Chapter 6. Using CrossOver

Table of Contents

Running Windows applications
Running from the Finder
Running a Windows command
Stopping misbehaving programs

Running Windows applications

Running from the Finder

When you install Windows software, CrossOver will create 'Helper Applications' that correspond to the Windows Start Menu. Each helper application will launch CrossOver and start the associated Windows program.

The default location for the helper applications is in the Applications/CrossOver folder in your home account. You can customize the location via the Preferences Dialog.

This same set of menus is available in the CrossOver Programs Menu and the CrossOver Dock Menu.

Changes that you make to Applications/CrossOver folder will be reflected in these two places as well. You can restore all of these menus to their original state with the Configure->Clear and Rebuild Programs Menu menu.

Running a Windows command

The Run Command… menu provides a simple way to run a Windows command-line in CrossOver. This can be a useful way to run standard Wine tools such as regedit or notepad, and can also be used to run applications which fail to create icons or shortcuts.

This dialog provides several logging and debugging functions as well. These options may be useful if you talk to CodeWeavers tech support or if you are trying to make an unsupported application behave. To display these options, click on the Debug Options reveal control.

Open Shell.  This option will launch an interactive shell, preconfigured for use with the selected bottle. This may be useful for running text-only programs.

Enable CrashReporter for this run.  This option allows the Crash Reporter to be enabled for the specified command. You may wish to enable this option when working with an unsupported application. Also, CodeWeavers tech support may instruct you to turn it on in order to gather diagnostic information.

Create log file.  If this option is turned on, CrossOver will prompt you for the name and location of a log file before the command is run. This log file will contain a variety of debugging information about the run.

Turning on specific logging channels will determine what specific information is written to the log file. Many of these channels include a large volume of information, so generally they should be used singly or in pairs.