PortableApps insists on loading before any other program

[Owdjack]

I loaded PortableApps for Windows intending to try it out running under Wine.
Since then trying to run another Windows program under Wine resulted in PortableApps starting up. Getting out of PortableApps did not allow the chosen program to run.

To get round this I deleted the PortableApps directory from my home directory and tried to run the chosen program again. No go. Wine stopped with the error message that it could not find the PortableApps executable and still would not run the chosen program.

I then used Synaptic to completely uninstall Wine then reinstalled it. Still no go.

Does anyone know where Wine holds the call to run a startup program so I can delete the call? I haven't found its whereabouts after several evenings work looking at system.reg, user.reg and userdef.reg using Kate. I can't even run regedit.exe or any other .exe file as PortableApps jumps in first.

PortableApps is a great package but I would like it to allow me to run other Windows applications in Wine as well.

I would be grateful for any help on this.

Running Wine 1.4.1 on Ubuntu 121.0 4 with Mate desktop on a Compaq Presario CQ60

[L. Rahyen]

If you want to keep PortableApps just rename your ~/.wine to something else; for example, ~/.wine_portableapps (if you do not how to use Wine with non-default Wineprefix, read http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#wineprefix ). Then you will have clean default Wineprefix. Of course, if you do not want to keep it, just delete ~/.wine. By the way, your Wine version is very old.

[Owdjack]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I renamed my existing ~/.wine to ~/.wine_portableapps and then ran winecfg which created a new configuration in ~/.wine. I also ran export WINEPREFIX=~/.wine wine winecfg in a terminal.

The results were the same as before.

When I tried to run ~/.win/drive_c/windows/regedit.exe the message Wine cannot find z:\home\jack\PortableApps/PortableApps.com/PortableAppsPlatform.exe came up. No other .exe file will run properly.

I am beginning to feel desperate enough to do a final incremental backup of my home directory and do a new installation of Ubuntu 12.04 in the hope of effecting a cure.

My desktop, which has a clean installation of Ubuntu 12.04 with wine 1.1.1 without PortableApps ever having been installed, does not give the same problem as I get with the laptop installation.

I will try copying the ~/.wine directory from the desktop to the laptop to see if that fixes the problem but that is a tommorrow job. its bedtime in Australia.

According to the winehq web site the latest stable version of wine is 1.4.1 and that is the version in the Ubuntu 12.04 repositories. As I am not into modern computer languages I fight shy of using development versions because I don't have the expertise to fix problems with them. The rapid approach of becoming an octogenarion tends to put me off going down that track although I have written programs in older languages in times gone by.

[L. Rahyen]

That's strange. Try running:

Code: Select all

WINEPREFIX=~/.wine_new winecfg

I assume ~/.wine_new does not exist, so this command will create it. Does it work as expected? If not, please post full terminal output including commands you ran.

"Stable" means "does not change much" or "does not change at all". This means you do not get all fixes in current Wine. Of course, if it works for you, keep using it. But if you encounter problems with it, it is good idea to upgrade to recent version.

[dimesio]

When I tried to run ~/.win/drive_c/windows/regedit.exe

This may just be a typo in your post, but it should be .wine in the path, not .win. Do you have a ~/.win directory (maybe accidentally created by mistyping)?

[Owdjack]

When I tried to run ~/.win/drive_c/windows/regedit.exe

This may just be a typo in your post, but it should be .wine in the path, not .win. Do you have a ~/.win directory (maybe accidentally created by mistyping)?

Yes, it was a typo. Old head, dyslexic fingers and late nights cause them frequently.

Copying the version of .wine from my desktop Ubuntu 12.04 to my laptop did not fix the problem. However, I did learn that it is no use trying to copy a directory with links from an ext4 drive to a FAT formatted USB stick. A USB hard drive formatted to ext3 fixed that problem.

I will try to get a copy of the output as requested and post that later tonight.

[Owdjack]

Here is the output from running the suggested command in a terminal.

jack@jack-Laptop:~$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine_new winecfg
wine: created the configuration directory '/home/jack/.wine_new'
WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-4znMxt/pkcs11: No such file or directory
WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-4znMxt/pkcs11: No such file or directory
fixme:storage:create_storagefile Storage share mode not implemented.
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
err:mscoree:LoadLibraryShim error reading registry key for installroot
fixme:iphlpapi:NotifyAddrChange (Handle 0xfce8cc, overlapped 0xfce8b0): stub
WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-4znMxt/pkcs11: No such file or directory
wine: configuration in '/home/jack/.wine_new' has been updated.
WARNING: gnome-keyring:: couldn't connect to: /tmp/keyring-4znMxt/pkcs11: No such file or directory.

The gnome-keyring warning can be ignored for now but perhaps the rest gives some clue to the problem. I will look into the keyring problem later.

When I navigated to ~/.wine-new/drive_c/windows and tried to run regedit.exe I got the same response as before that PortableApps etc could not be found.

Next I installed wine1.5 from the wine ppa and still had the same problem with PortableApps as with wine 1.4.1

I have pressing engagements over the next five days and will not be able to read any further replies but I will be back on line in six days time.

Thanks for the responses and the help.

[dimesio]

jack@jack-Laptop:~$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine_new winecfg

When I navigated to ~/.wine-new/drive_c/windows and tried to run regedit.exe I got the same response as before that PortableApps etc could not be found.

~/.wine_new is not the same as ~/.wine-new.

When you tried to run regedit, did you specify the wineprefix? If you didn't, then you actually ran regedit for ~/.wine.

The output you posted for creation of the new wineprefix is normal, other than the gnome-keyring errors, which are not the cause of your problem and are probably harmless.

[Owdjack]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my OP.

Using the good advice from you I was able to establish that Wine behaves perfectly when run from the CLI .

When I originally installed my favourite Windows application using the Nautilus file manager it went ahead smoothly. It created a desktop icon as a launcher. The program launched flawlessly. Unfortunately that installed application was deleted when I deleted the ~/.wine directory in my first attempt to solve the problem.

When I installed my favourite Windows application using the CLI as you advised it went ahead smoothly. It even used the original desktop icon as a launcher without a hitch. The program lauched flawlessly.

Using the CLI to run executables such as Notepad.exe or regedit.exe also worked perfectly every time in all of ~/.wine, ~/wine_new and ~/.wine_PortableApps.

This led me to suspect that the problem is not attributable to Wine but to the file manager Nautilus. I confirmed that suspicion by using Konqueror as my file manager. Konqueror behaved perfectly when I right clicked the executable file name in ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files then selected "Open With->Wine Windows Program Loader". That is the way I would like to work with Windows executables but the CLI is always available until I find a full solution.

I tried to remove Nautilus with "apt-get purge nautilus" and reinstall it with "apt-get install nautilus" but that did not solve anything. It looks as if I will have to find the correct configuration file and edit it by hand.

When I find the final answer to this problem I wil post again so that others may benefit.

Thanks for your helpfull hints

[Owdjack]

The problem turned out to be caused by the presence of a file called start.exe in my home directory.

When I moved the file to the rubbish bin the problem went away and only came back when I restored the file to my home directory. The same file caused the same problem when copied to the home directory of a newly created test userid.

I am not sure yet how I managed to create the file whilst experimenting with PortableApps and I am trying to find out using a VirtuaLBox VM running Ubuntu 12.04.