Step by step: Windows programs on your AgentBox, without Windows and without a licence

Many companies depend on one old Windows program: a stock tool, a quoting program, something written ten years ago. The Windows programs (Wine) app on an AgentBox runs many of these programs without Windows and without a licence, straight on the cloud desktop, where the agent can use them too.

Step 1: install Wine

On the AgentBox tab, under Apps, click Install on Windows programs (Wine). The install takes 20 to 30 minutes, because the box gets more than Wine: it also gets .NET Framework 4.8, the Visual C++ runtimes and the classic Windows fonts, exactly the dependencies business programs usually ask for, plus winetricks and Bottles for easy management.

Step 2: install the program

In the terminal:

Download program X's installer from the address I give you and install it with Wine. Click through the installer steps yourself.

The agent runs wine setup.exe and walks through the installer windows on the desktop by itself. At the end, the program appears in the applications menu like any Linux app. If the installer asks for your program's licence key, the agent hands control to you and you type it in.

Step 3: use it, both of you

The program opens on the live desktop, so you work in it from any browser. More interesting: the agent can operate it too, through its desktop tools, so you can ask it to key in the data from a file or export the monthly reports, the things you used to do by hand.

Step 4: if the program refuses its database

Older programs built on Visual FoxPro or ODBC can show connection errors on first start. The box comes prepared for this case with a dedicated command: run agentbox-wine-odbc for program X and start it again. Most of the time that settles it.

Step 5: when Wine is not enough

Full honesty: not every program runs under Wine. Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud and accounting programs with their own database server need real Windows. For those there is the Windows apps (WinBoat) app, which runs actual Windows on boxes with enough resources. The practical rule: try Wine first, it is free and instant; if the program refuses, move to Windows apps.

What you end up with

• Windows programs running on your box, with no Windows licence.
• The business dependencies (.NET, Visual C++, fonts) preinstalled.
• An agent that can operate the program for you.