this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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Question as someone who keeps being prevented from switching to Linux because of professional programs that are only Win/Mac.
I often read that you can just use Wine? So I would be in a Linux environment for everything and when I need to use a Windows program it can be run via Wine without leaving that environment?
Or is it a case of having to switch OS's whenever I need to? Am I confusing that with dual-boot?
you have a few options. yes, wine. also, lutris, winboat, and bottles. these all act as 'make windows app run like any other app on my linux machine'. if those don't work for your program then you can try installing a windows virtual machine with virt-manager. if you're familiar with docker, check out dockur/windows for a docker container that automates a quick win vm setup with a webgui. (disclaimer: i have not tried this project yet, don't know how well it works)
if you need heavy gpu use, however, you might have to dual-boot. you have linux installed on one disk partition and windows installed on another. you pick which one you want with the grub bootloader menu that shows when you start up. you can only run one at a time and must reboot to switch. it's highly recommended to install windows first, then linux, and familiarize yourself with repairing grub with a linux liveusb as windows updates frequently break it. don't worry i know that sounds scary, but it's just the bootloader that breaks, not your linux or windows install, and it's just a few simple commands to fix.
imho almost any professional software should work with wine/lutris/winboat/bottles/vm, but dual boot is there if you find it necessary.
also consider if you actually do need those particular pro programs. there are likely multiple foss (free and open source software) projects that do whatever it is you need to do. of course if it's a case of company policy mandating use of certain programs there's not much you can do besides dual-boot.
Think of wine as an emulator. It's a program that runs in Linux that then runs Windows programs. Usually quite well. It's all done without leaving Linux.
Dual boot is when you start the computer up you can either boot into Linux or Windows, both are options but they don't run at the same time.
Keep in mind that Wine Is Not an Emulator. It implements many windows features but it's incomplete. Be sure to check if whatever the professional software you're using also works on Wine.
Or you could run Windows in an actual emulator (like Qemu). I remember it worked pretty well on 16GB of RAM. Also you may want to check out Winboat
There is also the possibility of running other OS in a virtual machine. Like https://www.virtualbox.org/
If you do that you don’t leave Linux, but spin up an environment where you can have a full installation of i.e. Windows running. Your Windows environment is not aware of Linux, which it is hosted on, and should behave like a normal Windows machine.
I may sound complicated, but is pretty easy to use when you get going. Try watching a few videos on the subject if you are interested.
Lutris, vmware