How to run Winbox (x64) on Linux

 How to run Winbox on Centos 8

About one week ago I moved from Windows 10 to Linux CentOS 8, it’s not my first try but, before I was not too observed and motivated and because, always was going back after few days. Now having change my mind and approach, because it’s not too painful work on Linux and configure it for my needs. Of course, it’s not like Windows, almost everything is different from software till configuration but so far everything is in order

One big thing on Linux is run software, what I used on Windows and it don’t have alternative on Linux. Of course, many software have their alternatives but there are many of them without it, they are just .exe files and how you know, Linux can’t run .exe files by default.

Because I have few Mikrotik routers, also use them in different projects, I need configure them. Of course I can use SSH for terminal configuration but, as usual I use Winbox for this job. Here is one trouble, Winbox is just in .exe file mode, it’s not configured for Linux package and can’t be run on it. For these case, here will help Wine for Linux. I searched and found many resources how to run Winbox on Linux but there was some incomplete information. I will write now, how I resolve my problem. Please note that, I run and work on CentOS 8, it’s slightly different from Debian based systems – Ubuntu, Mint or others. Also I can’t verify this method will work on other RPM based systems like Fedora, Redhat or others. Also please, first time read this post, analyze it and then try it on your system.

My system:

OS – Linux CentOS 8

Kernel – 4.18.0-193.14.2.el8_2.x86_64

Wine – wine-4.0.4

Winbox – 3.27, 64 bit

One another thing about post syntax, if you are not too much familiar with Linux commands.

$ command – you don’t need use “$” sign in command, just text after “$” sign

// comment – between "//” signs I wrote comment about command, so comment is between “//” signs.

First time, I downloaded and installed Wine.

Open your terminal and write command.

$ sudo dnf update

// update system and repositories //

$ sudo dnf install wine

// install Wine //

Then downloaded Winbox64 from here – https://mikrotik.com/download an choose from Winbox download link 64 bit version. Of course I could download it with wget but there was some trouble, when I copied link and make download, file was without extension and I have not been able to change it yet, if I will found solution, will update here or make another post for it. Also here is another case, when I download with wget with links, what was in other resources, there was downloaded 32 bit version software and wine, what I installed already won’t run it, because it need 32 bit version support.

OK, then I moved Winbox64.exe in folder which Wine use for run .exe files, also changed file name from Winbox64.exe to Winbox.exe. My file was downloaded on Desktop and command in my case was something like this

$ mv ~/Desktop/winbox64.exe ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/winbox.exe

// move file from one folder to another and the same time, change it’s name //

Run Winbox with Wine from terminal.

$ wine winbox

// run winbox with wine //

That’s it, I can now use Winbox on my CentOS 8 and configure my Mikrotik devices with it.

I will glad to hear if I help you with my little post, comments and notes are welcome.