How to install Battle.net on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck for World of Warcraft and Starcraft

Want to get Battle.net on your Linux system like SteamOS and Steam Deck? Here's a guide giving you the options to play World of Warcraft and Starcraft.

Unlike Valve, Blizzard do not have a Native Linux version of their launcher. So, you'll need to use the compatibility layers Wine / Proton to get the Windows version installed.

World of Warcraft and the Starcraft series have worked on Linux thanks to Wine for a long time, so you shouldn't have many issues. The problem really is Battle.net, it likes to break now and then in compatibility layers. But this guide will get you going.

Option 1 - Lutris

Lutris might be the easiest option for this, since it has install scripts to manage every part of the installation for you. This tool was covered in the GamingOnLinux guide for playing GOG and Epic Games on Linux systems.

Installation

Flatpak

The simplest solution! It's available as a Flatpak via Flathub which is available for nearly every Linux distribution. If you're on SteamOS / KDE Plasma it's available via the Discover software app (see my previous guide on installing software on SteamOS / Steam Deck).

Or via your terminal app like Konsole:

flatpak install flathub net.lutris.Lutris

It will then show up in your app menu.

Alternatively there's various Linux distribution packages available on the Lutris website.

Getting Battle.net installed with Lutris

Once you have Lutris opened, click the hamburger menu button and select "Add Games":

Select the first option, to search via the Lutris website.

Here you can then enter "Battle.net" and press Enter. It will then present you with options that Lutris has install scripts for, pick the main Battle.net:

There's only one option you get next, which is to install it with the Wine compatibility layer. So pick that and just press the Install button on the right:

Now set your install location and check any options as required:

Next it will give you a screen where you can either let it auto-download the installer, or supply one if you downloaded it elsewhere. For this, just click Install in the top right:

You'll now see screens like this appear, and within a minute or two the Battle.net installer itself will pop up over the top of it. As the message on Lutris tells you — do not login to Battle.net when you hit that stage. Close Battle.net when you get to it the first time, to let Lutris finish the behind the scenes setup.

Eventually, once you've quit Battle.net at the login screen, you'll be returned to see this:

You can launch it there, but to find it afterwards when you load up Lutris normally it will be available in the main Games menu and also the Wine menu in the left panel.

That's all there is to it for Lutris. Just clicking through a few boxes and then it's all done.

For any issues with Battle.net on Lutris, they have a dedicated page on their GitHub to go over some common problems that's worth a read.

Option 2 - Directly in Steam

You can install it directly inside of Steam using Proton. Although it's a little bit more complicated, it can work well. You get less options to easily configure it here though and requires a bit of extra manual work but it's still an option you might perhaps prefer.

First, head to the Battle.net website to download the installer. It will be in your Downloads folder.

Open Steam, click "Add a game" in the bottom left corner. Then select "Add a Non-Steam Game":

From the next screen hit Browse to bring up your file manager, and then select the Battle.net installer:

Then it will bring you back to the Steam UI, where you'll see it ticked in the list.

Next, just press "Add Selected Programs":

It will then show up as "Battle.net-Setup.exe" in your Steam Library.

Important step: we need to select a compatibility layer for it on Steam. Right click on it and go into Properties. Select the Compatibility menu on the left side and tick the box. Then select a Proton version like Proton 9.

Now you will be able to actually run the installer.

But another important note - you won't be able to run it after you've installed it until we change the Steam shortcut. The shortcut does not auto update to the installed Battle.net launcher. So wait until the install is done for this next step, and then quit Battle.net before you do this.

What it will actually do in the background is create a new Proton prefix folder with the installed launcher. This will be inside a location like this (~ being your home folder):

~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/

The .steam is a hidden folder, so you'll need to unhide folders in your home to see it. If you're on KDE Plasma, it's CTRL+H to toggle hidden files / folders.

The problem here is that Steam will give it a longer random number, since it's not a game available on Steam. You'll need to find the most recently created folder in here, so just sort your file manager by creation date for the folders. In this example the folder number Steam made was 4241723544.

Inside there go into: /pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Battle.net/

Copy the full location to the "Battle.net Launcher.exe" file. Users on KDE Plasma / SteamOS can right click on it and select "Copy location".

Now back in Steam, locate the Battle.net shortcut again and go into Properties. Here we will update the shortcut to actually point to the installer launcher. It's important you don't delete the shortcut and add a new one, or you'll just delete what you installed.

Initially it will still look like this:

We're going to change it over to look like this, with the paths enclosed in quotes (that's important due to spaces in folder names!). The first text box all the way to the .exe file, the second just to the folder it's inside like so:

And now, relax. You're done!

Hopefully those options get you on your way to playing the likes of World of Warcraft and Starcraft on Linux Desktop, SteamOS and Steam Deck.