.exe running on your Android device.
Before continuing, make sure Winlator is installed and the initial system image setup has finished. See Installation if you have not done that yet.
Launch Winlator and wait for setup
Open Winlator from your app drawer. If this is your first launch, wait for the Installing system files progress dialog to finish. This step extracts the internal Linux filesystem image used by Wine and only runs once.When the dialog closes, you will land on the Winlator home screen.
Create your first container
Containers are isolated Wine environments. Each container has its own Wine prefix, drive mappings, and settings.
- Tap the Containers tab at the bottom of the home screen.
- Tap the + (add) button.
- Give your container a name — for example,
My Games. - Leave all other settings at their defaults for now and tap Save.
Review the default container settings
The default settings are a good starting point for most Windows applications:
You can change any of these later in Container Settings without creating a new container.
| Setting | Default value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Screen size | 1280x720 | The resolution of the virtual Windows desktop |
| Graphics driver | turnip | Adreno Vulkan driver; best performance on Qualcomm devices |
| DX wrapper | dxvk | Translates Direct3D calls to Vulkan |
| Audio driver | alsa | ALSA audio output via Wine |
| Box64 preset | Compatibility | Balances compatibility and speed |
The
turnip graphics driver requires a Qualcomm Adreno GPU. If your device uses a Mali, Dimensity, or other GPU, you may need to switch to virgl or zink in the Graphics Driver setting.Run a Windows application
You can launch a Windows application in two ways:Option A — Browse for an .exe file
- Tap your container to open it.
- Tap Run and then browse to an
.exefile on your device storage. - Winlator starts the Wine environment, boots the virtual Windows desktop, and launches the executable.
- Open your container and tap Add Shortcut.
- Point it to the
.exefile. - Optionally configure per-shortcut settings such as a custom screen size or Box64 preset.
- The shortcut appears on the Winlator home screen for quick access.
First-run tips
If something does not work as expected on the first launch, the following adjustments solve the most common issues:Performance is poorOpen Container Settings > Advanced and change the Box64 preset from Low-resolution game does not fill the screenIn the shortcut settings, enable the Force Fullscreen option. This scales the virtual desktop to fit your display regardless of the game’s internal resolution.Unity Engine game crashes or has rendering artifactsTry changing the Box64 preset to
Compatibility to Performance. This trades some compatibility for significantly higher emulation throughput on most games.Application uses .NET Framework and crashes or shows missing-component errorsInstall Wine Mono from inside the running Windows environment: open the Start Menu > System Tools > Installers and run the Wine Mono installer.Older game fails to start or shows a black screenSome pre-2004 games require an older OpenGL extension set. Add the following environment variable in Container Settings > Environment Variables:Stability, or add the following exec argument in the shortcut settings:What’s next
Now that you have a container running, explore these areas to get more out of Winlator:Container settings
Configure screen resolution, graphics drivers, Wine components, and drive mappings.
Controls
Set up on-screen controls or map an external gamepad to keyboard and mouse input.
Box64 presets
Optimize Box64 presets and CPU affinity for better frame rates.
Wine components
Enable DirectX, Visual C++ runtimes, and other Windows components inside your container.