To create a symbolic link (symlink), aka soft link, on a Linux system, you can use the ln command with the -s option, i.e., ln -s, followed by the target file path and the name you wish to use for the symbolic link. The -s option specifies that the link should be "soft" or symbolic (omitting this creates a hard link). You can view existing symlinks with the ls command with the -l option and then piping the output through the grep command with the -l or --long option to obtain more detailed information. Since the permission string for files or directories will begin with the letter "l", you can limit the output with ls -l | grep "^l". E.g.:

alice@Wonderland@Serenity:~/Documents$ ln -s ~/Pictures/Phone/PXL_20260715_202210365.jpg erin.jpg
alice@Wonderland@Serenity:~/Documents$ ls -l | grep "^l"
lrwxrwxrwx  1 alice@Wonderland domain users@ad.moonwillowwoods.com        75 Aug 14 15:03 erin.jpg -> /home/alice@Wonderland/Pictures/Phone/PXL_20260715_202210365.jpg
alice@Wonderland:~/Documents$

You can link an entire directory with a symlink. E.g., you could point a local logs folder to a folder elsewhere on the system, even one on another drive. E.g., ln -s /var/log/app_logs ./logs.

If you wish to find all of the symlinks in the current directory and all its subdirectories, you can use the command find . -type l. The -type l flag instructs the find command to look just for links. To see the full, absolute path of where a specific link points you can use the readlink command, e.g., readlink -f filename where filename is the name of the symlink. E.g.:

alice@Wonderland:~/Documents$ readlink -f erin.jpg
/home/alice@Wonderland/Pictures/Phone/PXL_20260715_202210365.jpg
alice@Wonderland:~/Documents$ 

You can remove a symlink with the unlink command followed by the symlink name.

alice@Wonderland@Serenity:~/Documents$ unlink erin.jpg
alice@Wonderland:~/Documents$ 

You could also use the rm command. E.g., if you created a symlink named shortcut.txt, you could remove that shortcut with rm shortcut.txt. Never add a trailing slash (/) when removing a directory symlink, or you risk deleting the contents inside the actual target directory.

[/os/unix/linux] permanent link

The Advanced Diary journaling/diary program from CSoftLab stores its license information in the Windows registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary. When you install the software, you will have a 30-day trial period and the LicenseCode and LicenseName keys will not have any values set. You can see the values using the Microsoft Windows registry editor regedit.exe.

If you need to view the license information, you can navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary key in the registry using the registry editor or you can open a command prompt window and issue the following reg query commands.

C:\>reg query "HKCU\SOFTWARE\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary" /v LicenseName

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary
    LicenseName    REG_SZ    John Doe


C:\Users\Lisa>reg query "HKCU\SOFTWARE\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary" /v LicenseCode

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary
    LicenseCode    REG_SZ    VN37-H79K-28ZZ-XMMUMM9XX9


C:\>

You can extract the information from the registry by right-clicking on the Advanced Diary entry in the registry and choosing Export and then saving the information to a .reg registry file. That will save all of the registry information for Advanced Diary. You can then delete all but the lines that are like the ones below, if you only need the license entries in the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CSoftLab\Advanced Diary]
"LicenseName"="John Doe"
"LicenseCode"="VN37-H79K-28ZZ-XMMUMM9XX9"

You can then import the registry entries after installing Advanced Diary on another system. You can import them by opening the registry editor and choosing Registry and then Import Registry File.

Note: if you are transferring the registry keys to an installation of Advanced Diary running under Wine on a Linux system, you can run the registry editor provided by Wine by opening a terminal window and then setting the WINEPREFIX environment variable equal to whatever Wine prefix you have set, if you are using one other than the .wine one, and then running wine regedit. E.g.:

$ export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-advdiary"
$ wine regedit

If you have saved the registry values to a .reg file, e.g. file.reg, and want to import the values from that file from a command-line interface (CLI), open a command prompt window as an administrator and run reg import "C:\path\to\file.reg". Alternatively, use regedit /s "C:\path\to\file.reg" to import the file silently without a confirmation prompt. To import the registry values from a Windows system into the registry for an instance of Advanced Diary 9.0 running in a Wine prefix named .wine-advdiary on an Ubuntu Linux system, I used the commands below in a terminal window to import a .reg file named AdvancedDiary_LicenseInfo.reg.

$ export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-advdiary"$ wine regedit /s "$HOME/Documents/AdvancedDiary_LicenseInfo.reg"
$

After doing so, when I clicked on Help and chose About Advanced Diary, I saw it was registered.

Related articles:

1. Obtaining a command prompt in Windows 11
   Date: August 14, 2023
2. Windows Reg Query Command
   Date: October 1, 2026
3. Checking Microsoft Windows proxy server settings
   Date: January 7, 2015
4. Installing Advanced Diary on a Linux system with Wine
   Date: February 24, 2026
5. Access violation when installing Advanced Diary 9.0 with Wine on a Linux system
   Date: August 4, 2026
6. Advanced Diary Active Database and Backup Registry Values
   Date: July 18, 2026

[/os/unix/linux/wine/AdvDiary] permanent link

I needed to install the Advanced Diary diary/journaling program from CSoftLab on an Ubuntu Unix system. The application is developed only for Microsoft Windows, so to get it to work on an Ubuntu Linux system I used Wine, which is free and open-source software that allows one to run applications developed for the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) on Linux systems. I started the installation from a terminal window after creating and initializing a Wine prefix for it. But when I clicked on Install, I saw the message "Invalid operation in GDI+ (Code: 2)". When I canceled the installation and closed the window associated with it, I saw an error window stating "The setup files are corrupted. Please obtain a new copy of the program." I had encountered the same "Invalid operation in GDI+ (Code: 2)" problem many months ago (the setup file wasn't actually corrupted, so I could ignore that message) when I installed a previous version of Advanced Diary, version 8.0, on another system using Wine — see Installing Advanced Diary on a Linux system with Wine — and remembered that I had used a shell script then to install additional software for Wine that would alleviate that problem. I needed Winetricks installed, so I verified I had already installed it on this system with the which command (you can install it with sudo apt install winetricks, if it is not installed). I used winetricks to install gdiplus and core fonts for Windows applications. That resolved the problem with the "Invalid operation in GDI+ (Code: 2)", but then I saw a "Access violation at address 75D947DC in module 'qcap.dll'. Read of address 5F505353" message every time I started Advanced Diary.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/wine/AdvDiary] permanent link

A Wine prefix is a directory that acts like a separate Windows installation. Each prefix has its own registry, installed programs, libraries, and configuration, providing a way to isolate applications and configure Wine in a way that is optimal for a particular Windows application or set of applications without affecting other Windows applications that you need to run on the system. To create a new Wine prefix, take the following steps:

Create a new Wine prefix

1. Choose a location for the new prefix. For example:

   export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-myapp"

2. Initialize the prefix:

   WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-myapp" wineboot

   Wine will create the directory and initialize a fresh Windows environment.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

To install Discord on an Ubuntu Linux system, you can install it as a Snap package through Ubuntu's App Center.

At the install screen, I saw the message below:

Snaps are confined, as such Discord may be unable to perform some of the tasks it typically does when unconfined. This may result in the system log getting spammed with apparmor errors. Granting access to the system-observe interface when in the snap will enable the features, and thus reduce the logging.

snap connect discord:system-observe

AppArmor is a Linux kernel security module that provides system administrators the capability to restrict the access programs have to the system on which they run.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

My wife had been using DVDFab 13 under Microsoft Windows 11 and wanted to continue to use it for ripping DVDs after we converted her desktop PC to Ubuntu Linux. DVDFab 13 seemed to be working fine after I installed it using Wine until after I updated Wine to version 11.0 (you can see which version of Wine is present by issuing the command wine --version in a Terminal window). When I tried to run DVDFab afterwards, though, I saw the message “A debugger has been found running in your system. Please, unload it from memory and restart your program.”

When I queried ChatGPT about the issue, it replied “This error is usually not caused by an actual debugger running on Ubuntu. DVDFab contains anti-debugging / anti-tamper checks, and under Wine or Proton those checks can sometimes incorrectly conclude that a debugger is attached.” It also stated that, for DVDFab 13 specifically, there is an issue when trying to run the program on later versions of Wine with the problem appearing with version 10.3 or later. The problem occurs on newer versions, even when no debugger is running. I decided to install the application under Bottles, which I had previously installed on the system with Flatpak, to see if the problem might not occur if I tried to run the application under Bottles, but the problem still occurred. I.e., I saw the "A debugger has been found running in your system. Please, unload it from memory and restart your program.” message. It took me a considerable amount of time to resolve the problem, but I was finally able to fix the issue by disabling DXVK and VKD3D in the settings for the DVDFab bottle.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu/DVDFab] permanent link

To see the Flatpaks installed on a Linux system, you can issue the command flatpak list in a terminal window. To remove a Flatpak from a system, find the Application ID of the software by issuing the command flatpak list --app. Once you have the Application ID, you can uninstall the Flatpak with the command flatpak uninstall AppID where AppID is the relevant Application ID. To remove all of the application's local settings and configuration files, add the --delete-data option. E.g., to remove the Bottles Flatpak, I could use the command flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.usebottles.bottles.

alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak list
Name             Application ID              Version Branch       Installation
Bottles          com.usebottles.bottles      63.2    stable       system
i386             …sktop.Platform.Compat.i386         25.08        system
Mesa             …esktop.Platform.GL.default 26.0.6  25.08        system
Mesa (Extra)     …esktop.Platform.GL.default 26.0.6  25.08-extra  system
nvidia-580-159-… …tform.GL.nvidia-580-159-03         1.4          system
Mesa             …ktop.Platform.GL32.default 26.0.6  25.08        system
Mesa (Extra)     …ktop.Platform.GL32.default 26.0.6  25.08-extra  system
nvidia-580-159-… …orm.GL32.nvidia-580-159-03         1.4          system
Nvidia VAAPI dr… …ktop.Platform.VAAPI.nvidia         25.08        system
Codecs Extra Ex… …ktop.Platform.codecs-extra         25.08-extra  system
i386             …Platform.codecs_extra.i386         25.08-extra  system
GNOME Applicati… org.gnome.Platform                  49           system
Yaru Gtk Theme   org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Yaru              3.22         system
gecko            org.winehq.Wine.gecko               stable-25.08 system
mono             org.winehq.Wine.mono                stable-25.08 system
alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak list --app
Name        Application ID             Version     Branch     Installation
Bottles     com.usebottles.bottles     63.2        stable     system
alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.usebottles.bottles


        ID                                    Branch         Op
 1. [-] com.usebottles.bottles                stable         r
 2. [-] com.usebottles.bottles.Locale         stable         r

Uninstall complete.
Delete data for com.usebottles.bottles? [y/n]: y
alice@Wonderland:~$

A Flatpack may required shared "runtimes" components. When you delete the application, those runtimes can become "orphaned", but still occupy space on the system. You can, optionally, use the command flatpak uninstall --unused afterwards, if that is a concern.

[/os/unix/linux] permanent link

The file command can be used on a Linux system to determine what type of data a file holds, e.g., file Untitled.png. You can determine the media type, aka MIME type, by using the --mime-type option for the file command. E.g., file --mime-type Untitled.png. You can determine which application is the default application for opening files of that file type using the xdg-mime command — the xdg-mime program is a command line tool that can be used to determine what application handles a particular file type. E.g., xdg-mime query default image/png — you need to specify the filetype in the "minor/major" format that xdg-mime expects, which is what you see in the output of the file --mime-type command.

$ file Documents/Untitled.png
Documents/Untitled.png: PNG image data, 597 x 113, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced
$ file Documents/tea.html
Documents/tea.html: ASCII text, with very long lines (6229)
$ file --mime-type Documents/Untitled.png
Documents/Untitled.png: image/png
$ xdg-mime query default image/png
org.gnome.Loupe.desktop
$ file --mime-type Documents/Cocoa-Lead.odt
Documents/Cocoa-Lead.odt: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
$ xdg-mime query default application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
libreoffice-writer.desktop
$

The default file manager for Ubuntu Linux is GNOME Files. You can make another application the default file manager, if you like. Some alternatives are Thunar, Nemo, Krusader, or Dolphin. You can determine which application is the default file manager with the command xdg-mime query default inode/directory. You can set the default file manager with the command xdg-mime default fmgr.desktop where fmgr is the filemanager you wish to use.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

My wife and I have been using the Microsoft Windows desktop versions of CLZ's database programs for managing book, comic, and movie collections for many years. We've found the Collectorz database programs to be well-designed and very useful, but we've encountered some issues getting the programs to work correctly on her Ubuntu Linux system, though I would note that the software was developed for Microsoft Windows operating systems and the company doesn't indicate they are supported under Linux. One problem we encountered is that after installing the programs under Wine, when she opened one of the programs, e.g., Movie Collector, and then minimized it or switched to another application with Alt-Tab, she was unable to switch back to the Collectorz program. Alt-Tab would not work nor would the Super key plus Tab key combination. There would be a small window at the upper, left-hand corner of the screen indicating the program was running, but clicking on it would not allow her to enlarge the window to work in the application again and there didn't appear to be any way to enlarge or maximize the window.

I was able to resolve the problem with minimizing the application or switching from it without re-creating a problem opening files by checking the Emulate a virtual desktop option under the Graphics tab for winecfg instead.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/wine/collectorz] permanent link

I had installed MakeMKV from source files on an Ubuntu Linux system . It had been working then, but when I tried to run the program today, I saw the message "Application failed to initialize NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON".

I had updated the operating system and other applications on the system in the intervening months, so I knew it was possible that the upgrade changed or removed libraries that makemkvcon depends on. I had upgraded the operating system from Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka) to 26.04 LTS (Resolute Racoon). The error means the MakeMKV graphical user interface (GUI) can't communicate with its backend console process, makemkvcon. I.e., the GUI is waiting for a response from makemkvcon and that process isn't starting or is crashing, possibly because of a missing required dependency such as a missing or changed library file. To try to determine if that was the case and, if so, which library might be associated with the problem, I ran makemkvcon from a terminal window.

alice@Wonderland:~$ which makemkvcon
/usr/bin/makemkvcon
alice@Wonderland:~$ makemkvcon
makemkvcon: error while loading shared libraries: libavcodec.so.61: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
alice@Wonderland:~$

I was able to resolve the problem by reinstalling MakeMKV from the source files. When I did that and re-registered the application, it started normally.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu/MakeMKV] permanent link