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Does Blizzard allow you to run World of Warcraft in Linux?

One of the first questions you may have is, “Does Blizzard allow me to run World of Warcraft in Linux?”. The Terms of Use/Service of World of Warcraft do clearly state that you are not allowed to modify any of the core game files. With that being said, I myself actually contacted Blizzard with this very question. They told me that, while they don’t provide any support for Linux if you run into problems, they in fact have a lot of players that opt to play while using Linux, and that they do in fact allow this practice.

Step 1: Installing WINE

First off, the acronym WINE is sort of a misnomer. WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator, and WINE is not an emulator, kind of. I say kind of because what WINE does is enables you to run Windows programs, including many Windows games, in Linux, which is the same thing an emulator does. However, unlike an emulator, WINE does not use any copyrighted Windows source code to do so, which makes it not an emulator, and also makes it legal to use it.

Now, to get World of Warcraft running in Linux, the first thing you are going to need to do is install WINE. To do so, start up your terminal prompt, and type the following:

$ sudo su

[enter the password you use to log into Ubuntu]

$ apt-get install wine msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree

[if prompted, hit “Y” and then “Enter” to verify installation]

You have now installed WINE. On to the next step. Keep the terminal open, as it will be needed in future steps.

Step 2: Configure 3d Drivers to Work with World of Warcraft

The next step is to make sure your video card is set up properly. In the terminal, type:

$ glxinfo | grep rendering

It should then return with the following:

“Yes”

If it says “no” then you will need to install the correct drivers. The steps to install these drivers will not be covered in this tutorial, however, if you use ATI or nVidia, the process is pretty simple, and you should be able to find instructions on Linux help sites, or the manufacturer sites for those.

Step 3: Installing World of Warcraft

The next step is going to be to install World of Warcraft. You should be able to simply insert the CD media that you purchased, and run the program, just as you would in Windows. If you no longer have the CD media, you can download World of Warcraft directly from the World of Warcraft website, which is:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/downloads/files/pc/wowclient-downloader.exe

Simply follow the on screen prompts, just as you would in Windows. Congratulations, you have now installed World of Warcraft. Don’t get excited yet though, we are not done. Before you can run World of Warcraft, there is one more step.

Step 5: Configuring World of Warcraft to work in Linux

The final step we need to do is to configure World of Warcraft to work in Linux. This is pretty simple actually. In the terminal type:

$ gedit ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/World of Warcraft/wtf/Config.wtf

This may vary if you changed the installation directory of World of Warcraft. This will open up a new window with the Config.wtf file. At the end of the Config.wtf file, add the following:

SET gxApi “opengl”

SET ffxDeath “0”

SET ffxGlow “0”

SET SoundOutputSystem “1”

SET SoundBufferSize “150”

After adding these lines, save the file. If the Config.wtf file did not exist, simply run World of Warcraft once, and quit immediately. Try again, and the file should be there. There is no need to add registry keys or values, as WINE does not require this.

Congratulations, you are finished

Congratulations is in order, as you have now successfully set up World of Warcraft to work in Linux. Easy, wasn’t it? You should now be able to run World of Warcraft, log in, and play.