wine-start

Launch a program or open a document in a Wine prefix

TLDR

Launch a Windows program by Windows path

$ wine start '[C:\path\to\program.exe]'

Open a document with its associated program

$ wine start '[C:\path\to\document.ext]'

Launch a program from a Unix path

$ wine start /unix [path/to/program.exe]

Launch a program and wait for it to exit, returning its exit code

$ wine start /wait '[C:\path\to\program.exe]'

Launch minimized or maximized

$ wine start /min '[C:\path\to\program.exe]'

Start in a specific working directory

$ wine start /d '[C:\path\to\directory]' '[C:\path\to\program.exe]'

Launch without a new console window

$ wine start /b '[C:\path\to\program.exe]'

SYNOPSIS

wine start [options] program [arguments...]wine start [options] document

wine start is Wine's reimplementation of the Windows start command (start.exe). It uses ShellExecuteEx to launch an executable or to open a document with the program registered for that suffix, so it can start .exe files, .lnk shortcuts, and associated documents.Use it instead of a bare wine program.exe when you pass a full path: start can set the working directory to the program's folder, which many installers and games require. wine start /unix is the usual form from a Unix shell, because it accepts native paths such as $HOME/Downloads/setup.exe.The tool operates on the prefix named by WINEPREFIX (default ~/.wine). Extra Windows-compatible switches exist for process priority (/low, /normal, /high, /realtime, /abovenormal, /belownormal), NUMA node (/node), and CPU affinity (/affinity).

PARAMETERS

"title"

Title of the child window. Must be the first quoted argument.

/d directory

Working directory for the program.

Do not create a new console for the program.

Start with a fresh environment (ignore the current one).

/min

Start minimized.

/max

Start maximized.

/wait, /w

Wait for the started program to finish, then exit with its exit code.

/unix

Treat the filename as a Unix path and start it the way Windows Explorer would. Wine-specific; not present on Windows.

Display help and exit.

INSTALL

sudo dnf install wine

sudo pacman -S wine

sudo apk add wine

sudo zypper install wine

nix profile install nixpkgs#wine

CAVEATS

Without /unix, paths are Windows-style; backslashes must be quoted or doubled so the Unix shell does not treat them as escapes. /unix is Wine-only and will not work if you later run the same command on Windows. /wait only waits for the process start itself created, not for child processes that detach. Desktop files generated by Wine often invoke start.exe /unix internally.

HISTORY

Wine's start.exe was added in 2003 by Dan Kegel as a compatible replacement for C:\windows\command\start.exe. The /Unix switch was added in 2008 so native file managers and .desktop files could open Windows programs by Unix path.

RESOURCES

Source code · Homepage · Documentation