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Winlator ships with a custom-patched build of Wine and supports installing additional Wine versions alongside it. Each container can be configured to use a different Wine version, allowing you to run incompatible applications side-by-side.

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Built-in Wine version

The default Wine version bundled with Winlator is: The Custom suffix in the identifier signals that this is Winlator’s own patched build — not an unmodified upstream Wine binary. The patches include fixes and optimizations specific to running Wine under Android/Box64.
The built-in Wine version cannot be removed. It is always listed first in the Wine version selector.

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Wine executables

Depending on the container mode, Winlator selects a different Wine binary from /opt/wine/bin/: At runtime, getExecutable() copies either wine-wow64 or wine32 to a generic wine binary path and sets the executable bit, so Wine always starts via a consistent entry point.

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WoW64 mode

WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) lets the 64-bit Wine process run 32-bit applications without a separate 32-bit Wine server. It is enabled by default for every new container (wow64Mode = true).

WoW64 enabled

  • Runs the wine-wow64 binary
  • 32-bit and 64-bit apps both work
  • Box86 handles the 32-bit x86 translation layer
  • Default for maximum compatibility

WoW64 disabled

  • Runs the wine32 binary only
  • Exclusively for 32-bit apps
  • Slightly lower overhead for pure 32-bit titles
  • 64-bit apps will not launch
To toggle WoW64 mode, go to Container Settings → Advanced Tab → WoW64 Mode.

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Installing additional Wine versions

You can download community or upstream Wine builds and import them into Winlator. Installed versions are stored under the opt/installed-wine/ directory inside the Winlator image filesystem (at ImageFs.getInstalledWineDir()).
1

Download a Wine XZ archive

Obtain a Wine build packaged as a .tar.xz archive. Community-built Winlator-compatible Wine builds are typically shared on the Winlator GitHub Releases or community forums.
2

Open Winlator Settings

Tap the menu icon and navigate to Settings in the main navigation drawer.
3

Tap Install Wine Version

Under the Installed Wine Versions section, tap the Install Wine Version button and accept the warning dialog.
4

Select the archive file

Use the file picker to select the .tar.xz Wine archive you downloaded. Winlator extracts it via WineUtils.extractWineFileForInstallAsync() and detects the version by running wine --version internally.
5

Choose architecture and confirm

If the archive contains both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, select the architecture (x86 or x86_64) and confirm installation. A new Wine prefix is generated for that version.
Only install Wine builds that are compiled for the Android/Termux environment. Standard Linux Wine binaries will not work.

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Wine version naming convention

Installed Wine versions follow the pattern:
Examples: The pattern is enforced by the regex in WineInfo.java:

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Removing an installed Wine version

Installed versions (not the built-in one) can be removed from Settings → Installed Wine Versions. Tap the remove button next to the version. Winlator will refuse to remove a version that is still assigned to an active container.

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Per-container Wine version

Each container stores its chosen Wine version in its .container config file under the wineVersion key. If the key is absent, the container uses the built-in Wine 9.2 (Custom). Changing the Wine version in Container Settings regenerates key system DLLs and DLL overrides for that container.