The new Wine 10.0 release brings better-than-ever support for running your favourite Windows apps and games on Linux distributions like Ubuntu.
But how to install it?
It’s easy to install Wine in Ubuntu using the App Center or Ubuntu Software apps (or apt at the command line).
But the version of Wine in Ubuntu’s archive is (almost always) an older version.
To benefit from its improved drivers, new features, and important changes you’ll need to install the latest stable Wine release on Ubuntu using the official Wine repos.
It is easy to set that repo up on Ubuntu, just follow the steps below (which I adapted from the official WineHQ Wiki to make it easier to follow).
Note: I use the command-line in this guide but it is possible to do everything using a GUI. The CLI steps work irrespective of which Ubuntu version or flavour you use and also work on Ubuntu-based Linux distributions like Zorin OS and Linux Mint.
Installing New Wine Releases in Ubuntu
Step 1: Enable 32-bit support
First things first: to use Wine in Ubuntu you must enable 32-bit support.
If you’re reading this from Ubuntu, then you’re using a 64-bit build. I know that because I’m psychic — or because Ubuntu discontinued 32-bit builds back in 2017.
Despite a big clear out of 32-bit packages, the Ubuntu repos continue to provide the relevant libraries and dependencies needed to support the 32-bit architecture via Wine.
To enable 32-bit support in Ubuntu open run this command:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
If you need Wine for ARM64 (e.g., Raspberry Pi) you MUST stick to the version available in the Ubuntu repos. Wine ARM is also not as featured/compatible as Wine for Intel/AMD systems.
Step 2: Add the Wine Repo Keys
To install a the latest stable release of Wine in Ubuntu you need to add the official Wine Ubuntu repo.
But in order to install packages from that repo, you need to allow your system to securely communicate with it —that means importing its security key.
First, create a new keyring:
sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
Second, add the official Wine repo key to it:
wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key -
Now you’re set.
Step 3: Add the Official Wine Repo
Next, check your Ubuntu version (e.g., Settings > About). You need to know which version of Ubuntu you’re using so that you can run the correct command.
If you use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS ‘Jammy Jellyfish’ (or a Linux distro based on it, such as the Linux Mint 21.x series) you should run this command:
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/jammy/winehq-jammy.sources
If you use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ‘Noble Numbat’ (or a flavour, spin, derivative, etc based on it) you should run this command instead:
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/noble/winehq-noble.sources
Do NOT run both commands; only the command to match your Ubuntu version. If you use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS replace ‘jammy’ in the first command with ‘focal’; if Ubuntu 24.10 add ‘oracular’, etc.
Step 4: Install Wine
Once done, you’re ready to do the main task: install Wine on Ubuntu!
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
When you run this command (and enter your user password to authenticate) you will be presented with a long list of packages that apt will download, install and upgrade.
In some cases you may also notice that some packages will be removed..
You must PAY ATTENTION to the list of removals; critical packages like ubuntu-desktop and xorg can sometimes be listed, so don’t idly whack y to proceed. If it proposes removing anything that would render your system inoperable hit n and back out.
Attempting to install Wine on Ubuntu and getting an error? You are not alone. It is common to have issues trying to install Wine from the official repo on Ubuntu systems with PPAs or proposed updates enabled. The specific conflict(s) preventing Wine from installing will vary, so try to find out which package(s) is to blame, remove them, and try again. If you are unable to resolve things try the Linux section of the Wine HQ forum.
On a vanilla Ubuntu system installing Wine from the official repo should “just work”. Allow everything listed ample time to download, unpack, install, and configure itself before fretting.
Once the whole process is complete you can close the Terminal window and start setting up Wine.
You will not find a “Wine” launcher in the Applications grid after you install Wine but you will be able to right-click on Windows installers/runtimes and open them with Wine.
You may also wish to run winecfg from the command line to access the GUI Wine configuration window.