Guide

Running Windows Apps on Shani OS — Wine, Bottles, and When to Use a VM

Shrinivas Vishnu Kumbhar · 2026-05-08 · 8 min

You do not need Windows to run Windows software on Shani OS. Wine — a compatibility layer that translates Windows API calls to Linux equivalents — lets you run Windows .exe files directly on your Linux desktop. No virtual machine, no Windows licence, no second OS to maintain.

For gaming, Proton (Valve's Wine distribution, built into Steam) handles this automatically — see Gaming on Shani OS. This post covers everything else: productivity tools, creative software, business applications, utilities, and legacy software that has no Linux or Flatpak equivalent.

Bottles (com.usebottles.bottles) is pre-installed on the KDE Plasma edition and available on Flathub for the GNOME edition. It is the recommended tool for running non-gaming Windows software on Shani OS — it manages Wine environments, runtime dependencies, and application isolation without any terminal work.

For games specifically, use Steam + Proton or Heroic Games Launcher. Bottles is for everything else.

Full reference: docs.shani.dev — Containers.

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How Wine Works

Wine is not an emulator. It does not simulate x86 hardware or run a virtualised CPU. It reimplements the Windows API — the set of functions Windows applications call to draw windows, open files, make network connections, play audio, and so on — as native Linux calls. When a Windows .exe calls CreateFile(), Wine translates that to open(). When it calls DirectX, Wine routes it through DXVK (DirectX 9/10/11) or VKD3D (DirectX 12) to Vulkan.

The result: most Windows applications run at near-native speed, because they are running natively — just with their Windows API calls answered by Wine instead of the Windows kernel.

What Wine cannot do: applications that rely on Windows kernel drivers, hardware dongles tied to Windows, or anti-cheat systems that inspect the kernel will not work. For those cases, a Windows VM is the correct answer — see Virtual Machines on Shani OS.

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Bottles — Wine Without the Complexity

Bottles provides a clean graphical interface for creating and managing Wine environments. Each "bottle" is an isolated Wine prefix — it has its own Windows registry, its own C:\ drive equivalent, its own installed applications and runtime libraries. Bottles from different applications cannot interfere with each other.

Installing Bottles on the GNOME Edition

Bottles is pre-installed on the KDE Plasma edition. On the GNOME edition:

flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles

Creating a Bottle

Open Bottles from your application launcher. Click Create a new bottle and choose a template:

  • Application — for productivity tools, utilities, and most Windows software. Uses a standard Wine environment.
  • Gaming — pre-configured with DXVK and VKD3D for DirectX games. Use this for games not managed by Steam or Heroic.
  • Custom — full manual control over runner version, DXVK version, and all settings.

Give the bottle a name, select the template, and click Create. Bottles downloads the Wine runner and sets up the prefix automatically.

Installing a Windows Application

  1. Open your bottle in Bottles
  2. Click Run Executable
  3. Select the .exe installer
  4. The installer runs inside the bottle — click through it as you would on Windows
  5. The installed application appears in Bottles under Programs
  6. Click the program to launch it, or click the three-dot menu → Add Desktop Entry to add it to your Linux app launcher

The application runs inside the bottle's isolated Wine prefix. Your Linux home directory is accessible from inside Wine at Z:\home\username.

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Runtime Dependencies — Winetricks and the Bottles Dependency Manager

Many Windows applications require additional runtime libraries that are not included in a base Wine installation: Visual C++ redistributables, .NET Framework, DirectX components, media codecs. These are managed through winetricks — a script that downloads and installs Windows runtime components into a Wine prefix.

Bottles handles winetricks automatically through its Dependencies panel. You do not need to run winetricks from the terminal.

Common Dependencies

In Bottles → select your bottle → Dependencies → search and install:

| Dependency | Required by | |---|---| | vcredist2019 | Most modern Windows apps (Visual C++ 2019) | | vcredist2015 | Older apps (Visual C++ 2015) | | dotnet48 | .NET Framework 4.8 — business software, installers | | dotnet6 | .NET 6 — newer cross-platform apps | | d3dx9 | DirectX 9 components | | d3dcompiler_47 | DirectX shader compiler — many modern apps | | mfc140 | MFC runtime — some legacy Windows tools | | corefonts | Microsoft Core Fonts — improves text rendering | | liberation | Liberation fonts — metrically compatible with Times, Arial |

Install only what the application actually needs. Each dependency is downloaded and installed inside the bottle, not the host system.

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Choosing a Wine Runner

Bottles supports multiple Wine runners, each with different compatibility trade-offs:

Wine-GE — Valve's Wine, backported for non-Steam use. The same Proton patches (DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, esync, fsync) but usable outside Steam. Best general-purpose choice for most Windows software including games outside Steam.

Wine Staging — Wine with the Staging patchset. Good compatibility and stability for productivity apps and non-gaming software.

Caffe — Bottles' default curated runner. Well-tested, stable, good for most applications.

Vaniglia — upstream Wine with minimal patches. Use when an app behaves unexpectedly with patched runners.

To change the runner for a bottle: Bottles → select bottle → Settings → Runner → select from the dropdown. Bottles downloads the runner automatically.

For most productivity and business software, Caffe or Wine Staging works well. For games or media software using DirectX, use Wine-GE.

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Common Windows Software on Shani OS

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office itself is not supported well under Wine due to its deep system integration. The recommended alternatives:

  • OnlyOffice Desktop Editors — pre-installed as a Flatpak on both editions. Opens .docx, .xlsx, .pptx with high compatibility. For most Office workflows, this is the right answer.
  • LibreOffice — available on Flathub. Full office suite with strong .docx/.xlsx compatibility.
  • Microsoft 365 in a browser — the web version of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint works fully in any browser on Shani OS.
  • Office in a Windows VM — if you need the full desktop Office experience with macros and COM add-ins, a Windows VM via virt-manager is the most reliable path. See Virtual Machines on Shani OS.

Creative and Design Tools

Adobe Photoshop — older versions (CS6 and earlier) run well in Bottles with vcredist2019 and d3dcompiler_47. Recent Creative Cloud versions have mixed compatibility; check WineHQ AppDB for your specific version. For vector work, Inkscape (Flatpak) and Affinity Suite (available natively on Linux) cover most use cases.

Adobe Illustrator — CS6 runs in Bottles. CC versions have lower compatibility. Check WineHQ AppDB.

Clip Studio Paint — runs well in Bottles with Wine-GE. Add vcredist2019. A native Linux version is also available directly from Celsys.

Krita — native Linux app available on Flathub. No Wine needed.

Affinity Photo, Designer, Publisher — native Linux versions are available. No Wine needed.

Engineering and CAD

AutoCAD — older versions (2018 and earlier) have good Wine compatibility. Newer versions are inconsistent. Check WineHQ AppDB for your version. For reliable AutoCAD access, a Windows VM is the most predictable approach.

SolidWorks, CATIA, Siemens NX — these have kernel-level drivers and hardware dongle dependencies that Wine cannot satisfy. Use a Windows VM.

FreeCAD — native Linux app available on Flathub.

LibreCAD — native Linux app, available on Flathub.

Business and Productivity Tools

Notepad++ — runs perfectly in Bottles. A lightweight alternative is any of the native Linux text editors (Kate, gedit, Zed).

7-Zip — runs well in Bottles, though native Linux equivalents (p7zip, Ark on KDE, File Roller on GNOME) handle the same formats natively.

WinRAR — runs in Bottles. Native tools handle .rar extraction on Linux without Wine.

Total Commander — runs well in Bottles with good compatibility.

PDF tools (Adobe Acrobat Reader) — runs in Bottles with vcredist2019. For most PDF work, Papers (GNOME, pre-installed) or Okular (KDE, pre-installed) cover reading, annotation, and form filling natively.

Audio and Music Production

FL Studio — runs well in Bottles with Wine-GE. Add vcredist2019. Widely reported as working well for production workflows.

Ableton Live — mixed results depending on version. Check WineHQ AppDB. For reliable Ableton use, a Windows VM or dual boot may be more stable for professional production.

REAPER — has a native Linux version. No Wine needed.

Plugins (VST/VST3) — Windows VST plugins can run inside Wine-based DAWs via yabridge, which bridges Windows VST plugins into Linux DAWs. Advanced setup but widely used in production.

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Advanced Bottle Configuration

DXVK and VKD3D

For applications that use DirectX (not just games — some creative tools and 3D software use DirectX too):

In Bottles → select bottle → Settings:

  • Enable DXVK for DirectX 9/10/11 → Vulkan translation
  • Enable VKD3D for DirectX 12 → Vulkan translation

These are enabled by default in the Gaming template and can be manually toggled in Application and Custom bottles.

Environment Variables

Some applications need specific Wine environment variables. In Bottles → bottle Settings → Environment Variables:

WINE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1    # allows 32-bit apps to use more than 2 GB RAM
WINEDEBUG=-all                # suppress debug output (speeds up some apps)
STAGING_SHARED_MEMORY=1       # improves performance with Wine Staging

Virtual Desktop Mode

If an application does not render correctly in full-screen or has window management issues, try running it in a virtual desktop — Wine creates a fake Windows desktop at a fixed resolution inside a single Linux window:

In Bottles → bottle Settings → enable Virtual Desktop and set the resolution.

DLL Overrides

Sometimes a specific Windows DLL needs to be overridden with a native version (downloaded via winetricks) or forced to use Wine's built-in implementation:

In Bottles → bottle Settings → DLL Overrides:

  • native,builtin — try the native (winetricks-installed) DLL first
  • builtin,native — try Wine's built-in implementation first
  • disabled — disable the DLL entirely

Common override: if an app uses d3d9 and has rendering issues, set d3d9 to native after installing d3dx9 via Dependencies.

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Proton-GE for Non-Steam Windows Apps

Proton-GE is a community-maintained fork of Proton with additional patches, codecs, and compatibility fixes that Valve has not yet merged upstream. It can be used outside Steam via Bottles:

In Bottles → Preferences → Runners → download a GE-Proton version. Then set the runner for a specific bottle to that version.

Proton-GE is particularly useful for:

  • Applications that use media codecs (video players, apps with embedded video)
  • Software that needs the additional WINE patches included in GE builds
  • Games from GOG or itch.io that need Proton-level compatibility

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Checking Compatibility Before You Try

Before spending time configuring a bottle, check these resources:

WineHQ AppDB — the primary compatibility database for non-game Windows software. Each application entry includes user reports, ratings (Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze/Garbage), and configuration notes specific to the version you are running.

ProtonDB — for games. Community-maintained, with per-game launch flag recommendations.

Bottles community — the Bottles GitHub issues and community forum have compatibility reports for many applications.

A Platinum or Gold rating on WineHQ AppDB means the application runs well with little or no configuration. Bronze means it runs with workarounds. Garbage means expect significant issues — at that point, a Windows VM is worth considering.

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When to Use a Windows VM Instead

Wine covers a wide range of Windows software, but some applications genuinely require Windows. The honest signals that Wine is the wrong tool:

  • The application requires a kernel driver (hardware dongles, some DRM systems, certain security software)
  • The application uses anti-cheat that inspects the Windows kernel (most online competitive games)
  • You need the full Microsoft Office suite with macros, COM add-ins, and corporate MDM integration
  • The application is enterprise software with hardware-locked licensing
  • You need 100% compatibility and cannot tolerate any rendering differences or crashes

For these cases, a Windows VM via virt-manager (pre-installed on the KDE Plasma edition) gives you a complete Windows environment. VM disk images live in the @libvirt Btrfs subvolume — independent of the OS, surviving every update and rollback.

For gaming that requires anti-cheat, GPU passthrough to a Windows VM gives native GPU performance. See Virtual Machines on Shani OS and Gaming on Shani OS.

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Windows Apps vs the Full Ecosystem

Bottles and Wine are one option for running Windows software. Here is the full picture of what is available:

Bottles + Wine (this guide) — for Windows .exe applications that run well under Wine. Productivity tools, creative software, utilities, and legacy apps. Isolated per-app Wine prefixes managed via a graphical interface.

Steam + Proton — for Windows games in your Steam library. Proton is tuned specifically for gaming and handles DirectX, anti-tamper, and input mapping automatically. Guide: Gaming on Shani OS.

Heroic Games Launcher — for Windows games from Epic Games Store, GOG, and Amazon Prime Gaming. Uses Wine-GE or Proton-GE runners. Guide: Gaming on Shani OS.

Flatpak — the first place to check before Wine. Many apps that exist on Windows also have Linux-native Flatpak versions on Flathub — running the native version is always better than Wine. Guide: Flatpak on Shani OS.

Distrobox — for Windows tools that have Linux equivalents installable via apt or pacman, or for running Wine inside a full mutable Linux container for more complex setups. Guide: Distrobox on Shani OS.

Virtual Machines — for applications that require a real Windows kernel, kernel drivers, or full enterprise compatibility. virt-manager is pre-installed on the KDE Plasma edition. Guide: Virtual Machines on Shani OS.

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Resources

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