How to upgrade to Wine 7 on Linux
Wine 7.0 is out. If you’re excited to try it out, you’ll need to upgrade. In this guide, we’ll show you how to upgrade to Wine 7.0, so you can reap the benefits of the new features.
Ubuntu installation instructions
If you’re using Ubuntu and want to get Wine 7.0, you must add the official WineHQ software repository. This repo will give you the latest up-to-date builds of Wine, including Wine 7.
The official WineHQ software repository supports Ubuntu 21.10, 21.04, 20.10, and 20.04. To add it to your system, open up a terminal window. You can open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, use the dpkg –add-architecture command to enable 32-bit libraries on your computer. Without 32-bit, Wine 7 won’t work right.
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
After adding the new architecture to your Ubuntu system, you must download and enable the WineHQ repo key. This key is required to install software on your computer from the repo.
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
With the key added to your computer, you can enable the software repo. Currently, we’ll cover how to get Wine 7 for 21.10 and 20.04. Other versions of Ubuntu, while supported, aren’t recommended.
For Ubuntu 21.10
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ impish main'
For Ubuntu 20.04
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main'
Once the WineHQ software repository is set up on your system, you must run the update command to refresh Ubuntu’s software sources.
sudo apt update
Next, remove the current release of Wine you’ve got set up on your Ubuntu system. It isn’t a good idea to keep two versions of Wine running simultaneously.
sudo apt remove wine*
With Wine uninstalled, install WIne 7.0 on your Ubuntu system using the apt install command below.
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
Debian installation instructions
Debian is a much older operating system than Ubuntu. However, the OS is similar to Ubuntu, so WineHQ supports official Wine repositories that users can add to upgrade to the latest Wine.
To start the upgrade process on Debian, you’ll need to launch a terminal window. Launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open, you’ll need to add 32-bit support to Debian. Wine 7 needs 32-bit access to work correctly. Add it with the dpkg –add-architecture command.
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
Once 32-bit support is enabled, run the apt-get update command. Then, use the wget and apt-key commands to enable the WineHQ software repositories. WineHQ supports Debian 10, Debian 11, and Debian Testing (Bookworm).
Debian 10
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/ buster main'
Debian 11
sudo add-apt-repository ' deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/ bullseye main'
Debian Testing (Bookworm)
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/ bookworm main'
After adding the software repository to your Debian system, run the apt-get update command to refresh software sources.
sudo apt-get update
Next, you’ll have to uninstall the current release of Wine from Debian. To remove Wine, run the apt-get remove command.
sudo apt-get remove wine
Finally, install Wine 7.0 on Debian using the apt-get install command.
sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable
Arch Linux installation instructions
Arch Linux always gets the latest software patches and upgrades right away. For this reason, you will not need to add any special software repositories to get Wine 7.0. Instead, launch a terminal window and check for updates.
sudo pacman -Syuu
Fedora installation instructions
Although Fedora Linux regularly gets software updates, Wine 7.0 hasn’t yet made it to the official software repos. So instead, if you want to get Wine 7 working, you’ll need to add the WineHQ software repository.
To start, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Once the terminal window is open, use the dnf config-manager –add-repo command to add the repo.
dnf config-manager --add-repo https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/fedora/35/winehq.repo
After adding the WineHQ repo, uninstall the existing version of Wine on Fedora using the dnf remove command.
sudo dnf remove wine
Finally, install Wine 7.0 on your Fedora system using the dnf install command.
sudo dnf install winehq-stable
OpenSUSE installation instructions
Sadly, there’s no official Wine 7.0 software repository for OpenSUSE Linux users. If you want to get your hands on Wine 7.0, your best bet is to upgrade to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and wait for the update.
You can follow the software compilation instructions if you don’t wish to upgrade to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. Be warned, though, compiling Wine from scratch on OpenSUSE is a tedious and lengthy process.
