CrossOver Support - Community Forums

For most old or some new software it is often useful to install into a folder on desktop. Then archive it. When it needs to be used it is unarchived and the .exe is run. This saves the time of running install/uninstall. Many small file size open source or free apps in windows are distributed in this format from the very beginning.

It depends on the program storing all data in its install program.

How would a user install such a program now in Crossover? Where does a user have to move the program folder once it is unarchived? How is Crossover set up correctly to run the program without error, supposing the dependencies are known (.net 2/3/4 or directX)?

First, you should know that Crossover has the ability to archive a bottle which you have created for a piece of software. So if archiving is what you want, you can do it via Crossover itself. So I would suggest a proper installation with Crossover, and then archiving the bottle would greatly simplify your usage.

But, if you want to use other software you have already archived, this is how I would do it.

1) You need a bottle. You can set set a default bottle to execute any "standalone" software without a specific bottle. When you right-click a windows executable and use the Crossover entry, that's the bottle that will be used. You could also create a default bottle with everything you need for that very purpose in mind, with whatever you think you need. Or just create a bottle for each software as you need.

2) To run those archived software, you can use "run a windows command" tool. Use the browse button to navigate to the executable. The execution will be done with the bottle you selected in the bottle manager and use anything in it. If you plan on using your software more than once, you can use the "create launcher" button which will automatically create a launcher with the proper command.

Still, considering Crossover's ability to archive, you would be better off with that when possible.

You can also just double-click the .exe file, assuming that CrossOver is set up as the default software to open them. Still, you have to create a bottle first to do this.

Thank you for the feedback.

I'm going to go through my archives and see if I can get everything working. I'll try using Crossover's archive ability from now on.

1. Double clicking is not quite working.

When I select the .exe in the unpacked archive folder to Crossover (run), with a Win7 bottle as default in advanced setting in manage bottles, I simply get:

"Scanning for viruses. Please wait." I see in manage bottles that it continues to scan ... requires force quit.

The program is auCDtectTaskManager. (Using it as an example, since its a free program that comes without an installer, and with a recently released version plus many previous versions to test.)

[link=http://y-soft.org/Download.shtml?path=products/auCDtect-Task-Manager&sort=1&direction=0][/link]

Am I doing everything correctly in general? (If yes, then probably the it requires some additional dependencies.

2. I have a seperate general question. If a program controls its settings through a Windows registry entry, like many do, instead of a config texty in the install folder, when archiving such programs I backup the registry entry creating after install and first run and have it ready. On some programs several key settings like full screen resolution or key associations were determined in this way, and they can't run without these being specified in registry. Where is the registy in wine and how do I add entries to it?

I'll try your software later myself and tell you of my experience.

As for the registry, just enter "regedit" in the "run windows command" tool. You will be presented with a very similar interface as the "real" regedit under windows. Each bottle have their own registry, so changes in one will not affect another.

I just tried auCDtectTaskManager, and I don't think that software will run under Wine/Crossover. I have tried the RC for Crossover 12.5 and wine 1.7, neither will run the thing. I believe it uses something that remains unimplemented in wine.

You can try a support ticket, but I doubt it will change anything. I hope you will have better results for your other softwares.