In this tutorial I’ll show you how to install WhatsApp Desktop official using WineHQ staging.

Let’s install WineHQ Staging, all commands bellow was picked from Wine Oficial Wiki:

# Enable 32 bit architecture
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

# Add the public key
# Make sure the directory exist
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key

# Add the source file for 22.04 (jammy)
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/jammy/winehq-jammy.sources

# Remove all others wine version
sudo apt remove --purge wine* fonts-wine
sudo apt autoremove

# Delete .wine folder
# THIS WILL DELETE ALL WINE APPS!
rm -rf ~/.wine

# Delete .cache folder and reboot

# Install Wine Staging
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-staging

# Start a Wine Prefix
wineboot -u
# A Wine Mono window will prompted. Click on button Install

wine iexplore
# Open IExplorer. A Wine Gecko window will prompted. Click on button Install

# IMPORTANT: You need to change version to Windows 7
winecfg

Now we need download a WhatsAppSetup.exe file 64 bit version from WhatsApp website.

wine WhatsAppSetup.exe

The WhatsApp Desktop is now installed. Click on title bar e drag to top for full size of windows in Xfce4 desktop.

Rename the launcher WhatsApp (Outdated).desktop as WhatsApp.desktop and open with an text editor like vim, nano or mousepad to modify with the follow parameters:

# ~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/WhatsApp/WhatsApp.desktop
Exec=DONT_CHANGE_THE_WINE_COMMAND_HERE_JUST_ADD_THE_FINAL_ARGUMENT.lnk %u
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/whatsapp;

# Update cache database of MIME types
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

# ALTERNATIVE: You can run xdg-mime, but you need to rename the launcher
xdg-mime default WhatsApp.desktop 'x-scheme-handler/whatsapp'

You can send data to WhatsApp application on browser with URIs:

https://wa.me/YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER?text=TEXT_URL_ENCODED

whatsapp://send/?phone=YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER&text=TEXT_URL_ENCODED

whatsapp://send?text=TEXT_URL_ENCODED

You will need Firefox without snap. You can see my video about how install.

# Open Registry Editor
wine regedit

# Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\WineBrowser
# Create String Value: Browsers
# Set with: firefox,xdg-open,konqueror,mozilla,netscape,galeon,opera,dillo

# Go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command
# Set Default: "C:\windows\system32\winebrowser.exe" "%1"

# Go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\https\shell\open\command
# Set Default: "C:\windows\system32\winebrowser.exe" "%1"