Nothing is perfect. Every Operating system has some setbacks. They might be excellent for some features but lacking in others. For example, there are millions of softwares out there. Those softwares won’t be able to run on every system or operating system.
Suppose you are on Debian 11 or Linux and you want to run windows applications like for example a simple notepad. How will you run that? You can always go for another virtual machine but think about it. Just for using Notepad, you are using another whole machine. Is it wise? Is this the best solution?
Today I will provide you with the best solution to the above problem. It is Wine. Wine full form pr the original name was wine is not an emulator. Many people misunderstood it as an emulator. However these days it is simply called Wine.
What really is Wine?
To put it simply, wine is something that allows a Linux user for example Debian or Ubuntu to run Windows applications/software. Apart from this, it also offers those users to install the latest or any other version of the windows application. You might be wondering, can I run Windows games on Linux? The answer is Yes. Isn’t it amazing?
In this article, we will teach you how to install and use Wine on Debian 11. We will install the latest version which is the Wine 6.
Wine Installation
We can install Wine on Debian via two methods. The first is installing from the GUI(graphical user interface) of Debian. The second method is installing it via command-line Interface or terminal.
1- Installing Wine using Debian GUI
If you are a person who doesn’t like to write commands or are not comfortable with writing commands this is the best tool for you. We will use the Debian user interface to show you how to install Wine.
The first step is to open the desktop of Debian 11 and after that click on the Activities at the top left corner of the View page.
The next step is to click on the software icon at the left. When you scroll to that icon, you will see its name which is software.
When you select it, you will be directed to the following window:
Click on the search icon at the top left corner of the view window.
Now click on the search bar and type “Wine” in the search bar. You will see some options. Select the one that is shown below:
After selecting it, click on the install button.
Once clicked the installation process will start:
Once installed you will get the following screen.
Click on the launch button to launch Wine. Congratulations! You have installed Wine on Debian 11 using Debian’s graphical user interface.
2- Installing Wine via Command Line
Let’s get started with installing Wine via the Debian Command line/ Terminal. Click on the activity in the above-left corner.
Type Terminal in the search bar. After this select the terminal.
Your terminal will be opened.
Now we will check the version of Debian we are using. The purpose of this is that it will tell us about the right version of Wine we need to install. Type the following command:
$ lscpuIt will display all the information related to your system architecture.
Now that we know the system architecture, we will choose the Wine version compatible with our system based on this.
If a person wants to install the most stable version of Wine, a standard Debian repository is preferred. As we have a 6-bit Debian version, we will follow the below steps to install Wine.
First, we will run the command to update our repositories. Type the following command:
$ sudo apt updateIf all the packages are up to date then you are good to go.
However, if some packages need upgrading then it is recommended to type the following command:
$ sudo apt upgrade
Let’s now run the command for the installation of Wine. Type the following command:
$ sudo apt install wine64You will be asked to enter y or n. Type y.
If you have 32 bit Debian system then you can modify the above command a little bit and run the following command to install wine:
$ sudo apt install wine32Let’s verify our installation by running the following command in our terminal:
$ wine64 --versionYou will get the following output:
If you have installed the wine32 then type the following command to check the version:
$ wine64 --versionUninstall Wine on Debian 11
We have successfully installed Wine on Debian 11. However, there are times we want to install software for various reasons. We will show you how to uninstall Wine from Debian 11.
If you followed our article, you would know that we used two methods to install Wine on Debian 11.
If you installed Debian 11 using the user interface then follow the below heading to uninstall Debian 11 using the Graphical user interface.
1- Uninstall Wine using Graphical user Interface
Follow the same steps that were used in installing the Wine using the user which are:
- Clicking on Activities in Desktop window
- Clicking on the Software icon.
- Clicking on the search bar and search for wine.
- Clicking on wine
You are now on the following page:
Click on the remove button to uninstall wine.
It will show you a confirmation box. Click on Remove again.
Congratulations! You have successfully uninstalled Wine on Debian 11 using the user interface.
2- Uninstall Wine on Debian using Terminal/command line
Based on your version type the following command in your Debian Terminal to uninstall wine:
$ sudo apt purge wine64
If you were using 32 bit Debian then type the following command:
$ sudo apt purge wine32After this type the following command to completely remove it from your system:
$ sudo apt autoremove
Congratulations! You have successfully uninstalled wine64.
Conclusion
Wine is an amazing tool that is open-source, free, and easily installable in our Debian 11 system. Once we get used to this tool, we will be able to use windows applications and games in our own Debian 11 system.
We have successfully installed and uninstalled Wine on Debian 11 in this article. I hope by reading this article you can now install or uninstall Wine on Debian 11.
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