Launch and run Windows software and play Windows games on your Mac. View a list of the built-in software, choose tools you need to install and drag their EXE or MSI files to the Dock icon. This Windows emulator is based on the open-source Wine app and redirects connections between Windows and default software to your macOS system.
WinOnX is a very interesting emulation application. It allows you to run Windows programs on your Mac. There are many ways in which you can do this, like virtualization or by booting your Mac into BootCamp. WinOnX has one clear advantage over those options. You don't have to do anything for it to work. You don't have to install or own Windows, and you don't have to make any changes to your Mac.
WinOnX is based on Wine, a very popular project that lets Mac users enjoy Windows apps. Wine is free, but WinOnX is a commercial app. It is not very expensive, though. Currently it costs $4.99 on the Mac App Store.
When you run WinOnX, you will see a list of programs that come with the app. You can also drag .EXE or .MSI files to the Dock icon to install them. Any .EXE file should work. The developers say that at this time, full-screen apps (like games) have limited support.
In my testing, I installed Firefox on WinOnX. The process was really simple. I dragged the .EXE installation file and then I saw the installation wizard pop-up on my screen. I clicked on "next" a couple of times, and that was that. Then I could launch Firefox from WinOnX, and it worked like a charm. It even played an embedded video on Firefox's website out-of-the-box.
In conclusion, I can't say for sure that all your Windows apps will work with WinOnX. Some probably won't. The one that I tried worked fine and I am keeping this app installed on my Mac just in case.
v1.5 [Feb 20, 2013]
- Fixed compatibility bugs related to OS-X 10.7.5 and 10.8.2
- Fixed a bug which caused problems during secure authentication
- Updated to Wine 1.4.1
New In Version 1.4:
With WinOnX 1.4, you can now install as many Virtual Machines (VM) as you like. This has the following advantages:
- You can install programs completely separate from each other.
- Programs can be launched with different system settings.
- Instead of deinstalling programs, you can just delete the appropriate VM.
Furthermore, a lot of bugs especially related to keyboard entries and the installation process of new programs were fixed.
New In Version 1.3:
- Added "File" menu for native OSX support to create multiple windows and open files
- Update to 'Wine 1.4'
- Improved 'Support Center'
- Several bug fixes
New In Version 1.2:
- WinOnX Support Center for automatic problem analysis
- Programs are started with a double click of the mouse
- Several languages are supported within the program
- Better support for multiple printers
- Improvement of full-screen view
- Crashes are kept under better surveillance
- Log files for every program
- Many minor bug fixes
