How to run exe files on Chromebook?

Chromebooks have a lot of very good applications, but they do not have as many as Windows computers. Can Chromebook run exe files? To have more applications available on your Chromebook, you have to run exe files…

Yes, Chromebooks can run exe files after some configuration. There are two main ways to open and run exe files on Chromebook, to be able to start Windows applications on your Chromebook. The first way is to use Wine, a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications, or Crossover, an application to run Windows Exe files on every operating system.

Running exe file with Wine

The first way to open an exe file on Chromebook is to install and use Wine. Wine is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on every operating system based on POSIX, such as Linux.

As Linux can be enabled on Chromebooks now, you can download and install Wine to be able to run your favorite exe files.

1. Enable Linux on your Chromebook

The first step is to enable Linux on your Chromebook, to do so :

• Click on the time at the bottom right of your Chromebook
• Click on Settings to open the control panel of your Chromebook.
• Go to Advanced → Developers on the left menu
• Turn On the “Linux development environment”
• Follow the instructions on your screen, it can take several minutes to complete
• A new application is installed on your Chromebook, the Terminal. It allows you to launch a Terminal as you would be able to do on Linux. We will use it in the next steps. Also, you now have a Linux files section in My Files.

2. Add support for 32-bit apps

Wine needs support for 32-bit apps to be able to run correctly. You will need to enter your first command line, to add support for 32-bit apps on your Chromebook:

1. Open the Terminal app, click on the button at the bottom left of your Chromebook, and search for “Terminal”
2. Enter the command “sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386"

That’s it, support for 32-bit apps is now enabled on your Chromebook.

3. Setup repository

To be able to download and install Wine, we need to add the repository key and sources file, and enter these commands into your Terminal app:

• Add the Wine repository key

"sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings"

"sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key"

• Add the Wine sources file

"sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/dists/bullseye/winehq-bullseye.sources"

• Update the list of available applications on your Chromebook

"sudo apt update"

4. Download and install Wine

Now that everything is setup, you can download and install Wine on your Chromebook to be able to run exe files, just enter these commands in your terminal app:

1. Enter “sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable" to install the main wine component
2. Enter “winecfg" to install other needed components, a pop-up asking to install will pop up several times, just click install each time

That’s it, wine is installed on your Chromebook now and you can run exe files on it. To be able to configure wine, you can enter again “winecfg" on your Terminal app. You can for example change the resolution in the Graphics tab.

5. Run exe files

Now that Wine is installed on your Chromebook, you can run exe files. In the Terminal app again, enter the command “wine path/to/filename.exe"

For example, if you want to run steam.exe program, the precise steps would be :

1. Download the exe file “steam.exe”
2. Go to your files app and move the “steam.exe” file from My Files → Downloads to My Files → Linux files. It’s an important step to be able to run the file from the Terminal app
3. Open the Terminal app and enter the command “wine steam.exe”

Running exe file with Crossover

The second way to be able to open and run exe files on Chromebook is to use the CrossOver application. CrossOver is a software that allows users to run exe files on all operating systems including Chrome OS on Chromebook.

1. Enable Play Store

To install CrossOver, you need to enable Google Play Store first

1. Click on the time at the bottom right of your Chromebook
2. Click on the Settings icon to open the control panel of your Chromebook.
3. On the Settings menu on the left, click on Google Play Store
4. Click on Turn On next to Google Play Store

2. Install CrossOver 20

Now that you have Google Play Store on your Chromebook, you can install CrossOver from it to be able to run exe files.

1. Open the Play Store application, click on the button at the bottom left on your Chromebook and search for Google Play Store
2. Search for CrossOver in the Play Store
3. Click on the Install button

3. Open CrossOver and run exe files

A new application is now available on your Chromebook, you can find CrossOver by clicking on the button at the bottom left of your Chromebook and searching for CrossOver.

Be sure to allow CrossOver to access the files on your device. With CrossOver installed, you can now run exe files on your Chromebook.

Why can’t Chromebook run exe files by default?

Exe files are Windows programs, they are built and compiled to run on Windows computers only. Windows is an operating system with a different architecture than another operating systems such as Linux and Chrome OS.

It would be too complicated for Chromebook to add native support for exe files, the different programs that allow using exe files on Chromebook are emulating part of Windows to have all the needed components to run exe files.

Before trying to run an exe files, check if the application is not available directly on your Chromebook, such as Thunderbird.

Author

Maxime Levesque

Maxime Levesque is a technical engineer with more than 5 years of professional experience. He is an expert in computer and phones, mostly on Apple products. Maxime is also the founder of TechBrowser.

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