Run .exe/.msi/.bat/.lnk files

An executable can be used to start or install a program in a bottle. In Bottles you can run these files in two ways:
from the GUI using the Run executable feature
using the CLI (this can be useful if you don't want to show Bottles GUI)
Launch from GUI
Let's go into the details of the bottle of our interest (read here how to create one if you don't have one).
Under the bottle name we find the Run executable button:
Bottle details - Run executable
Pressing it will open a window from which to select the executable of our interest, once selected it will be executed in the bottle.
Launch with arguments
Some applications require you to start with arguments. As you can see from the previous image, next to Run executable there is an arrow, by pressing it you can select the item Run with arguments. Once pressed, a screen will appear where you can enter our arguments:
Bottles details - Run executable with arguments
Once finished, we press on Run and select the executable to start it in the bottle.
Launch from CLI (supports .lnk)
To start an executable from the CLI, we can proceed in two ways.
Simply passing the path of the executable to the command to start Bottles, the GUI will appear asking which bottle to start it. It is also possible to tell Bottles from the preferences to close automatically after starting the executable.
The following statement is for the Unstable version of Bottles only and will be officially implemented in version 2021.7.28.
Otherwise you can avoid the GUI by specifying the parameters:
.EXE/.MSI/.BAT
.LNK
1
bottles -b bottle_name -e /full/executable/path
Copied!
parameter
hint
required
-b --bottle
the bottle name
✅
-e --executable
the executable full path (supports .exe/.msi/.bat)
✅
1
bottles -b bottle_name -l /full/lnk/path
Copied!
parameter
hint
required
-b --bottle
the bottle name
✅
-l --lnk
the lnk full path
✅
Note: use flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles instead of bottles for flatpak.
In this way the Bottles GUI will not be displayed, useful if we want to create custom Desktop Entry to start our favorite applications.

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Launch from GUI

Launch from CLI (supports .lnk)