I am new to WINE, and Unix-based systems in General. I have up until recently been using Windows XP Home, but after installing Spore, SecuROM was also installed onto Ring 0 of the Kernel and has pretty much fried my computer. Apparently, because of where it installed itself, it interfered with other programs and now I can't get anything to work right. So I switched to Ubuntu 8.10 for 64-bit desktops, fully updated. And I must say I am liking it more than windows.
On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 1:05 AM, Elliander <wineforum-user at winehq.org> wrote:> I am new to WINE, and Unix-based systems in General. I have up until recently been using Windows XP Home, but after installing Spore, SecuROM was also installed onto Ring 0 of the Kernel and has pretty much fried my computer. Apparently, because of where it installed itself, it interfered with other programs and now I can't get anything to work right. > > So I switched to Ubuntu 8.10 for 64-bit desktops, fully updated. And I must say I am liking it more than windows. > > From what I understand, Ubuntu doesn't have a Registry, But WINE makes a kind of Registry to run windows programs, right?Yes.> So here is my concern. If I install a windows program that happens to include SecuROM, where will SecuROM go? Will I get the same kind of system instability in Ubuntu as I did in windows?It will install in your WINEPREFIX (by default ~/.wine). Unless you run as root, it shouldn't interfere with anything else. To be safe, you might run Spore in its own prefix so that it doesn't hurt other programs.> I read the FAQ, and the list of WINE Apps, but I couldn't find any information about it beyond that it appears to run Spore and SecuROM. > > After my last experience with SecuROM on windows (and current lawsuit with EA) I want to make sure and understand what difference exist, if any, in the way SecuROM will be allowed to run. > > For example, in windows, SecuROM has higher rights than me. Will SecuROM take administrative control in Ubuntu too?Not unless you run as root. -- -Austin
Thanks for your quick reply. Ok, so how do I know if I run it as root? I am not very familiar with the layout in Ubuntu yet. The way I installed WINE was through System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager And the rest was automatic. When I view Applications > Wine I see it says a C: Drive. I assume it simulates the C: structure in it's own file then. So if it's not root, it won't interact with programs outside of WINE? But even if it isn't root, if I assume that if WINE recreates the Windows Registry and installs in the same way, then any program that SecuROM might interfere with in Windows might also interfere with the same other programs running under WINE? As far as being safe goes, what it a prefix, and how do I set that up? I want to make sure that if I run any potentially dangerous program it won't interfere with any other program I may want WINE to run. On a similar topic to ask, I wonder. Would WINE enable a Malicious program, such as a Virus, written for Windows, affect Ubuntu? And if so, what would keep it from affect the file structure outside of the WINE C: Drive?
Thanks for all the info. My main concern about SecuROM isn't so much when it runs. I know the program in and of itself doesn't run at all times. But my concern is the way it affects programs because of where it is located in the registry. So if I understand correctly, using another prefix would be like a separate WINE registry, totally isolated from another WINE registry? I would also like to know if there is a way to see the WINE registry and make edits to it. The biggest problem with SecuROM is that there is no way to remove it (under windows) and would be helpful to know how the WINE registry is viewed and edited if needed. And if there is a way to view a list of active WINE processes.
Thanks so much :D This really helps allot! Now I have another question... is there a way to import registry keys to the Wine registry using .reg files? I tried opening .reg files and I tried going into $ wine regedit and going to import, but nothing got imported. Basically, I have a very long list of old arcade games on another computer that would take me literally hours to reinstall each one manually and I was hoping to cut corners by exporting the registry entries, copying the files, and then just placing those registry entries in all at once.
Elliander wrote:> Thanks so much :D This really helps allot! > > Now I have another question... is there a way to import registry keys to the Wine registry using .reg files?Code: wine regedit file.reg The only gotcha - those .reg files have to be in ascii (not unicode) format (NT4.0+ format).