LINE

What works

Most functionalities work, including, but not limited to:

Login and sync with mobile device

Messaging

• Receiving messages
• Sending messages
• Sending files
• Downloading files
• Sending photos
• Downloading photos in original and compressed

Stickers

• Receiving stickers
• Sending stickers
• Downloading stickers

Notifications

• Pop-up notification
• Notification sounds

Settings

• All settings works, font, theme, changing account information, etc.
• Auto Update

Sound and Sound Effects

• Notification
• Chat videos
• Calling
• Video calling
• LINE Meet

Video

• Chat videos
• Video calling
• LINE Meet

Friend and Group Management

• Adding friends, turning notification on/off, blocking/unblocking
• Creating, joining, and leaving groups

LINE Openchats

What does not

Emojis - I speculate that it depends on the font used 

Video Calling - Webcam (your webcam cannot be turned on, but you can still see others' video)

Workarounds

LINE no longer supports Windows 7 and Windows 8. Make sure to launch with Windows 10 prefix. Though, LINE Legacy version still supports Windows 7 and 8, maintaining the legacy version of the program is out-of-scope of this project. Furthermore, LINE will drop support for WIN32 in the close future, so, I recommend you to use WIN64 architecture.

Base Requirement

• Windows 10 and above
• Set winecfg screen resolution to 120 dpi.
• d3dx11
• vcrun2022

Encryption - requires lib32-gnutls and the dll: crypt32

Video Calling & LINE Meet

• Rendering video - requires the dll: d3dx11_43,.
• Webcam - Likely not possible due to wine lack of support of USB devices. I have tried redirecting USB camera stream to virtual camera using ffmpeg with v4l2loopback but, sadly, to no avail.

Audio device - requires lib32-libpulse (if not installed) ,and mf. Do not install xact!

What was not tested

Buying stickers

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU: AMD
• Driver: open source

Additional Comments

LINE installs, runs, and integrates with the desktop well without requiring tinkering. The basic functionality of messaging, stickers, notifications works well out of the box.

Calling and video calling will require a little extra effort, though, sharing your camera may not be possible.

1. Install packages on your system

   wine winetricks lib32-pipewire lib32-libpulse lib32-gnutls samba

   If you need Chinese, Japanese, Korean character support:

   noto-fonts-cjk

   If you need Thai character support:

   noto-fonts

2. Setup wineprefix

   winetricks arch=64 prefix=LINE win10 sound=pulse && winetricks prefix=LINE d3dx11_43 vcrun2022 crypt32

   During installation, vcrun may prompt signature mismatch. To proceed, you have to accept the risk.

   WINEPREFIX=~/.local/share/wineprefixes/LINE WINEARCH=win64 winecfg

   Go to Graphics and set the screen resolution to 120 dpi.
   

3. Download & Install LINE

   curl -o ~/Downloads/LineInst.exe https://desktop.line-scdn.net/win/new/LineInst.exe && WINEPREFIX=~/.local/share/wineprefixes/LINE wine ~/Downloads/LineInst.exe 

   Once, the installation is completed, LINE should automatically start. Login into LINE for PC, click on three dots on the bottom left corner, select Settings. Then, select Calls to automatically install LINE Call. 

   Now, a desktop entry should be automatically added to your system.

We hope this guide helps you. If you would like to, cast a vote for this application entry. Enjoy!

1. Wine prefix setup
   • Use 64-bit version of Wine (WINEARCH=win64) (Recommended - See Note)
   • Edit winecfg
     • Use Windows 10 or 11 (Tested on WIN10) - See Note
     • Use winepulse audio driver (other drivers may work but were not tested)
     • Increase screen resolution to 120 or above for secondary windows to be drawn correctly and not crash.
   • Install these dlls:
     • crypt32: for encryption support
     • d3dx11_43: required
     • mf: for sound support
     • vcrun2022: required to change settings; using other version of vcrun might be possible, but vcrun2022 has the most coverage albeit bloated. It is possible to make it lighter, if you find specific versions that work, please submit a test report.
2. Install these packages on your Linux system:
   • For encryption support: lib32-gnutls (optional)
   • For audio support:
     • If your system uses pulseaudio: lib32-libpulse
     • If your system uses pipewire: lib32-pipewire, lib32-libpulse
     • For other drivers, please refer to wine sound configuration on ArchWiki.
   • Font of your choice for styling and language support (optional). These are some examples:
     • Chinese, Korean and Japanese: noto-fonts-cjk
     • Thai: noto-fonts
   • For secure authentication (NTLM) support: samba (optional)
   • Some quick copy & paste for Arch users:

     sudo pacman -Syu --needed wine winetricks lib32-pipewire lib32-libpulse lib32-gnutls samba
     sudo pacman -Syu --needed noto-fonts-cjk
     sudo pacman -Syu --needed noto-fonts

3. Download and run the installer using Wine.
4. Login into your LINE account. Wait for the data to sync. This can take some time.
5. If you want to use call functionality. Browse to settings and select Call. The download will automatically start.
6. Desktop entry should be added correctly by the installer, if not:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications/wine/

echo '[Desktop Entry]                                                 
Name=LINE
Exec=env WINEPREFIX="~/.local/share/wineprefixes/LINE" WINEARCH=win64 wine C:\\\\users\\\\psira\\\\AppData\\\\Roaming\\\\Microsoft\\\\Windows\\\\Start\\ Menu\\\\LINE.lnk
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Path=~/.local/share/wineprefixes/LINE/dosdevices/c:/users/psira/AppData/Local/LINE/bin
Icon=6349_LineLauncher.0
StartupWMClass=linelauncher.exe
' > ~/.local/share/applications/wine/LINE.desktop

Replace 'psira' with your user name.

We recommend using winetricks to manage your wineprefix. It helps installing required dlls more convenient.

Currently, LINE only supports Windows 10 and above. Though, LINE legacy version supports Windows 7 and 8, this is out-of-scope for this project.

LINE Support for 32-bit Windows has ended as of July 24, 2024. You will not be able to update LINE on 32-bit Windows, but you can still continue using the supported versions of LINE. Thus, we recommend using 64-bit architecture with Wine.

You cannot create accounts on LINE for Windows. This is an intended feature. Logging in to LINE for Windows also requires you accessing LINE on your smartphone.

Do not install xact. Otherwise, LINE will not be able to detect your audio devices.