How-to Install Google Chrome in Ubuntu with Wine
The Linux version of Google’s Chrome web browser is not ready yet. Don’t boot up Windows, if you’re interested in testing it out it’s possible to do so by running Chrome under Wine.
[update] Wine 1.1.4 has been
released, and includes fixes for running Chrome. I’ll update this post once I
give it a try. I’ve updated the post.
You’ll need to have an up-to-date version of Wine, I tested it with version 1.1.3. See #8 in this blog post on how to install the latest Wine versions. If you’re not sure, run this command to check your Wine version:
wine --version
Google’s net-installer for Chrome doesn’t work in Wine. Instead, use the
standalone installer. Download it from here:
http://gpdl.google.com/chrome/install/149.27/chrome_installer.exe
Open a terminal to and change to the directory you downloaded the installer to. Run the installer with Wine:
wine chrome_installer.exe
The installation should complete very quickly. Click Start Google Chrome and
the Chrome window should open, but will appear to be broken. Close Chrome for
now.
[update: installing the riched20 and riched30 DLLs is no longer necessary with Wine 1.1.4. You only need winetricks now to if you wish to install fonts.] Let’s use a script called winetricks to automate downloading and setting up some required DLLs. Download winetricks, make the script executable, and run it:
wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks
chmod +x winetricks
./winetricks riched20 riched30
Run Chome with the--new-http and --in-process-plugins options to make it
work (the command below is all one
line):
wine ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/$USER/Local\ Settings/Application\ Data/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe --new-http --in-process-plugins
Use the previous command whenever you want to start Chrome. At this point Chrome is working fine, but the fonts look awful. The fonts can be improved by using winetricks again (I didn’t use the allfonts command because the Liberation fonts seem to be gone and cause winetricks to get stuck):
./winetricks corefonts tahoma
Chrome runs pretty well in WINE. The largest problem is that HTTPS addresses will cause an error. Minor issues include the status bar appearing above other windows and the lack of font anti-aliasing for small text.
This post is based on the instructions from the Ubuntu forums, posted here. More information about Chrome on Linux is available on the Wine AppDB page.
Archived Comments
Tom
alphakamp:
Did you miss the command give winetricks execute permission?
chmod +x winetricks
Tim
Hi Tom.
I get this error:
$ wine chrome_installer.exe
err:module:import_dll Library NDIS.SYS (which is needed by
L”C:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\npf.sys”) not found
err:winedevice:ServiceMain driver L”NPF” failed to load
When I try to execute Chrome.
Steve
Hi Tom
Thanks for this but I think I went awry when I replaced -
wine ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/$USER/Local\ Settings/Application
Data/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe –new-http –in-process-plugins
in place of the chrome icon launcher command.
Feeling that I shouldn’t have done that. So 2 questions - What did I delete in the launcher command and what should I have done?
Thanks for any newbie guidance. - Steve
Anonymous
Is it possible to change the shortcut to run with those tags instead of running that command every time?
Anonymous
I get this error when I try to get those fonts:
[code]Location: http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/corefonts/trebuc32.exe
[following]
--17:59:37– http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/corefonts/trebuc32.exe
\=> `trebuc32.exe’
Resolving internap.dl.sourceforge.net… failed: Name or service not known.
Note: command ‘wget -nd -c –read-timeout=300 –retry-connrefused –header
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate http://downloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/trebuc32.exe' returned status
1. Aborting.[/code]
Anonymous
Just a matter of not connecting to the Sourceforge servers. They’re installed now. Looks good, save for this small blue rectangle in the lower left corner of the browser thats persistent no matter which site I go to. Anyone else have this problem?
Slippy Lane
Hey Tom. Followed all the instructions as per. Chrome installer worked fine, didn’t throw up any errors. Everything else worked except for the final command. Cannot find chrome.exe at the location specified. mlocate couldn’t find it either, and now running the chrome installer again yields no response at all. Any clues?
Slippy Lane
…additional… I did this with wine 1.1.4 installed, so the problem may lie in that direction.
Tom
Steve & Anonymous:
Working with launchers can be tricky. Change the launcher command to this to
start Chrome with the required options (replace tom with your username):
wine “C:\windows\profiles\tom\Local Settings\Application
Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –new-http –in-process-plugins
Slippy Lane:
I just tried the whole process in a virtual machine with 1.1.4, and it installed
fine. Does the installer display the start Google Chrome dialog? Maybe it’s not
completely installing.
eamonireland
I tried this, but the wine chrome_installer.exe command doesn’t seem to work. It just executes, but I don’t see any install dialog, and there is no ‘Start Google Chrome’ to click.
keinohrhase
Hello i want to install google chrome. I have this wine-1.1.4 version. And if i
type wine chrome_installer.exe i get this error: wine: could not load
L”C:\\windows\\system32\\chrome_installer.exe”: Modul nicht gefunden
can somebody help me?
Andrey Kostenko
Here is russian translation:
????? ??????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????????? ???? :)
http://kostenko.name/2008/09/07/google-chrome-ubuntu/
eschamp
Same as eamonireland!
When I execute
wine chrome_installer.exe
nothing happens for 10-15 seconds and then I get my prompt back.
chrome.exe is not to be found nor is there an icon on the desktop.
This is with a new update to hardy (8.04)
choc
Get skins and install them:
http://www.freechromethemes.com/Download-Black-Google-Chrome-Theme.php
Download and unzip the file. (default.dll)
Replace the file in the following wind directory:
/home/USER(Your user folder)/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/choc/Local
Settings/Application Data/Google/Chrome/Application/0.2.149.29/Themes
choc
Sorry correct location:
/home/USER(Your user folder)/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/USER(Your user folder)/Local Settings/Application Data/Google/Chrome/Application/0.2.149.29/Themes
alphakamp
Yes I did.
Executing wget -nd -c –read-timeout=300 –retry-connrefused –header
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_active_x.msi
--10:15:45– http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_active_x.msi
\=> `install_flash_player_active_x.msi’
Resolving fpdownload.macromedia.com… 96.6.146.70
Connecting to fpdownload.macromedia.com|96.6.146.70|:80… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 4,516,352 (4.3M) [application/x-msi]
install_flash_player_active_x.msi: Permission denied
Cannot write to `install_flash_player_active_x.msi’ (Permission denied).
Note: command ‘wget -nd -c –read-timeout=300 –retry-connrefused –header Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/install_flash_player_active_x.msi' returned status 1. Aborting.
alphakamp
I Upgraded wine to 1.1.4, Chrome crashes upon opening
Andrey Kostenko
eschamp: I had the same bug. It started to work only after “rm -rf ~/.wine” :-(
Michael
Here worked fine but the fonts still looking awful. I installed the tahoma font and nothing changed…Why?
dakira
Guys, don’t bother. If you want to try Chrome, try a Chromium Nightly in Win to
“get a feel” for it. Otherwise wait for the Linux version.
Or even better, don’t wait for it at all. The new Javascript-Engine in Firefox
3.1 puts Firefox ahead again. Also (as many others) I used Wireshark to check
what Chrome is doing and the results were not really nice.
If you deactivate all phone-home options except for search suggestions Chrome
sends the unique browser id with every search/url typed in. If you change the
search-provider Chrome sends the URL to that other provider BUT additionally
sends an empty HTTP-header with your id plus some encrypted TCP-packets to
Google. If you deactivate suggestions completely, Chrome STILL sends the id plus
the encrypted TCP packets to Google. Only if you activate this incognito-mode
nothing goes to the Google-servers. This is just bad.
film fan
there are so many advantages and features with Chrome, such as it’s speed, for example; now if only they would take care it’s flighty cookie management…
Warren
I installed Chrome on Ubuntu with this easy and clear guide -
http://www.fixya.com/support/r1238728-install_google_chrome_ubuntu
Hope it will work for you as well as it did for me.
Have a good one.
Rihlsul
FYI, as of Dec 28th, the DL link is:
http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/154.18/chrome_installer.exe
However, it’s complete garbage. =(
Here’s hoping the google guys stop being evil to the linux world.
jra
The current download link is:
http://74.125.105.39/edgedl/chrome/install/154.46/chrome_installer.exe
Thomas
Hi there.
Google seems to be clever, after starting the installer with Wine 1.1.7 an error message appears saying
Chrome only supports Windows XP or later.
tr
digitalpbk
Google Chrome for linux is finally released :)
Screenshots http://digitalpbk.com/2009/12/install-google-chrome-linux-ubuntu-910
alphakamp
I have a trouble with ./winetricks riched20 riched30
I get permission denied