How to Install Wine on LMDE 5 – Full Repository Method
What you’ll get out of this
In this guide you’ll see exactly how to pull the official WineHQ packages into Linux Mint Debian Edition 5, get the right architectures enabled and have a working Windows compatibility layer without hunting down random .deb files.
Add the needed architecture
Wine needs both 64‑bit and 32‑bit libraries. If you skip this, most Windows apps will just refuse to start.
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
The command tells dpkg to accept i386 packages; it’s harmless on a pure amd64 system but essential for Wine.
Import the repository signing key
Without a valid GPG key apt will throw “The following signatures could not be verified” warnings and abort.
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
I’ve seen this fail when the network is behind a captive portal – just make sure you can actually reach dl.winehq.org.
Add the WineHQ source list
LMDE 5 tracks Debian Bullseye, so we point apt at the matching Wine repository.
echo "deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/ bullseye main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
Putting it in its own .list file keeps things tidy and makes future clean‑ups easier.
Update the package index
Now apt knows about the new packages.
sudo apt update
If you get “Failed to fetch … The repository does not have a Release file” double‑check that you typed bullseye correctly; LMDE 5 isn’t based on Ubuntu, so an Ubuntu repo will just break everything.
Choose your Wine flavour
There are three builds:
- winehq-stable – the tried‑and‑tested release.
- winehq-devel – newer features, occasional regressions.
- winehq-staging – experimental patches that haven’t made it upstream yet.
Most users stick with stable unless they need a specific fix. I ran into a game that only worked after pulling staging, so keep that in mind.
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
The --install-recommends flag pulls in things like winetricks and the 32‑bit runtime, which would otherwise require manual installs.
Verify the installation
A quick version check proves you didn’t just download a placeholder package.
wine --version
You should see something like wine-8.0. If it prints “command not found”, the PATH wasn’t refreshed – log out and back in or run source /etc/profile.
First‑run setup
Running any Windows exe will trigger Wine’s configuration wizard.
winecfg
This creates ~/.wine, sets up a fake C: drive, and lets you toggle between Windows 7/10 compatibility modes. I always set the “Windows version” to 10 for newer games; older Office apps prefer 7.
Optional: Install winetricks for extra tweaks
If an app complains about missing DLLs or fonts, winetricks can fetch them without you digging through the web.
sudo apt install winetricks
winetricks corefonts vcrun2015
Pick what you need; the tool is lightweight and saves a lot of head‑scratching later.
That’s it. You now have a functional Wine environment on LMDE 5, ready to run most Windows utilities or that one stubborn game your friend keeps bragging about.
