Wine does not work. Any other emulators

I have had good luck running WInXP as a virtual machine. I use vmware, but there are other managers out there.

There must be another emulator out there. Just for three programs on XP. If I can load them using GUI, I've got it made. I can put everything into my Ubuntu computer. thanks
Joseph Martel (Pepe)

Have you looked into the commercial offerings, like CrossOver Office (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxlinux), Bordeaux (http://www.bordeauxgroup.com) and Cedega (http://www.cedega.com - note: does not contribute much back to Wine)?

Besides the commercial ones you have PlayOnLinux (http://www.playonlinux.com/en/), Q4wine (http://q4wine.brezblock.org.ua/) and Vineyard (http://vineyardproject.org/) - have you tried any of those?

I also see that actionparsnip posted a link to the thread at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1476946 (in this question https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wine/+question/125853) - did that help?

Also, please don't post multiple versions of the same question, it looks like (and pretty much is) spam.

I received "three" identical emails from Christian Dannie Storgaard. I will look into those items, Sounds interesting though I already suspect this is going to cost.

As far as how to install a program into Wine, that has been stalled., Nothing more than where we were. My geek friends (windows) say Wine is just not there yet.

I may not get any good solutions for now, but I will probably try again in a month or so. Meanwhile I am on a dual boot with XP. Will be nice when I can dump XP. Thanks everyone.
Joseph Martel (Pepe)

I just tried another one, I really thought I had it this time. But!
Right Click, Properties, Permissions, Allow exe .... as programs

Answer: Sorry, could not change the permissions of "AutoPlay.exe": Error setting permissions: Read-only file system

Back to square one. Thanks

Ah, it seems your filesystem is mounted read-only. Is it an NTFS-disk (Windows-disk)?
If it is, then you probably want to install "NTFS Configuration Tool" (search for it in Ubuntu Software Center) - there you can enable write support for your disk.

If you can't get write support working for your drive, try copying the program-exe you're trying to run to somewhere in your home-folder instead and repeat the right-click -> properties -> allow executing file as program step.

Also, I know this is probably very annoying for you, having to go through all these steps just to run your program but remember that it is actually beyond what you would get in Windows. If you look at it from the opposite side, you would have more trouble getting Windows to read a Linux filesystem and would probably find it completely impossible to run any of Linux's programs - just saying ;)

Lastly, yes the first three programs I mentioned last will cost you a bit, but if you don't want to pay I also mentioned three free programs.

Thanks for your understanding. However, I have trouble understanding why this is happening. Common every day users (not geeks) want to install Wine for a reason. So it should be a very common need, to install a program into Wine. And it should be somewhat clear and simple. That is not the case.

And the only annoying part is the "advice" about extraneous items that are not what we are looking for. I am interested in finding out once and for all. Is Wine just for geeks or can it be used by regular computer users and we are a lot more than them.

I admit we have been spoiled by Macs and Windows. We are accustomed to GUI. Most people that I come in contact with want no part of Ubuntu because you have to be a geek.

Now, the work at hand. I tried to find NTFS Configuration Tool in the Ubuntu Software Center (I have 10.04) it is not there, either installed or not. I tried copying the exe over to my downloads file and tried from there. Same answer: The file .... was not marked etc. etc.

There may be an answer somewhere for such a common elementary request. I am curious to find out if someone out there knows.

To be fair, you don't have to be a geek to use Ubuntu, but if you want to trick a Windows program into running on an unsupported operating system, then it shouldn't surprise you if you run into some trouble. Apples to apples.

If you can't find the NTFS Configuration Tool in Ubuntu Software Center you probably haven't enabled community maintained packages - to do so, go back to the software center and select Edit->Software Sources and enable everything on the first tab (except the sources, unless you want them) - now try again.

Did you remember to mark the exe as executable after copying it?
Also, did you try CrossOver? It's quite easy to work with and you get a free trial period.

I don't know what mark as executable is, so I googled. In it someone has the same thing and it was fixed when in the properties, he found under Note, "Open with" I hadn't looked in there. I picked Wine program loader and got Pagemaker and Photoshop Elements installed so far. They are a little funny but I think I can work them. I don't care if they are slow. I don't do that much anyway. I will install Printshop and see how the three work out.

If OK, I can get rid of the XP and set up my two 100% Ubuntu computers (one for back up) Be sure to send me the address where to send the bottle of champagne. Thanks to all.
Joseph Martel, (Pepe)