problems with vmware: which virtual machine is best?

[kdemeoz]

Using the original cd (dvd) is absolutely ok - the same approach works with it as well, just instead of mounting the iso, you insert the disc into the drive

Ah, ok, thanks. I've still not had time to actually give this a go yet, although i still think about it as i do "other stuff". I realised that there's a [possibly weird, possibly ok] peripheral question i also should ask about this whole concept of running Office in Wine.

Presumably / obviously, my Office 2010 suite simply cannot receive any of the historic nor prospective MS security patches this way, so i'd be running an unpatched 7+ yr old software, which doesn't sound very safe. Conversely, it'd be running in the Linux not Windows infrastructure, so presumably no putative MS-focused malware [eg, if i somehow picked up an infected docx or xlsx file etc] could actually do any damage, so i need not worry? 

Would you lean towards the 2nd not 1st risk interpretation?

[rocky7x]

Since running anything in wine is pretty much like running it in an isolated virtual machine, you don't have to worry about it. It cannot delete your disk, nor cause any damage. If it breaks your "Office 2010" prefix, you just delete the prefix directory and reinstall it again as if nothing happened. That is the beauty of running stuff under wine - I ran tons of suspicious stuff and not once had it caused any problems. You don't have to run an antivirus in a wine prefix Just don't save your files in the wine prefix Documents folder (the one that Windows would use), but use the Linux Documents folder. Also regarding word or excel macros, they are harmless under wine. Use the whole wine prefix as 1 application containing only Office and nothing else, no documents.

[kdemeoz]

Golly, this sounds quite marvellous, now i rather can't wait for a chance to try it.

Oh, i just had another left-field query strike me. What's the situation with needing to activate Office, else it stops working after x days, when it's in Wine... doable, or a PITA?

[rocky7x]

No idea if it's doable, I use an enterprise version of it. But it should be doable since it's just a registration via internet...

[AJSlye]

The easiest "idiot prof" way to install Office 2010 would be by using playonlinux:
https://www.playonlinux.com/en/

There is also the commercial CrossOver for Linux:
https://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover-linux


PS, you can always download the patches (updates) manually and install them in the same container if needed.

[kdemeoz]

Rocky

Earlier, you said:

Installing Office 2010 in wine 1.8 is very easy

I've just realised that the installed Wine in Maui 17.03 is v1.6.2 not 1.8. Can i correctly intuit then that you're actually advocating i not use this installed version, but would need to find & install v1.8 before embarking on your MS Office procedure?

Now, a tinfoil-hat question. Would you pls comment on this rather strident anti-Wine opinion? ... https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/wine

If indeed my personal files might be vulnerable via using Wine, i wonder if confining Wine for MS Office within the FireJail sandbox might be viable? I already like & use FireJail for a great many of my pgms anyway. So maybe this might work, once i'd performed your initial setup? ...

Code:

firejail wine program.exe

[wherein obviously i'd use the actual .exe filename for Word, Excel, PP respectively].

[kdemeoz]

The easiest "idiot prof" way to install Office 2010 would be by using playonlinux:
https://www.playonlinux.com/en/

Thanks AJ. In 2015 when i was still a Windows user beginning to educate myself about Linux, i was dual-booting Win7 & Mint 17.x KDE4. I extensively tested PoL for MS Office 2010, primarily for Outlook, but also for Word & Excel. All 3 pgms would run, BUT with huge qualifiers attached. 

Whilst i was able to get Outlook running [sp1 only; sp2 would never work in PoL], it was hideously unreliable -- it was very common that each morning when i wanted to launch Outlook from within PoL, i had to retry it half a dozen times before it would actually fully launch rather than crash during the launch phase. Even after Outlook was running, it was also common that it would randomly crash during ordinary use, often causing me to lose data i'd not yet saved. Ultimately i abandoned PoL when it culminated in a fatal crash that corrupted my actual Outlook PST file... i lost important data & was very upset. 

My experience of Word & Excel 2010 in PoL was slightly less bad, but similar misbehaviour still occurred for these, ie, multiple launch attempts needed, random crashes [with consequent data loss], & also several functions would not work. Furthermore when i tried contacting the PoL Dev i was met with outright hostility & insult. I don't now feel any strong desire to give PoL another chance...

There is also the commercial CrossOver for Linux:
https://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover-linux

In 2016 i seriously considered trying CO, but wary of my poor PoL experiences, i first contacted CO, with this reply:

From: Andrew Balfour [mailto:linux-support@crossover.codeweavers.com]

Sent: Tuesday, 16 February 2016 06:46
To: kdemeoz
Subject: Re: Is it possible for Outlook to receive MS security patches when installed in Linux

Hello,

On 2016-02-12 at 20:04, kdemeoz wrote:
> So, with that as background, here's my questions:
> 1. Would you assert that CrossOver should provide significantly more 
> reliability than PoL for running Outlook 2010?

Crossover and PoL are both based on the open-source Wine project, and all have the same capabilities and limitations. 

> 2. Will CrossOver really allow me to install sp2, not only sp1 like 
> PoL?

No, Outlook SP2 doesn't currently install in Crossover or Wine either.

The security updates typically apply to the Windows OS, and so they can't apply in Crossover as there's no Windows OS. On the other hand, because there's no Windows OS there's no need for the security patches.

While Outlook will install and run in Crossover/PoL/Wine as you've seen from PoL it's not as feature-rich or reliable as running it in a VM under the native Windows OS. If you're unhappy with the performance of Outlook in PoL I would recommend skipping Crossover & Wine and continuing to use your VM instead.

Thanks,
Andrew

[rocky7x]

Hi,

You should already be able to install wine 1.8 through Synaptic for example, since Maui provides the Ubuntu wine ppa, which contains wine 1.8. Just check the available version - it should be there.

As for that article, it's quite paranoid from my perspective and not entirely true But if you want to isolate wine from the rest of your linux files, it's quite easy, but removes some flexibility. Via winecfg you can remove the "drives" that point to your linux directories and remove the desktop integration completely, so the wine "Windows environment" will not "see" the linux stuff. Of course, if you are VERY paranoid, then indeed you can sandbox it, but from my perspective, it's an overkill.

[kdemeoz]

Hi again. Yes, that article certainly has a strong view, & to someone like me it's hard to know whether i should believe it or not. I also read these, which kinda offer views one way & the other:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/175336/i...buntu-safe
https://askubuntu.com/questions/49255/ri...-with-wine

I'm quite happy to be considered paranoid, so i'm thinking this might give me the best of possibilities:
1. Go the Wine route per your method.
2. Don't bother isolating Wine from my Linux personal files, as that would be quite inconvenient for my opening existing docs & saving new docs (i know how to work around this, but it's a PITA].
3. Do run my Excel, Word & Ppt in Wine in FJ, using the "--protocol=unix" option to stop internet access.

Given i would have no need for these pgms to access the net, & given they would be working exclusively with my own local docs, of my own creation, which i already know are safe, this seems a good method to me coz then Office 2010 will have convenient access to my docs but with zero chance of any nasty malware infections.

Looking fwd now to giving it a go soon. Many thanks again.

[kdemeoz]

Wine version contradiction:

Code:

GA-Z97-HD3:~$ wine --version
wine-1.6.2

...versus...

   

Confusing...