WinBoat for containerised Windows apps on Linux adds custom install path, home folder sharing and more

WinBoat is a very interesting tool in development to run Windows apps on Linux in a full containerised environment and it just got even better. Covered on GamingOnLinux back in early September, it can really help for those few apps you can't be without.

As a reminder on how it works - instead of using Wine / Proton, WinBoat uses an actual copy of Windows to run the apps in a special environment and helps do all the configuration for you. It's pretty slick! Some really impressive work has been going into this.

The developer released a few new versions since last covering it, some highlights of what's been added recently:

• Custom install path.
• The ability to share your /home folder.
• It will remember where it was when you close the app.
• Multi-monitor support with MultiMon.
• An option to auto-start a container.
• A warning on disk space if you're getting full.
• Some improvements to the general flow and user help for the app itself.
• Added noVNC as a preset app if you want to access WinBoat from the browser.
• Experimental Dynamic USB pass-through.
• And lots more improvements.

Similar in idea to WinApps but as the developer says in comparison:

With WinApps you do the bulk of the setup manually, and there's no cohesive interface to bring it all together. There's a basic TUI, a taskbar widget, and some CLI commands for you to play with.

WinBoat does all the setup once you have the pre-requisites installed, displays everything worth seeing in a neat interface for you, and acts like a complete experience. No need to mess with configuration files, no need to memorize a dozen CLI commands, it just works.

See more on the website.