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WINE Won't Open Installers Anymore
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Cyba.Cowboy Apr 2, 2021
My System Info

Linux Distribution: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Desktop Environment: GNOME
Graphics Card: GeForce MX250
GPU Driver Version: 460.39

Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

You can note your issue below here

I am unable to run Windows "installers" using WINE (right-click "installer" file-->Open with WINE Windows Program Loader")... When I try to do so, I see an animated spinning icon for about fifteen (15) seconds, then nothing.

I did not have this problem until I accidentally installed "GOG Galaxy" for a particular game (and people actually want this garbage for Linux?)(I had downloaded the wrong "installer" and the one I did download installed "GOG Galaxy" first, before unsuccessfully attempting to install said game).

I have been working on this all day, and had no luck trying to fix it... I have completely "purged" / re-installed WINE multiple times, I have rebooted my system repeatedly, I have manually searched for files that appear to be related to WINE and then deleted them (emptying my "trash" in the process"), again whilst rebooting in between - no change.

So now I'm out of ideas... Any help would be appreciated.

Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 2 April 2021 at 6:27 am UTC
wolfyrion Apr 2, 2021
I think is a problem with associations

I had this problem as well and in KDE you have to make EXE associations to open with WINE FIRST on the list.

Last edited by wolfyrion on 2 April 2021 at 7:39 am UTC
Cyba.Cowboy Apr 2, 2021
Quoting: wolfyrionI think is a problem with associations

I had this problem as well and in KDE you have to make EXE associations to open with WINE FIRST on the list.

It is trying to open with WINE though... I'm opening files via the respective option in the "right-click" menu (and even if I manually select WINE from the "Other Application" menu, it does the same thing).
tuubi Apr 2, 2021
I randomly bumped into a discussion a couple of days ago where people were talking about a problem with the latest Wine release. Can't remember where, but the gist of it was that some stuff won't work with the "wine" command and launching with "wine64" works fine.

You could test if this is the same problem by running one of these installers with wine64 instead of wine. If that works, either add a custom desktop launcher to your ~/.local/share/applications/ (you can base it on /usr/share/applications/wine.desktop), launch your installers from the command line, or simply revert to the previous Wine release for the time being.

No idea if launching with wine64 has any downsides. I don't use Wine very often.
whizse Apr 2, 2021
Is it just installers or .exe files in general?

Is it just the file association or is Wine broken in general? Does it work if you run "wine setup.exe" from a terminal?
Cyba.Cowboy Apr 2, 2021
Quoting: whizseDoes it work if you run "wine setup.exe" from a terminal?

Yes.

I used this command and everything immediately ran fine / as expected:
wine 'setup_horizon_zero_dawntm_complete_edition_6278995_(64bit)_(44600).exe'

When I removed said game, I also needed to do so via Terminal...
wine 'unins000.exe'

This would suggest I am wrong, and it is in fact a file association issue, right? How do I fix that?

Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 2 April 2021 at 10:06 pm UTC
whizse Apr 3, 2021
You should be able to query the association chain with something like:

xdg-mime query filetype setup.exe

Which should return a mimetype, you can make another query for:

xdg-mime query default application/x-ms-dos-executable

This will most likely provide a .desktop file. Said file most likely lives in either /usr/share/applications/ or ~/.local/share/applications/ . I'm guessing the most likely culprit is in your home dir.

These are just regular text files, open it and see what the Exec field is set to.
dvd Apr 3, 2021
Use 'innoextract --gog' to extract game files, and run the game executable with wine.
kokoko3k Apr 5, 2021
Related?
https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50867
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=265206

Last edited by kokoko3k on 5 April 2021 at 5:55 am UTC
whizse Apr 5, 2021
Quoting: kokoko3kRelated?
https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50867
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=265206
That looks very relevant.

Interesting, I have never seen those commands before. Always interesting to learn something new!
Cyba.Cowboy Apr 6, 2021
Quoting: kokoko3kRelated?
https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50867
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=265206

Maybe.

Their issue appears to be similar - though there are minor differences (for example, they're seeing error messages, which I am not)... Strangely, the bug is listed as being "resolved" over on the WINE Bugzilla.

Perhaps because - if my understanding of that "bug" is correct - this is actually a design flaw, due to a change in the way in which WINE now handles directory structures / file-paths (again, if my understanding is correct, WINE now uses Microsoft Windows directory structures / file-paths exclusively and does not recognize 'nix directory structures / file-paths)?
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