Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such a thing. However, as you know, countless Mac users do in fact run PC applications every single day, so we forgive you.
The problem with running Windows applications on your Mac is that it usually requires various complications such as hard drive partitioning, installing a full on Windows environment, and/or expensive software like Parallels. But what if you just need to run one application and don’t really want to mess with all that other stuff?
Enter WineBottler, a free and easy way to wrap a Windows application into something that will run natively in OS X. Too good to be true you say? Read on!
Installing WineBottler
The obvious first step is to visit the WineBottler website to download the application.
The Wine Bottler Website
Once you’ve downloaded the app, run the dmg file. This will mount the disk and pop open a window containing two applications: Wine and WineBottler. Throw both of these into your Applications folder.
Installing WineBottler
X11 and Prefixes
Before we go any further, a little bit of explanation is necessary. This can all get pretty nerdy and technical so I’ll try to keep it as basic as possible.
As mentioned before, WineBottler doesn’t run Windows applications but instead wraps them in such a way that they’ll run on OS X. This is accomplished through the magic of a utility called X11.
Throughout the process of running and installing applications, you’ll probably see X11 pop up in your dock. If so, leave it alone. It needs to do its thing for all of this to work.
Now for some jargon. When using WineBottler, almost everything will revolve around “prefixes.” The easiest way to think of these is simply as Windows applications. So when you see something referring to default or custom prefixes, remember that’s just referring to applications that you can install.
Installing Default Prefixes
Now that you have a rudimentary knowledge of how it all works, open up WineBottler. You should see three different options on the left: Existing Prefixes, Install Predefined Prefixes and Create Custom Prefixes.
The Main WineBottler Window
Click on the predefined prefix option to bring up a list of applications. This is essentially a bunch of free software that you can install quickly with barely any effort.
As a web developer, I often have the need to test the sites I build in multiple browsers. Being a Mac user, it’s easy for me to hit Safari, Chrome and Firefox, but let’s face it, those aren’t really the browsers that are going to give me trouble are they? The good old Internet Explorer family is where the real troubleshooting usually occurs. For this reason, I was quite happy to see these applications in the list!
To install one of these applications, simply click on it and hit “Install.” You might want to click the “Silent Install” option as well. This can save you a few clicks down the road.
Installing Internet Explorer
In my experience, this process can either be surprisingly fast or astoundingly slow. If it seems like it’s taking a while, take a break and come back. And I don’t mean check your email for a minute, I mean go mow the lawn and take your kids to soccer practice because it’s going to be a while.
Once the installer is finished, the application should be sitting in your designated folder. It will appear just like any other application and requires only a double click to run.
Cue X-Files Music
Running the applications can be a little weird, but they’re functional for the most part. A few things I’ve noticed being strange are keyboard shortcuts like copy and paste being remapped and scrolling with momentum getting completely out of control in some apps. Otherwise everything seems to work just fine and it merely feels like your Mac got hit with the ugly stick.
IE7 Running on a Mac
Installing Custom Prefixes
It will often be the case that the application you want to install isn’t in the list of predefined prefixes. Fortunately, WineBottler has you covered. If you don’t see the app you want, click on the option to install custom prefixes.
Make sure you’ve got the windows app downloaded so that the .exe file is easy to find on your Mac. Now hit the “select File” button at the top of the window and navigate to that file.
Creating Custom Prefixes
Again you’ll be taken through a pretty basic installation process. The WineBottler screens and actual application installation menus will fill your screen so be ready to manually walk through them just as if you were installing the application on a Windows machine.
Extra Tools
Unfortunately, not every application will work with WineBottler. Some apps simply aren’t compatible and others will require a bit of troubleshooting on your part.
Fortunately, the Wine application comes with a number of useful tools for helping you through this process. Among these is a DOS prompt and various “Winetricks” that you can install that are essentially support software like the Adobe AIR runtime.
Wine Tools
Conclusion
To sum up, WineBottler makes it incredibly easy to install many (but not all) Windows applications on your Mac. The best part is that you won’t even have to deal with “Start” menus or recycle bins as the applications will run right in your OS X environment alongside your Mac applications.
The key to using WineBottler is patience. Sometimes the applications can take an inordinate amount of time to install, but if you wait it out, they usually pull through.
Leave a comment below and let us know what applications you miss out on from being a Mac user and whether or not you think WineBottler is a good solution for running them!
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Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Have you ever wanted to install a Windows application on your Mac? First of all, shame on you for wanting to do such ...
Do you know if it will run software that require things like .NET framework, or Windows service pack?
I’m having issues with an application that requires .NET framework… i’t doenst work at all. Have you had any reply on that? If someone can help… I would really appreciate.
thanks.
The only windows apps I really need to run on my Macbook are the 3 main flavours of IE. I’ve been rellying on VMWare Fusion for this task, but this looks quite interesting.
I have to ask, though: How accurate is the rendering? This may sound weird, but I really need all the bugs each flavour provides in order to find this useful. Are conditional comments working properly? Is the font rendering too different? What about the Javascript engine?
Basically: Is this a reliable alternative to a Virtual Machine for Web Development testing?
I’ll have a go soon, anyways, but knowing this beforehand could save a lot of time. :)
Same questions as Enrique
I’ve tested with ie6. Total disaster.
The only argument why geting ie6 to a mac is webDevelopment.
ie6 fails a lot himself, but with Wine Bottler/X11 this doubles.
So you really can’t decide what is “really” wrong and what is caused by X11.
If you still want to test it, try to use some pngs… :P
And in addition try some pngfix and this thing will scream at you!^^
Totaly useless for webdev.
It sounds so absolute but, Stop doing anything with IE6. I inform my clients that it’s a security risk, Google stopped supporting it, and Microsoft stopped supporting it. So if the internet giant AND it’s creator don’t support it, why should we as developers?
It’s soooo freeing to stop worrying about IE6. Just delete it!.
Now, IE7, and 8 is another story.
Honestly this is a great question. I admit that I haven’t tested IE7 thoroughly against a PC version to see the differences.
Web development is only one of the many possible applications, it was merely the first thing I thought of when I saw IE! Can’t imagine why else you would want that cursed browser on a Mac :)
Did you know? If you run VMWare Fusion that you can run applications for the PC on the Mac? Not by entering your virtual machine, but by making it show up at the top right, as an applet. Then you can select your application and the IE icon or whatever software shows in your dock. It is pretty neat!
You HAVE to start Fusion/VM to get an application working.
You surely meant the Unity Mode, or am I missing something?!?!?!
This is NOT a viable option for website testing. It’s a really nice idea and I applaud the developer’s efforts, but it’s only useful for running productivity apps IMO. For designers who want to check display bugs, functionality or even general aesthetics (like font rendering) then this is useless.
I didn’t bother with IE6, but IE7 does not load javascript and had issues with spacing between words in titles – almost as if it were trying to apply a center justification. Neither browsershots nor Alkaline revealed this as a problem so I know it was WineBottler. As for IE8 it wouldn’t even load. Disappointing. :(
This isn’t perfect, but the fact that it works is astounding.! I tried to create a prefix for an installer and it made the program into a wine app as well, I finally got to try out sublime text, which was a disappointment :(
Sounds promising. Does anyone know whether it’s possible to use this to get OneNote to work on a Mac?
jeeeeesh! im trying to install wine bottler for the ONE application i run on windows. after bumbling around and thinking i was home free, i get an error message when i try to launch the application:
Can’t write: C:\user\donellcreech_\Template\swlpi\uninstall\.exe
as im among mac friends, i’ll save the kevetching and belly aching about the evils and confusion of the windows platform….speaking to the choir and such.
hopefully there’s some one who can help me out point me in the right direction. ive read the winehq wiki, ubuntu and wine-reviews…and my eyes are still crossed.
btw, the application is swish max 3. in my readings, ive seen postings about swish max 2 being compatible.
I was really excited about this, and now I’m disappointed. IE7 doesn’t have javascript turned on and I’m not able to install the version that is equipped with javascript (IE6). Bleh
I was about to install for the sake of testing on IE6 and IE7, but I should forget about it. Thanks for the info!
Will Act from Sage work?
Nice article but I’ve tried it and it’s not fully working, IE6 won’t install at all, IE7 is not rendering correctly and IE8 won’t load a page :( sadly going back to parallels.
Have to agree with skrabaki.., IE 7 does not display transparent gifs correctly, IE 8 produces an error and won’t load a single page.
I seriously miss the ability to use MS Visio on the mac. Didn’t stop me from switching to mac completely, but if this will allow me to run it easily on the mac… Woohoo!!!
Has anyone tried installing WinEdt? It’s like the best LaTeX editor available, but only for windows =(
Good god. Just use TeXShop.
Thank all of you that tried the very thing I was going to, but will not – installing this just to get IE on my Mac. Your effort is much appreciated. Now grab a beer – you deserve it :) I’m doing the same… and here’s to you!
Will Corel Draw X4 or X5 work?
How does this compare to Crossover?
Will WineBottler let me be able to play Windows games on my Mac as well?
I installed IE 7 and it works fine but no luck with IE 6 or IE 8. IE 8 kept trying to install 7. But If I can get IE 6 working that will be great.
This is interesting, but there’s not much documentation. The impression I get is that it’s built on Darwine, which is unsupported by the Wine project, and that WineBottler as a whole is not supported by the Wine community. Does this mean that WineBottler is being developed independent of the Wine project and that advancements with Wine will not filter through?
CrossOver on the other hand, is the commercial solution, including support plans, software evangelists and a whole compatibility record-keeping system. They also support and collaborate with the Wine project.
hy,
IE7: ok
IE6: /./install_flash_player_ax.exe and try again. ???
IE8: i can install, but i cant open a website…
any ideas?
thx
Okay, I feel I should balance out my last comment as it sounds quite negative. That wasn’t intended at all.
I’ve now been using WineBottler for a few days and it’s actually really good. I haven’t been able to run everything I want with it, but those programs don’t work under CrossOver either anyway. I think WineBottler provides a really intuitive front end to what can be a confusing set of options using Wine.
Also, i’ve found that for some programs that don’t run in CrossOver, it’s easy to test them using the Wine build included with WineBottler. Figuring out what extras need to be installed with Winetricks is a simple case of ticking boxes, and once you get it working, you can create a standalone app.
For a work in progress it’s a wonderful little app and I highly recommend it. I also emailed the developer about an app I was trying to get working and the response I got was friendly and genuinely helpful.
I don’t wanna sound stupid or anything but i was wondering if programs such as 3d studio max work with this program……
I ran Solidworks on my old 2008 MBP with bootcamp
Too many cryptic errors… I’m going back to VM.
Chris
I installed it, and i will keep this on my mac for now..
For checking in IE, i will use my GF’s windows laptop and IE and maybe i”ll install some VM solution soon as well.
But after the GUI has been tweaked for IE, this can be used for quick checking in IE7 (except for the javascript part #fail).
As a fully trustworthy solution this is not good enough yet but as an inbetween quick checker this will work..
when it loads Internet explorer the “E” is all wrapped up in rope. I know how it feels
hey will it convert microsoft office with a wine trick?
I wanted to see how ip cameras work and i found out I can only user the camera’s server properly in IE since it works with active x. I hated booting into bootcamp to see how the ip camera’s server work, I found this method with wine bottler, which I think is promising and the best thing if it can get close to working like VMwarefusion. But as of right now it is no where close. Only the idea is awesome.
I installed ie8 and it didn’t work, tried ie7 and internet browsing works great but it doesn’t run activex controls, it hangs trying to connect to the ip camera’s browser page and never connects. But this is an awesome project.
hi,
Is there any safari equivalent of active X to view ip camera browser page on MAC?
IE7 & IE8 seem to be working now but I can’t seem to access any secure websites. Which is why I need IE for our work portal. Anyone who can help? :(
I’m trying to run MIRC. Any ideas?
I can see that u got Guild Wars as a prefix. Did you ever manage to run it? If so how??
This isn’t perfect, but that it works. It must be developed
tried installing one of my own applications and got this error message…
No JVM could be found on your system.
Please define EXE4J_JAVA_HOME
to point to an installed 32-bit JDK or JDE or download a JDE from
http://www.java.com.
I have a mac and isnt java already installed on their? NEED HELP!!
Dude, Macs come with a pre-installed JVM, so does Windows, so you don’t need to test on both OSes. You dont need to run it in a win-32 emulator.
Can I run homebase a free application data base supplied by Abe books so can start my book dealing business
will I be able to run “homebase” a database application supplied free by ABE books so I can set up my book selling business
oh my gowd thank u hahlaughla (not the right spelling)
I was forced to install BOOTCAMP on my MacbookProf – so that i could run eWallet under windows and sync my data files with my Android phone.
I have the “eWallet-install.exe” file in my Mac. Will Winebottler be able to use this file or do I need to locate the “installed” files of eWallet ??
thanks in advance
bhuvanesh
Ok I tried wine app and the bottler. I really like it really made installing things like office xp perfectly. Which I rely on a lot. I have VMware on my mac and at first I really enjoyed it. It has a phat linx feel to it. However when you have tiny 40 gig hdd that has snow lep on your mac you can see where vmware starts to loose its glow as the snapshots start to take over. So in short wine app and bottler app is a good windows app solution for the most part. Now Regarding IE let all agree that its really not that important lol.
I cant get this to work. It keeps giving me an error “Prefix creation exited with error. (you find a logfile to help with debugging on you desktop)”, If anyone could help me, that would be great.
You need to check off the “Copy only” option under the “select file” button where yo select the file. This fixed it for me :D
Need help! So I bought a digital copy of a game from Gamestop who uses the application Impulse to manage downloads. I did this before realizing that Impulse can only be run on PCs. I downloaded winebottler and when I tried to install Impulse it looked like everything was going to work, but there is no final download to where I can play my game. This is the impulse page http://www.impulsedriven.com/download can anyone help me?
Hi! I am a recent Mac converter and I absolutely love everything about it. Though I am having some troubles: I need to install some Windows-based programs on my Mac (for school) and I can’t get it to work. But now I’ve done some research and found this. :) HOWEVER: I am very concerned about my Mac’s health and I am not willing to let any malware attack my computer just because I downloaded a program in order to run two (very important) Windows-based programs. So, my question is if there is any security risks with this program (like any Windows-malware being enabled to attack my Mac when in use). I think that sort of information was missing. Thank you for any answers! :]
Yesterday I found a similar write-up on another website and didnt very get it, but your write-up helped me comprehend it better. Thanks!
I cant get this to work. It keeps giving me an error “Prefix creation exited with error. (you find a logfile to help with debugging on you desktop)”, If anyone could help me, that would be great.
so im trying to download a game on my mac and its .exe obviously so i got through the winebottler part but when i try and run the application the little load bar will come up and will say launching “my applications name” then it will just quit… what did i do wrong?
HElp! My winebottler is working well but there is one program I want to access but it doesn’t work at all. What should I do? Im running winebottler on my MAC and I want my scrapbookflair to run on it as well. Thanks!
I want to run Epidata with the WineBottler since I found a site where this was recommended, but when I try to install the exe-file as a custom Prefix it ask for a name. And whatever name or location I choose it goes half of the way installing and then comes with an error message saying that the name is invalid. Can some clever mac-expert help me?
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & assist other users like its helped me. Great job.
Can I run VZO, video call on mac by using wine-bottle?
A year after it’s final Beta release, none of the links work now, is WineBottler dead?
Can I run just plain old PC games using WineBottler? Please somebody reply!!
When i wrapped a Windows installer, and when I try to run it, it says “non 7z archive.” Can I fix this?
I keep trying to install steam,but I keep getting a message after it fails saying you need a logfile to debug your console. How do i get it to work
Do you have to download IE6 IE7 IE8 to get pc programs to work? I need it for math minicab which doesn’t work on my mac.
*minitab
did winetricks come installed for you?
else how do you install it?
Hi. Thanks for the wonderful app but I can’t seem to instal IE7. It keeps giving me error message while . I have macbook air running OS Lion. Any solutions will be appreciated. Thanks.
Error log file
##BOTTLING### Sandboxing…
###BOTTLING### Enabling Antialiasing…
###BOTTLING### Installing Truetype Fonts…
###BOTTLING### Registering Truetype Fonts…
/Applications/Wine.app/Contents/Resources/bin
###BOTTLING### installing ie7
/private/tmp/winebottler/1322680529/winetricks.sh: /private/tmp/winebottler/1322680529/winetricks.sh: cannot execute binary file
### LOG ### Command ‘sh /private/tmp/winebottler/1322680529/winetricks.sh ie7′ returned status 126.
###ERROR### Command ‘sh /private/tmp/winebottler/1322680529/winetricks.sh ie7′ returned status 126.
Task returned with status 15.
i want to download this video chat.
Am in Australia and wanting to only use Mac supported software on my new Mac…., but I want to be able to refer to the 16 years worth of data that I have in Quicken and cannot get it to work. Also our Tax Office uses a system called e-Tax (to enable lodging on-line) and I can’t get that to work on my Mac either. Any suggestions welcome. Many thanks.
Hello,
Based on your instructions I was able o install the application “Tally.ERP 9″ v 3.1. I need to access a Win7 shared folder to work on the data available. How do I accomplish this? I have a test data on my mac desktop … bu not able to copy & paste it to the Wine created WINDOWS C:\ nor able to access the same by giving an IP address path (from within the application)
Your input on this highly appreciated
Thanks
Bimal
I’m trying to access a windows small business server via the web. This works fine on a Windows system but havent been able to get it to work in the mac.
I installed an old version of Internet Explorer from the net and I could get to the log in screen but then the activeX was missing, so I couldn’t log on.
I’ve installed Winebottler and tried it with Explorer 7 but now the page wont even open…
I’ll leave it for a little longer when I get home but I dont think it’s going to work.
Any one else been able to access a windows small business server with their mac? its 2003 edition software on the server, I think this might be part of the problem…?
Liking this!
However, has anyone got a work around for getting windows programs to run which require a CD inserted?
the program i’m running installed fine, but wants a cd to be inserted all the time :(
can you run all windows programs off this? i want to run sony vegas pro and some other video editing programs
I am trying to install tally erp 9 version 3.2 on mac thru wine but since two days the download hasnt been complete, will this work or should i delete it.
this shit never EVER works for me. not even the stock apps that are supposed to run “seamlessly” it’s so depressing.
i have all the right things needed to run this app. i’ve even tried to delete and reinstall it and still nothing yet. :’/