When I want to start an application in Wine, I can't link it to the desktop. I'll use Pokerstars in my example. In order to start Pokerstars, I have to go to Applications/System Tools/Wine Files menu. Then navigate the wine/pokerstars folder, and double click the Pokerstars.exe file, to start the software. I've tried Dragging and dropping, copy/paste, and creating a custom launch on the desktop, with the Pokerstars.exe as the target.

None of this has worked.

Thanks all.
IGF

The problem is most likely due to a space in your file path. Most windows programs use "Program Files" as their installation directory, and wine will mirror that in it's structure. Try enclosing the path in quotation marks like this:

I personally got so fed up with working around this problem that I make sure now to install all my wine programs to a directory path without spaces.

Actually, it's a good idea to avoid spaces in all of your file paths on a unix-based system. Most experiences users substitute the underscore "_" instead.

Excellent suggestion, but unfortunately it didn't work. There are no spaces in my path name, either "one word" or underscores.

Anyone else with an idea?

Thanks
IGF

no thats wrong
try
wine /(complete-home_folder-path-here)/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/pokerstars/pokerstars.exe
or
wine "C:\Program Files\pokerstars\pokerstars.exe"

by the way, gambling = loooooooooooser

So can you start pokerstars from the comand line?
When you get that worked out it should work in the custom application launcher.
You say you have no spaces in the path, so presumably you know where pokerstars.exe is.
Mine are in somewhere in the .wine folder

Other than the wiseass comment at the end, thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it.

FWIW, I only play with "play money", and would never dream of playing real money games/tourneys.

Edit: Nevermind, this part was pretty petty, I'd just suggest before you start calling people "losers" learn to spell it.

IGF

I've not tried to start it from the command line(not exactly sure how to do that to be truthful). Yes, I do know where the pokerstars.exe is, as I navigate to it through the menu, I just can't make a shortcut on my desktop work.

None of the above suggestions worked...

Thanks for the suggestions, got a feeling this may not work.

IGF

Just to make sure we're all clear here:

Running from the command line is as easy as typing 'wine /path_to_program/program.exe' in a shell terminal. Once you get it working there, copy that line to the "command" space in your shortcut.

If a path has spaces or other reserved characters in it, you can either put quotes around the whole path, or use a backslash to escape the illegal characters. So:

wine "/Path to Program/program.exe" and

wine /Path\ to\ Program/program.exe

should both work. Don't forget that Linux is case-sensitive.

And since wine simulates Windows behavior, you can also use the

wine "C:\Path to Program\program.exe"

pattern as well.

Here's an idea. You say you can start the program from the applications menu. So why not look and see what the application menu shortcut is using? Just open up whatever menu editor your system uses and copy the properties for that entry into a new desktop shortcut.

Well, I can't really start it from the applications menu.

I go to Applications/System Tools/Wine File.. Which then opens up a "windows explorer" type window, and allows me to navigate to the pokerstars.exe file. Its not directly linked there, or I'm sure the 1st suggestion would work.

Regardless of the fact, your second suggestion worked like a charm, Thanks alot, that has drove me nuts.

For anyone else who may encounter this problem and comes across this in a search, this is how it was fixed (I've saw this problem on other forums as well, with no known solution). The part I quoted is what worked for me, make sure you use the quotes and make sure you type wine before the path.

Thanks again to all who helped...

IGF

congrats on getting it working, but I'm a bit puzzled still, I thought the quotes were only needed if there was a gap between 2 words in the path, (it's normally "Program Files", and I've done mine a bit differently, ie,
wine /home/mike/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files"/GrooveMechanic25c/GrooveMech.exe )

Which also works fine, so the quotes can also just be used where the gap is.
Could you post the actual line you're using please, it might help to clear up any confusion.

Mike

As you can see everybody makes mistakes (even you)

First, I never suggested I was immune to mistakes, I simply didn't appreciate being called a loser because I more or less enjoy a monopoly version of Poker.

I couldn't get the link to work w/o the quotes, and I have no spaces in my path(I removed them to try one of the other suggestions above).. Your way might work also, I really don't know.

Best wishes...

IGF

I didn't get linmix's reference to mistakes either

OK I'll try removing the gap in my path and see if it works without the quotes.
I'm still puzzled by this.

On a slightly different note, what are you doing about icons???
I got tired of multiple question marks.

I can't figure out how to extract them from the .exe file, so I've just taken a photo of them on my windows screen and added that image to /usr/share/pixmaps. It works but they're a bit fuzzy.

After I created the launcher and tested it, and realized that it worked, I right clicked the launcher, chose properties, then on the "Basic" tab.. Click the Pic that is there. When I did this, it opened up a "Select a custom Icon" window. It was directed at my home file, but on the left,there was a folder called "PixMaps" I double clicked it, and it listed quite a few pre-installed icons, etc. I ended up finding one that looked like a Poker chip, which worked like a charm...

Edit: For the person who asked me to post the line I used.. wine "C:\ProgramFiles\Pokerstars\Pokerstars.exe"

I cant explain why I had to have the quotes(no spaces obviously) but it didn't work when I tried it w/o quotes..

Hope that helps...

Thanks again

IGF

There's a set of cli utilities called icoutils that will extract and convert icons. You use wrestool to pull the icons from the .exe or .dll files, and icotool to extract and convert the .ico files to .png. They're pretty simple to use and the resulting images are perfect for use as shortcut icons.