It is planned, though, so there is that.
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Seems like a fork of winapps https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps [External Link] . Let's rememember that macos can also run on docker on linux : https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX [External Link]
would be great if it could include https://github.com/gnif/LookingGlass [External Link] to make the gpu available on the windows side.
Last edited by loicdevaux on 4 Sep 2025 at 8:37 am UTC
would be great if it could include https://github.com/gnif/LookingGlass [External Link] to make the gpu available on the windows side.
Last edited by loicdevaux on 4 Sep 2025 at 8:37 am UTC
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