How to install Windows apps on Linux with CrossOver (Gallery)

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Starting CrossOver Windows program installation

After installing CrossOver Linux from the Web, simply hit the big Install Windows Software button.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Selecting a Windows program for Linux/CrossOver installation

Next, you'll be presented with a menu of supported Windows applications. Some work better with CrossOver than others, but all those listed should run decently. In this case, since I've already put my Microsoft Office 2010 DVD in my optical drive, CrossOver's figured out that's the program I want to install.

You'll notice at the bottom that CrossOver is telling me I'm missing a Linux library that Office will need to run on Mint. To see what I do next, I simply click on the link and...

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Linux instructions for installing WIndows software

This link brings up the CodeWeavers' Web page with detailed instructions on what you'll need to do next. There is, however, one piece missing from their instructions. To install packages on Mint, or any other Linux, you can't be an ordinary user. You have to be running from the administrator's account, aka root or the super-user.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Using a terminal to install a needed Linux program

So, I bring up a terminal — simply start typing the word from the Mint Menu if you don't see the little terminal icon on the menu bar — and type in the command with "sudo" in front of it. Sudo, in Mint and other Linux distributions, tells the terminal that this one command should be run as if you were the administrator.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Installing incidental Windows programs with CrossOver

Along the way to installing Office, CrossOver asks me if I want to install other programs that Office might need. These include fonts, such as, I'm sorry to say Comic Sans, the world's most hated font.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Windows license key entry

The next part will look very familiar to any Windows user. As usual with a Microsoft program you'll need to enter a 25-character-long Product Key.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Selecting Office components

Once the key is accepted, you choose, as usual, which Microsoft Office components you want to install on your system.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Yes, we're really installing Microsoft Office 2010 on Linux

And, lest you doubt that I'm really doing this on Linux, here's a shot of the Office 2010 installer running on my Mint/Cinnamon desktop.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Office installed on Linux/CrossOver and ready to run

Once Office is installed, CrossOver now shows me which Windows programs I've installed and are now available for me to run. To get them going, all I need do is click on the appropriate choice, and...

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Ta-da! Microsoft Office 2010 running on Linux Mint

Ta-da! Here I am running Microsoft Word 2010 on my Linux Mint desktop.

Published: April 7, 2014 -- 21:10 GMT (14:10 PDT)
Caption by: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols