Chapter 6. Using the Bottle Manager

Table of Contents

Managing Bottles
Bottle Windows versions
Bottle modes
The Applications tab
The Control Panel tab
The Advanced tab

the Bottle Manager is the main tool for configuring CrossOver. It can be run from the CrossOver menu by selecting the Configuration option, or it can be run from the command-line like this:

$ ~/cxoffice/bin/cxsetup

Managing Bottles

A bottle is a virtual windows environment. Each bottle contains a unique C drive and all its standard sub directories: Windows, Program Files, etc. A bottle also contains a complete Windows registry, a full set of most CrossOver settings, and one or more Windows applications.

CrossOver Linux Professional allows you to maintain multiple bottles in one CrossOver installation. This is like having several different Windows machines operating together on your single Linux computer. This is useful anytime you want to install multiple applications yet prevent them from interacting or damaging one another. For example: Typically the Internet Explorer 6.0 installer upgrades any existing Internet Explorer 5.0 installation. Using bottles it is possible to install Internet Explorer 6.0 into a new, empty bottle, while leaving an existing install of Internet Explorer 5.0 intact and untouched.

Multiple bottles are also useful anytime a particular application requires special system settings that are otherwise undesirable. It is also possible to maintain bottles that emulate different Windows versions. For example, Microsoft Office 2003 only works on Windows versions 2000 or later, whereas Microsoft Office 97 runs best in a bottle that emulates Windows 98.

[Important]

Parts of this manual that specifically relate to multiple-bottle installations are marked with a bottle icon, like this.

The Bottle Manager allows you to create, delete, and modify the bottles in your CrossOver install. For the most part, the CrossOver Software Installer will take care of creating appropriate bottles, but this dialog provides more direct control.

Add This button creates a new bottle. You will have an opportunity to choose which Windows mode the bottle will emulate.

Remove This button will delete the selected bottle. This will remove all applications, settings, and documents that are inside this bottle's directory.

Add Duplicate..  This button allows you to create a duplicate of an existing bottle. The duplicate will contain the same applications and settings as the original.

Add From Archive..  This button will allow you to choose and restore a bottle archive created with the Archive button. The restored bottle will be replaced in your bottle list, and the files copied into your bottle directory.

Bottle Windows versions

Most bottle settings can be adjusted once a bottle is created. The Windows version of a bottle, however, must be chosen when the bottle is created.

The CrossOver Software Installer will set the Windows version appropriately when creating a new bottle. If you are creating a bottle by hand you must specify a Windows version.

Most supported applications run best in a bottle of type 'win98'. A few applications (Office 2003 and iTunes in particular) require a newer operating system to run, and must be installed into a 'win2000' or 'winXP' bottle. When installing unsupported applications, it may be worthwhile to test them in both a win98 and a win2000 bottle to determine which works the best. For purposes of compatibility, winXP and win2000 are generally equivalent.

Bottle modes

CrossOver Linux Professional supports bottles of two types: managed and private. A given installation of CrossOver may make use of both bottle types at once.

Private bottles.  A private bottle is used by a single user, and is generally placed in that user's home account. Applications installed in a private bottle are unavailable for use by other users on a system. Bottles are created in private mode by default if you have chosen to run CrossOver in private multi-user mode.

Managed bottles.  Managed bottles are created within the CrossOver subdirectory, and can be used by all the users on a system. Applications installed in a managed bottle can be run by any user, and each user is able to configure and customize existing applications.

Managed bottles save space and time by requiring only a single installation of each Windows application. However, some applications (those not properly designed for multi-user use) may perform erratically.

When a user accesses a managed bottle, a 'stub bottle' will be created in their home account. Stub bottles contain a user's custom alterations to the bottle, and contain symlinks that refer to most large files and directories in the managed bottle. A stub bottles have the same name as the managed bottle to which it refers.

[Tip]

Managed bottles are created using the Publish button.