Hi everyone — I recently migrated to Linux Mint and overall my experience has been excellent, but I still rely on several Windows applications (notably SolidWorks, among others). Aside from dual-booting, which I really prefer to avoid, running these programs inside a Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC virtual machine in VMware Workstation appears to be the most viable option. However, I am uncertain how to implement this setup and whether it is the optimal solution. What would you recommend I do?

  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    24·
    1 day ago

    WinBoat or WinApps might work for you. They’re very similar in function afaik, they both run a windows vm hidden in the background and integrate the windows apps alongside your Linux programs. It’s supposed to be fully compatible with all windows program except kernel anti-cheat.

    WinBoat is newer and I think offers a nicer interface and a lot easier setup, WinApps is older so may be easier to find support/documentation on. I’d probably recommend starting with WinBoat first.

      • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        5·
        16 hours ago

        Wine is a compatibility layer, it works as a translator to let windows programs run on linux. You can think of it like having a translator who allows two people with different languages to talk to each other and work together.

        WinBoat is completely different, this is actually running full windows in the background, and then only displaying the apps you want from it. There will be significantly more system resources used, and you won’t be able to run windows apps until the windows VM has started in the background, adding a startup delay. However the advantage is that it will support more software than wine does, with fewer issues.

        Wine will always be the better option when it works, but for stuff that doesn’t work this is a decent option.

    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml
      2·
      20 hours ago

      I haven’t tried those but I’m curious, how do you get the image of the app inside the VM ?

      Does it get windows’ window decoration or your window manager’s decoration ?

      Is it possible to display this application window to another computer, standalone, not as a whole desktop shared window ?

      If it is possible to display such an application over the network, would it be possible to display this application to an android phone ?

      thanks

      • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        18 hours ago

        Unfortunately I haven’t used it either, so I can’t answer your questions on this. I don’t have a personal need for any windows apps on my machines, outside of steam games.

    • 9point6@lemmy.world
      14·
      1 day ago

      Genuinely surprised to see this exists, SOLIDWORKS seems to always be in the same “hard no” category as Adobe software in every one of these kinds of threads I’ve seen over the years. This is literally the first time I’ve ever seen a response with a potential solution.

      I wonder how well it works (Just out of curiosity, I don’t do CAD myself)

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        10·
        1 day ago

        I decided to move to FreeCAD from Autodesk Inventor as I figured it would be easier and more beneficial to make the switch earlier in my engineering career, and I really like the experience so far - lots of good documentation and tutorials.

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
    9·
    1 day ago

    Honestly, use Windows or choose a different program. Solidworks is not going to work well under Wine, a VM, or a remote connection.

    • Lung@lemmy.world
      12·
      1 day ago

      Really, that’s still the case for wine in 2025? It runs most things very well, including 3D

      • aksdb@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 day ago

        The 3D stuff around games is actually the smaller problem. It’s performance critical but it’s basically “just” one API (bundle) to implement that then covers a big chunk of the game’s implementation.

        Productivity software usually consists of a shit ton of other stuff. They would probably render fine, but then they ship with a weird ass licensing management system that will deny to work. Or parts of or even a whole app use .NET and suddenly you have the complexity of all the WinAPI calls hidden behind .NET Framework. Maybe the app does a few lowlevel WinAPI calls themselves on top, that Wine didn’t need to implement so far. Or the app you want to run is only distributed via Windows Store as UWP; the necessary APIs also haven’t been implemented yet.

        Wine is awesome, but it’s not fully covering all the shit Window’s APIs offer.