Bottles 67.6 on Linux: Windows Apps Work Well, Games Struggle in Small Test

What Bottles is, and why Windows users should care​

Bottles is a free, open-source Linux app that runs Windows software through Wine. Linuxiac describes it as a tool for running Windows software and games on Linux using Wine. It gives you a graphical interface for creating isolated "bottles". Each one is a self-contained Windows-style environment with its own settings and dependencies.

If you're a Windows admin or power user, there are two reasons to care:

• Migration planning. Some people leave Windows but still need one legacy tool, such as an editor or an image program.
• Dual-boot and side-by-side setups. Some people just want to know whether Linux can cover their app list without a reboot.

The release chronology: 67.5 and 67.6​

The test author, Nimrah Chaudhry of How-To Geek, tried Bottles on Ubuntu 26.04 after hearing about the latest improvements. The official GitHub release notes show what actually changed.

Version 67.5 (October 27) was mostly a fix release. According to the release notes, it covered:

• Template downloads and the component-catalog fallback, including access to installed components when offline.
• Dependency installers with the Z: drive disabled, font installation, and reporting of installer failures.
• Importing the prefix architecture, and preserving user files when restoring a bottle on another account.
• Desktop shortcuts, drag-and-drop of executables, bottle ordering and component-removal controls.
• UMU controller access and retrying failed game searches.
• The bottle's Wayland setting for Proton launches.

It also added optional Eagle tracing and native analysis for compatible Soda runners. Version 67.6 followed with optional UMU controls, support for launch wrappers and download status in the library.

Version 67.6 (November 4) added the following:

• Moving bottles between directories, plus a destination picker when duplicating bottles.
• Per-bottle notes and library sorting by bottle name.
• Default, Application and System DPI scaling modes in Advanced Display Settings.
• A playtime reset button, and warnings for missing program files without removing shortcuts.

Its fixes include:

• Interrupted downloads on slow connections, with a longer read timeout and bounded retries.
• Startup delays, repeated Battle.net launches, and saving imported bottles on external drives.
• Windows XP selection on 64-bit bottles, and switching between Fsync and NTSync.
• Restoring the Windows version after dependency installation, dependency progress, and multiple uninstallers.
• Wine server shutdown, plus an installer option to stop completed sessions.

LinuxCompatible calls 67.6 an incremental point release that builds directly on 67.5. That fits the notes. Most items are management conveniences and targeted bug fixes, not broad compatibility breakthroughs.

How the test went​

The tester installed Bottles as a Flatpak and used the Soda runner. She made Application bottles for Notepad++ and Paint.NET, and Games bottles for the games.

Applications: a good showing​

• Notepad++ installed and opened without major problems. Find and Replace, language modes and multiple tabs all worked. A 100-line macro froze the editor for a few seconds, but it finished.
• Paint.NET installed in its own bottle and worked well. The write-up gives no specific tasks or measurements.

Games: a rougher ride​

• Plants vs. Zombies launched but loaded slowly and played painfully slowly. It then wouldn't close normally. Ubuntu became unresponsive and the tester had to force a restart.
• Purble Place launched with no lag and its mini-games were playable. Menu text was blurry and distorted, though, and some confirmation prompts showed blanks or placeholder text. Extra fonts and scaling changes didn't help. The other programs displayed text correctly.
• HoloCure: Save the Fans wouldn't install, either in a regular Games bottle or in a UMU setup.

How much weight these results can bear​

This is one person's experience with four or five programs. It isn't a benchmark or a compatibility survey. Several limits apply:

• Missing details. The report doesn't give hardware, graphics drivers, exact application builds, installer sources or error messages.
• No before-and-after. Nothing shows that 67.5 or 67.6 changed any of these outcomes. The tester's previous attempt was years ago, and she doesn't remember the details.
• Unknown causes. The report can't say whether the Purble Place text problem came from the game, the runner, fonts or the setup. The author says as much. The freeze during Plants vs. Zombies is also unexplained, so it isn't evidence that Bottles destabilizes Ubuntu in general.
• A confounding variable. The tests used Soda, and the 67.6 notes say it updated the experimental Soda catalogs. The report doesn't say which Soda build was used.

The takeaway is a distinction between launching and working. A program that opens isn't necessarily one you can use. In this sample, productivity software fared better than games. That matches the common pattern with Wine-based tools, which is general industry knowledge and not a finding from this test.

Setting it up yourself​

The tester's Flatpak route on Ubuntu 26.04 is below. The source printed the commands run together, so enter them one at a time:

1. sudo apt install flatpak
2. flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub [url]https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo[/url]
3. sudo flatpak update --appstream
4. flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles
5. flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles

Then create one bottle per application. Choose the Application type for software and the Games type for games. Keeping them separate stops one program's dependencies from disturbing another's. If an app misbehaves, try a different runner before blaming the program. The tester noted that results depend on hardware, Wine runner and the software itself.

Verdict​

Bottles 67.6 is a sensible housekeeping update. It adds bottle moves, notes, sorting, DPI modes and a long list of fixes. The one hands-on report is encouraging for everyday Windows apps and discouraging for the games it tried. If you need one specific Windows application on Linux, it's worth an afternoon. Test your own app, and don't plan a migration around four data points.