Run Windows application on Linux server

S Abijith 346 Reputation points
2021-03-05T09:00:41.05+00:00

Hi All,
We have a Winforms application with a very minimum UI. We are currently using .Net Framework 4.5. We need to run this application on a Linux machine. We are currently considering migrating the .Net Framework to .Net Core.

Please let us know if there any other better approach to achieve this task or if we can continue with .Net Core.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!!

Windows Forms
Windows Forms
A set of .NET Framework managed libraries for developing graphical user interfaces.
1,820 questions
.NET Runtime
.NET Runtime
.NET: Microsoft Technologies based on the .NET software framework.Runtime: An environment required to run apps that aren't compiled to machine language.
1,117 questions
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3 answers

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  1. Cheong00 3,471 Reputation points
    2021-03-05T09:13:12.147+00:00

    .NET 5 introduce limited support for WinForm, so you may give it a try.

    You're strongly advised to review what is not supported and replace them with alternatives before start conversion.

    1 person found this answer helpful.

  2. Alejandro Castrejon 6 Reputation points
    2021-03-16T19:06:31.097+00:00

    Why don't install Mono runtime on linux to run your .net winforms application ?

    I did it to run a winform application on raspberry (Debian)

    1 person found this answer helpful.

  3. Roflush 11 Reputation points
    2021-03-20T11:02:16.87+00:00

    If you are running an app in Linux it will be fine .net framework is cross-comp is great for running them.
    You just have to download Mono or the .net run time to run apps. (WPF apps use Microsoft's DX to render the app, so you can't use that app on Linux or Mac)

    Developing them however is a wildly hard idea. Winforms is sadly outdated, while MS is trying to update it, the legacy code really bad. You should look into migrating to
    Avalonia UI. It's an Open Source, Cross-platform UI library like WinForms (that is an understatement). If you want to stay on WinForms however Mono supports in runtime and SDK. proof of concept for WinForms running in Linux using Mono

    Really Avalonia replaces both WPF and WinForms.

    1 person found this answer helpful.