Metatrader 4 and Mq4 using Wine with Linux Ubuntu
With the profound changes that mobile computing has brought to the table in recent years, a fact has remained relatively constant for the better part of a decade. Linux-based computers, and specifically the Linux desktop, still included only 2% of all computers in the world. If you are a Linux fan, then you have to accept that you are almost on an island when it comes to support for Metatrader 4, (Mt4 for short) from your broker and / or other MT4 software developers. However, the wonderful thing about being a Linux user is that other Linux users and the Linux user community as a whole are fantastic when it comes to helping each other. So even though you won’t get support from your broker or Mt4, other MT4 Linux users will probably be happy to help.
Many times this is due to necessity. When there is no technical support for your particular platform, your best bet is to share your knowledge with the Linux community to resolve an issue. By helping others, you also help yourself and the entire community benefits, bugs are reported to developers, and software improvements are made. After all, Linux is free and it was the inspiration for many other open source software that we all love today with Google’s Android operating system and WordPress among the most notable.
In addition to the minimal direct support that you will find from your broker and developers, there are other challenges that can arise with using Metatrader 4 on Linux. The biggest challenge is that there is simply no guarantee that MT 4 will work 100% of the time. I have used Mt 4 on other versions of Linux for several years. Puppy Linux and Ubuntu Linux worked very well. Many other versions of Linux just crashed miserably. Personally, I opted to try various versions of Linux until I found one that worked.
To run a native Windows application like Metatrader 4, the most cost-effective way is to use an open source application called Wine. Now while I know there are commercial alternatives that you can use, that is beyond the scope of this article. Also, Wine is a Windows emulator that is available and included with almost all major versions of Linux. A few months ago, after upgrading to Ubuntu version 12.04, I tried to run Metatrader with the latest version of Wine, version 1.4. It was a fairly simple process and there was very little that needed to be installed or modified..
- Make sure Wine is installed on your Linux machine. We have a Linux terminal, just type wine –version to be safe.
- Open the file manager on Linux and go to the mounted drive where your Windows files are and where the Metatrader folder is located. Usually: c: Metatrader Program Files otherwise it is c: Program Files The name of your broker, ie. FXDD, Alpari
- Point and right click on the file named ‘terminal.exe’
- Select ‘Open with Wine Windows Program Loader’
Usually there is a delay before Metatrader opens. It won’t open right away like it does on a Windows machine. You must remember that there are many resources that are used to emulate. A lightweight program like Metatrader becomes much heavier outside of its native environment.
If Metatrader opens on your Linux machine, then you are in luck. You have accomplished something that many have not. However, if you are unlucky in the process, you may want to try a few other things.
First check the version of Wine you are using. Open a terminal on Linux and enter the command: wine –version
Mine shows version 1.4 of Wine In previous versions of Wine, I had trouble getting Metatrader to work. When Wine 1.3 didn’t work for me. I searched the Wine repository, uninstalled Wine 1.3, and installed Wine version 1.2 instead. It worked fine, the downgrade did not affect the functionality of Metatrader 4 at all, and I was able to run other Windows applications such as Quicken and Options trading software.
See the WineHQ website. Users will give feedback on what works and what doesn’t
You should almost have the mindset that running applications like Metatrader on Linux is in its beta phase. There are glitches that happen from time to time, it just comes with the benefits of not having to use Windows just to run Metatrader. I have had Metatrader turned on for days on my Linux computer, with no crashes or shutdowns. You could monitor trades, update and modify charts, and run Expert Advisors. So I can tell you that there have been great improvements in recent years. 7-8 years ago when I started using Metatrader, using it on Linux was an impossible dream. With the focus on mobile computing and cross-platform computing, my hope is that developers will move towards a Metatrader web port, so that Linux users don’t have to wait and wish for a wonderful application like Metatrader features.