SnipeOS

Tutorial

Install the SnipeOS Windows subsystem

One command builds a large Wine prefix pre-loaded with runtimes, codecs, and fonts so Windows XP through 10 applications (including Adobe Photoshop CS6 in testing) have a fighting chance without a VM or Windows licence. Prefer watching? See the Windows subsystem video.

Video walkthrough

One command, type YES, wait ~40 minutes, then snipeos-windows yourapp.exe.

Terminal
curl -fsSL https://snipebrowser.com/os/install-windows-subsystem.sh -o /tmp/install-windows-subsystem.sh && sudo bash /tmp/install-windows-subsystem.sh

Open on YouTube ยท Windows compatibility

Before you run

Getting Adobe and similar software working on Linux through Wine normally means hunting dependencies, running Winetricks verbs one at a time, debugging registry entries, and hoping for the best. This script does that automatically.

It builds a prefix at ~/.local/share/wineprefixes/snipeos-windows with codecs, Visual C++ redistributables (2003 through 2022), .NET Framework 2.0 through 4.8, DirectX 9/10/11 helpers, XAudio, XInput, OpenAL, FAudio, GDI+, MSXML, RichEdit, Adobe ATM lib, and core Windows fonts. The install takes around 40 minutes. No reboot when it finishes.

Large install. Disk usage runs 8 to 20 GB and can exceed 25 GB. The script refuses to run with less than 25 GiB free. Expect several GB of downloads. CPU and RAM use spike during .NET and DirectX stages. Read the on-screen warning and type YES in capitals when prompted.

This is Wine, not licensed Windows. It raises the odds that a Windows application will run, but it is not universal compatibility. See also Windows compatibility on the applications page.

Open a terminal and run one command

  1. Open the Snipe start menu (bottom-left).
  2. Go to System Tools, or Favourites if you keep QTerminal pinned there.
  3. Open the terminal (QTerminal).
  4. Paste and run:
Terminal
curl -fsSL https://snipebrowser.com/os/install-windows-subsystem.sh -o /tmp/install-windows-subsystem.sh && sudo bash /tmp/install-windows-subsystem.sh

Enter your sudo password when prompted. The script shows notices, free disk space, and asks you to type YES in capitals to confirm you understand the disk, time, and network requirements.

What the script does

Nine steps, automatically:

  1. Fixes apt sources
  2. Enables i386 architecture and runs apt update
  3. Runs apt upgrade
  4. Installs Wine and Winetricks (if not already present)
  5. Builds the Windows prefix with all runtimes and codecs
  6. Installs the snipeos-windows and snipeos-winetricks wrapper commands
  7. Fixes file ownership
  8. Prints the prefix size
  9. Restores SnipeOS patches

Log file: ~/.cache/snipeos/windows-subsystem.log (includes any failed Winetricks verbs; some fail on Wine 10 and the script logs them and continues).

Run Windows applications

After the script completes:

Terminal
snipeos-windows /path/to/yourapp.exe

Open the Winetricks GUI for the same prefix:

Terminal
snipeos-winetricks --gui

The prefix does not overwrite your default Wine prefix.

Remove the Windows subsystem

To delete the prefix only:

Terminal
rm -rf ~/.local/share/wineprefixes/snipeos-windows

Adobe Photoshop notes

Adobe Photoshop CS6 was smoke-tested in a VirtualBox VM and worked for light use (drawing, type tools, gradients). CS6 was the most responsive version tested. Creative Cloud era Photoshop opened but was noticeably slower in the VM.

Heavier workflows, large canvases, complex filters, smart objects, and GPU-heavy effects are untested and may not work. Anything newer than CC 2022, full Creative Cloud installers, Premiere, and Illustrator are out of scope. Results depend on your hardware and the specific application.

SnipeOS only (do not run elsewhere)

Important: This script is for SnipeOS only. Do not run it on vanilla Ubuntu, standard Lubuntu, or any other distribution.

Running it on a non-SnipeOS install could damage that system.

Not sure what you are running? Open a terminal and run fastfetch (SnipeOS identifies itself there).