How to Create Wine desktop launcher

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This tutorial will explain how to Create working Wine desktop launcher.
Reasons for creating Wine desktop launcher

  • Some games launcher exe files just don't work right, and you have to use the main exe file to get the program to run.
  • Wine  is picky it wants to be in the directory the file is in when you run the exe. Normal menu items point to the program using the path, i.e. /home/ed/.wine/la la la .exe. That won't cut it.

So, you have to create a script that will change to the proper directory, then run the right file. Here is how you do that. We are going to create a launcher for World of Warcraft.

Open the terminal

gksudo gedit

copy the following lines

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/World\ of\ Warcraft/
wine Wow.exe -opengl

Save the file as wowlauncher.sh under /bin (you can use the location which is easy for you to remember)

Close the file

Now you need to give execute permissions for your script

chmod a+x /bin/wowlauncher.sh

Create desktop launcher

If you want to Create desktop launcher right click on the desktop and choose Create Launcher.

Under Name, type World of Warcraft .

Under Command, type /bin/wowlauncher.sh

Enter Comment

Finally Click OK.

You can create which ever launcher you want with the same procedure

If you want to create fallout2 launcher use the following script

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Interplay/Fallout\ 2
wine FALLOUT2.exe

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5 Responses

  1. bve says:

    Or right click on the desktop, choose create launcher and for the command enter:

    env WINEPREFIX=”/home/username/.wine” wine “C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 7\SketchUp.exe”

  2. tibike says:

    works great!
    There is one little problem: if i use the launcher in docky (or cairo dock) i get 2 launchers – one for the launcher on the desktop and another for the actual app running (the wine Wow.exe -opengl part).
    Same goes for preloading v4l1compat.so for skype.

  3. someone says:

    how can i set files association for a program that needs wine?
    i’ve tried to go to file properties and then “open with” tab, but the “add” button is disabled .

  4. trellow says:

    Thanks for the nice description. There is just one thing to add and i was struggling for this for some hours. you have to chmod the script with superuser rights (sudo chmod …). If not the chmod order will fail.

    thx anyways!

  5. Hernan says:

    You are really my new hero!! I’ve been trying for hours to create a cairo-dock launcher for a program that runs through wine. This really made my day! Thanks!

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