I'm in a bit of a bind because my university is requiring me to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for my coursework. They provide these applications via a USB drive with an 'adobe autoplay.exe' setup to install them for free. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on my laptop, and when I tried to run it with Wine, it just opened the installation window but wouldn't actually install anything. I'm wondering if I should consider dual-booting Windows or maybe setting up a virtual machine instead. Any advice on how to get these Adobe products up and running?
5 Answers
Just to reiterate, Adobe products don’t function well on Linux. Your main workarounds are either a VM setup, a dual boot, or using a tool like Winboat.
If you're not keen on dual booting, a virtual machine might work for you. What kind of system are you using? I’d suggest using VirtualBox to run Windows.
If your university is making you use Adobe, a dual boot into Windows is probably your most reliable option. Just out of curiosity, what are you studying that needs Photoshop and Illustrator?
Adobe products don't really work on Linux. Some people have tried using other methods like Wine, but it's usually not a smooth experience. The best bet is to set up a dual boot with Windows if your school requires these programs.
Just to clarify, Winboat isn't Wine—it's a separate virtual machine tech. It has its drawbacks, like latency and lack of GPU acceleration, but some users find it okay for running Adobe.
You could also go with dedicated hardware instead of a VM for Adobe. That way, you get better performance and GPU acceleration. Just keep in mind it may cost you a bit. Alternatively, if you can handle not having GPU acceleration, a VM will still work for the basic tasks.
I'm on a Lenovo Ideapad 3 with an Intel i5, 500GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM, running Linux Mint Cinnamon.