Member Avatar for Kamex

I have been trying to play DVDs in Linux for a while. I heard that DVD support was disabled because of legal issues, and that there was no legal solution for Linux, so if I wanted to play DVDs, I should use Windows. I have been doing just that, but would much rather play them in Linux.

I have thus been trying to get DVDs to work with WINE. Videos were already playing in Windows Media player with good video and sound quality, and I had a DVD program for Windows that would play DVDs. So I gave it a shot. The program appears to be functioning correctly, but there's no way to test it because it, and other WINE programs, are unable to detect my CD drive.

Looking on Google ("wine" generates a rather large number of irrelevant results), I found that older versions of WINE had a config file where you could specify each drive, but that it was removed in older versions.

So what do I do? I'd say there's a good 80% chance this would work if it weren't for the CDs, and it would be really nice if I didn't have to boot to Windows everytime I wanted to watch a DVD. Can someone please help?

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Practical, hands‑on troubleshooting and quick fixes for a Windows DVD player that won’t see an optical drive under WINE. Builds on ’s report and the pointers from and , and focuses on device mapping, permissions, and common incompatibilities that cause crashes.

Start by verifying the device node and mountpoint, confirm group membership, then create a Wine drive mapping (map to the mountpoint if the player expects files, or to the raw device if it talks to the drive). Example checks and commands:

# view device nodes and mountpoint
ls -l /dev/sr* /dev/cdrom
mount | grep -i cdrom

# confirm current user groups
id

# add user to cdrom group (replace if system uses 'optical')
sudo usermod -aG cdrom $(whoami)

# create a Wine drive mapping (map to mountpoint or raw device)
ln -s /media/cdrom ~/.wine/dosdevices/d:
# or
ln -s /dev/sr0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/d:

# run the Windows player from a terminal to capture errors
wine /path/to/player.exe 2>&1 | tee ~/wine-dvd.log

If the DVD app still crashes, likely causes are missing Windows runtime components, the program expecting low‑level CD ioctls that Wine does not emulate, or encryption (CSS) on commercial DVDs. Use winecfg to check the Drives tab and Winelib settings; use winetricks only when a known runtime is required. Many playback problems are resolved far more simply by using a native Linux player (as suggested) which will work with libdvdread/libdvdnav and, in some jurisdictions, libdvdcss for encrypted discs — note legal status varies by country. Finally, run the player from a shell to collect Wine output and consult the Wine AppDB for the specific player to find per‑application tweaks and known limitations.

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Member Avatar for DMR

Google has a ; you'll get more focussed results if you use that when looking for Linux info.

DVD usage in Linux has been hampered by copyright, patent, anti-piracy and other such issues. There are no technical roadblocks in to playing DVDs in Linux, but you'll need to check applicable laws in your country/state/province/whatever to make sure you aren't crossing any legal lines. Here's some linkage for thought:

Member Avatar for Kamex

Unfortunately, I live in the US, where there are enough dumb software laws that I know its illegal here. I got my CD working, but unfortunatly, the DVD player just crashes when I hit play. I guess I will have to continue to use Windows for my DVDs.

While I didn't solve my original problem, I did get a solution to the problem of finding relevant information in a Linux related search. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT LINK!!! :D

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I am wondering why you are trying to play DVD's with WINE? What's wrong with XINE? You might have had to install it by hand on your computer, but xine is showing me my movies just fine.

Christian

Member Avatar for DMR

I did get a solution to the problem of finding relevant information in a Linux related search. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT LINK!!! :D

You're welcome. G4L is your friend when it come to searching for Linux info.

Christian is right about XINE; I think that a lot the legal issues that used to hamper XINE's functionality have been at least relaxed if not cleared up entirely.

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