You may encounter tips, guides, or instructions for troubleshooting issues that ask you to set registry keys for Windows applications. Registry key settings are bottle-specific, so it's best to install Windows applications into their own bottles. Otherwise changing the registry keys of a bottle could affect all Windows applications in that same bottle.

Most registry key settings affect all applications in your bottle. We recommend installing each Windows application in its own bottle to ensure the settings are optimized for each application.

1. Open the Registry Editor

Select the desired bottle from the Bottles list in the left sidebar and click Run Command.

Type regedit into the Command field and click Run.

The registry editor will open in a new window.

2. Navigate to the Key

Browse to the location specified in the instructions you're following. For this example, we'll navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D

and add a String key named renderer with a value of vulkan. This tells Windows applications in this bottle to use the Vulkan renderer engine. Note that it's common to abbreviate HKEY_CURRENT_USER as HKCU and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT as HKCR.

Start by expanding the folders in the left sidebar by clicking the + icons.

3. Create a Registry Key

Right-click in the Direct3D right-side window and choose New > String Value.

The new key has a default name of New Value #1.

Click on the key name and rename it to renderer.

4. Set the key value

Double-click on the key to open its Edit String window and enter vulkan for the value.

Click Ok and you can see the value has been set.

You have now created a new string key HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D/renderer and set that key to vulkan.

You can close the Regedit window to save your changes.