Watchtower Library didn't work on the Mac... Until now

If you're not new to the Mac, and if you're a Jehovah's Witness, you have no doubt come to realize that Watchtower Library is a Windows-only program.

However, using this guide, you will be able to seamlessly run Watchtower Library on Mac OS X, for free !

This will allow you to run Watchtower Library exactly as if you were on Windows.

Copying and pasting works between it and other Mac programs, such as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or TextEdit.

Printing also works directly from Watchtower Library. Just like Windows, except with no viruses and no problems !

A few requirements

Before we get to the good stuff, there are a few things you need to have.

First of all, you need a working Internet connection to install Watchtower Library on your Mac.

Second, you need Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or newer for this to work. This tutorial was made on OS X 10.5 (Leopard) using a Macbook. If you encounter any problems or difficulties, don't hesitate to contact me using the link on the bottom of this page.

Please note that you need an Intel Mac for this guide to work. A PowerPC (PPC) Mac will not work for this type of emulation, and it never will.

Also, note that most of the images in this tutorial show Watchtower Library 2007, but the procedure is the same for all recent versions of Watchtower Library.

Last but not least, the text in the code boxes always represents single-line text. No line-breaks !

Install or update X11

NOTE TO TIGER USERS: If you installed X11 when you installed Tiger, or if X11 came with your Mac, then you can skip right to the next section.

OK, now it's time to download and install the latest version of X11. If you have Leopard, you can get it from this Web site:

http://xquartz.macosforge.org/

If you have Tiger, the above link won't work for you ! You must use the installer from your Tiger Installation Disc(s). If you don't have your disc(s), keep reading. There is a link to the files you need below.

Unfortunately the installer on the Tiger Installation Disc is kind of hidden, so here are the steps to get at it:

Insert your Tiger (10.4) Installation Disc.

A window should open after a few seconds. If it doesn't, go in a new Finder window and select the Installation Disc.

Scroll down to the Optional Installs. Open that package by double-clicking it.

Perform the necessary steps. Then when you get to the Installation Type screen, check the box next to X11 under Applications.

Now you can click Install.

If you don't have your installation disc(s), you can get X11 for Tiger with this link:

http://www.logisoft.qc.ca/tutorial/TigerX11.zip

The zip file is just under 60 megabytes. After downloading and unzipping the file, make sure you install X11SDK.pkg first, and then X11User.pkg.

After you've installed X11, either from your Disc or from the zip file, run Software Update from the Apple menu (Apple released an update for X11 that you need to install).

Install WineBottler

OK, now you need a very important program: WineBottler. You can get it from here:

http://www.kronenberg.org/wine/builds/WineBottler_1.1.22.zip

It comes in a zip file. First unzip it.

Now, drag the WineBottler program to your Applications folder.

Note to those who have Darwine (WineHelper): If you still have WineHelper and TRiX installed, you can uninstall them now... WineBottler does their job for them. Uninstalling the old Darwine (WineHelper) will prevent conflicts from happening between it and the new WineBottler.

Now we're ready to start !

Step 1

Let's start working !

If it is not already open, open the Terminal program (found in /Applications/Utilities/).

NOTE: When I give Terminal commands, I say "Type this and that", but I highly recommend you copy and paste them. I do not recommend typing them out. If that is what you are doing, make sure you put the spaces in the right places ! Also, all Terminal commands are case-sensitive.

In the Terminal window, type:

defaults write org.x.X11 app_to_run /usr/bin/true

And press Enter ⏎. This gets rid of an annoying window that pops up every time you start the X11 program.

Now, you need to add wine to your $PATH.

In the Terminal window, type:

curl http://www.logisoft.qc.ca/wine > /tmp/wine

And press Enter ⏎.

Then type:

sudo mv /tmp/wine /etc/paths.d/

And press Enter ⏎.

You will be prompted for your password. Enter it. You will notice that while you enter your password, the Terminal won’t display the characters you type. Don’t worry, this is a security feature. Just type your password, case-sensitive as always, and press Enter ⏎.

Now, close the Terminal window and open a new one and you are ready to continue.

Step 2

In the Terminal window, type:

wine --version

And press Enter ⏎.

If the output is wine-1.1.22, you have the latest version of WineBottler (as of April 2009).

If the number is less than 1.1.22, perform the steps under Install WineBottler above.

Step 3

Now, in the Terminal window, type:

curl http://www.logisoft.qc.ca/wine-cjk-dialogs-and-ui-colors.reg > /tmp/wine-cjk-dialogs-and-ui-colors.reg

And press Enter ⏎.

Now, open WineBottler, found in Applications.

A wine glass appears in your menubar. Click on it.

A menu appears. Click on Wine Controlcenter.

A window appears.

Click on the "Add..." button at the bottom right of the window to create a new wine prefix.

In the window that appears, copy and paste this in the Save As field:

Watchtower Library

Now hit  Command ⌘ Shift ⇧ G and type this in the text field that appears:

~/Library/Application Support/

And press Enter ⏎.

Now, click on Save.

A wine glass with a spinning wheel inside it may appear... This is WineBottler creating your prefix. Wait it out.

You should see the new prefix you created in the window, now. Click on it once.

WineBottler will warn you that you are changing the prefix; it will ask you if you are sure you want to change it. Click on OK.

You may now close the Wine Controlcenter window.

Now, in the Terminal window, type:

WINEPREFIX=~/Library/Application\ Support/Watchtower\ Library/ regedit /tmp/wine-cjk-dialogs-and-ui-colors.reg

And press Enter ⏎.

You will get no feedback, but this step is actually what allows Asian fonts for WineBottler, and it also changes the WineBottler colors to make them a bit more Mac style.

Note that Asian font support is only functional on Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), as Tiger does not ship with the necessary fonts... If you care and want a solution for this, comment on it... I don't see the utility of searching for a way to make it work on Tiger if no one needs it.

This step is finished !

Step 4

Load your Watchtower Library CD.

You should see the CD on your desktop after a while. (If you don't, open a new Finder window to see it). Open it.

Double-click on setup.exe.

A window appears. This is the Watchtower Library Introductory Letter. After you read it, click Next.

The next screen is the License Agreement. Once you have read it, click I Agree.

After that comes the Destination Directory screen. Make sure you select "I would like to install the data to the hard disk." so that after the installation, you won’t need the Watchtower Library CD. Click Install.

It may seem like the installation hangs when it’s at "Copy to C:\Program Files\Watchtower\Watchtower Library \E", but don’t worry, it’s normal. Just give it a few minutes, and it will go on as it should.

When Setup finishes, click on Finish.

Eject the CD.

Step 5

NOTE: If you’re planning to install Watchtower Library in more than one language, skip this step; go directly to Step 6.

In the Terminal window, type this:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Watchtower\ Library/drive_c/Program\ Files/Watchtower/

And press Enter ⏎.

Then, type this (replace with the CD's year year and E with the CD's language (E is English, F is Français, etc.)):

cp Watchtower\ Library\ /E/*ibrary* MEPSCommon/

And press Enter ⏎.

Now, click on the Finder dock icon and hit  Command ⌘ Shift ⇧ G.

Copy and paste this in the window that opens:

~/Library/Application Support/Watchtower Library/drive_c/Program Files/Watchtower/MEPSCommon

And press Go.

You should see a file called "wtlibrary.exe" in the list somewhere. You'll probably have to scroll down to see it. Right-click on it (or hold the ctrl ⎈ key while clicking on it), and choose "Make Alias".

Give the alias a good name, such as "Watchtower Library - English", and put it in your Applications folder, or wherever you want to put it for easy access. This is the shortcut to launch Watchtower Library.

If you are only installing Watchtower Library in one language, you can now go directly to the last step.

Step 6

Only perform this step if you are going to install Watchtower Library in multiple languages. If you are only installing Watchtower Library in one language, skip this step. Do Step 5 instead.

In the Terminal window, type this and press Enter ⏎ (replace with the CD's year):

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Watchtower\ Library/drive_c/Program\ Files/Watchtower/Watchtower\ Library\ /

And press Enter ⏎.

Then, type this and press Enter ⏎ :

ls -Gp

A list will appear. The entries in blue are the directories for different languages (for example, F/ is for the French installation and E/ is for the English one).

Find the letter of the directory for the language you want to install, and type this in Terminal WITHOUT PRESSING Enter ⏎ UNTIL I TELL YOU TO (in this case we will use E/ for English):

cp E/

Now, type *ibrary*:

cp E/*ibrary*

Finish the line by adding a space and then writing (no quotes) "../MEPSCommon/wtlibrary[Year][Language].exe" (where [Year] is the year of the CD and [Language] is the CD's language).

For example, for the English version of Watchtower Library, it would be:

cp E/*ibrary* ../MEPSCommon/wtlibraryEnglish.exe

Or, for the French version:

cp F/*ibrary* ../MEPSCommon/wtlibraryFrançais.exe

Now, press Enter ⏎.

Click on the Finder dock icon and hit  Command ⌘ Shift ⇧ G.

Copy and paste this in the window that opens:

~/Library/Application Support/Watchtower Library/drive_c/Program Files/Watchtower/MEPSCommon

And press Go.

You should see the wtlibrary[Year][Language].exe you created somewhere in the list. You'll probably have to scroll down to see it.

Right-click on it (or hold the ctrl ⎈ key while clicking on it), and choose "Make Alias".

Give the alias a good name, such as "Watchtower Library - English".

Move the alias to your Applications folder, or wherever you want to put it for easy access. This is the shortcut you will use to launch Watchtower Library.

Repeat Step 4 and this step (Step 6) for every different language CD you have.

Voilà !

There you go ! That's all there is to it.

Double-click the alias you created to launch your fully working version of Watchtower Library, without Windows, on your Mac !

When you are done with Watchtower Library, click the little red X to close the Watchtower Library window...

And quit the X11 program by right-clicking (or holding the ctrl ⎈ key while clicking) on the X11 dock icon and clicking Quit.

Help !!!

Isn't it great when you take precious minutes of your time to try something new, and then that thing doesn't work out like you thought it did ? Makes you want to scream, doesn't it ? Not to worry. That's what the comments page is for. Type in your worries and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Or maybe you just want to say thank you ! That is also what the comments page is for. I really appreciate the "thank you"s I get.

Click to go to the comments page.

What if I want to install some other Windows program ?

Although many programs are available for the Macintosh operating system, some programs out there are still stubbornly clinging to their Windows formats. For this small minority of programs, there are a few solutions which allow us to run them on a Mac. The following one is by far the easiest, and the free-est !

This procedure can be used for pretty much any Windows program, such as WinTM, TSWin, MP3Tag... The list goes on and on. Any program that can be installed on Windows should work on the Mac.

As long as the program you want to install isn't too complicated (or very resource-hungry), there shouldn't be a problem.

To install a non-Watchtower-Library program, do everything except steps 3 to 6.

Instead of these, open WineBottler, found in Applications.

Now, click on the wine glass in your menubar. Click on "Wine Controlcenter", then on the "Custom" tab. Click on "select Installer..." and select your program's installation file (for example setup.exe). Click on "Open". Finally, click on "Create".

In the "Save As" field, put the name of your program. In "Where", select your Desktop. Click on "Save".

You program will start to install itself. When the installation is finished, you will be prompted to select the file to use on program startup. The correct file is usually pretty obvious.

Voilà ! You can now move the application that was created on your Desktop to your Applications. Double-click it to start the program !

Acknowledgements

Thanks to a brother from my congregation, who wanted to remain anonymous, for his tips and suggestions, as well as for debugging my tutorial. He is the one who first told me there was a way to install Watchtower Library on Mac OS X, and he also told me about Ryan Walker (read on...).

Thanks to Ryan Walker for his great guide (which can no longer be found on the Internet !) on installing Watchtower Library 2007 with Darwine.

Also, thanks to Igor Tarasov, a wine developer, for his practical tips on making my tutorial simpler.

Thanks to Roy Ratcliffe, for his tips and tricks with Asian fonts and wine colors.

Also, thanks to Chris James Martin for his page containing the zip file with the necessary packages to install X11 on Tiger.

Thanks to Mike Kronenberg for his answers to my frequent questions :) .

And finally, thanks to Jesse Andrews, for his guide on installing X11 on Tiger, as well as for his handy screenshots.

Disclaimer

If you follow the instructions above to the letter, no problems should arise. Copying and pasting reduces the risk of typos, but as always, be careful with the Command line. You should always make a full backup of your hard drive before making system changes. And I'm sorry, but I have to scare you with this disclaimer:

By performing the steps of this tutorial, you accept the responsibility for any damage you may cause to your computer.

If your following of the present guide results in you somehow breaking your Mac or software on it, I am not in any way responsible for the damage caused, and neither is LOGIsoft, Inc.

That being said, it isn't really possible to mess up anything with this guide. Just be warned.

Have a great day !