Tips.Windows.WSL.md

Windows Subsystem Linux (WSL)

References

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/

  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

  • https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

  • "The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) lets developers install a Linux distribution (such as Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Kali, Debian, Arch Linux, etc) and use Linux applications, utilities, and Bash command-line tools directly on Windows, unmodified, without the overhead of a traditional virtual machine or dualboot setup."

  • NOTE: By default, the installed Linux distribution will be Ubuntu. This can be changed using the -d flag.

    • wsl --install - via Windows Command, or PowerShell (in administrator mode)

Enable WSL

• Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName $("VirtualMachinePlatform", "Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux")

Install WSL2 Linux Kernel

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-kernel

WSL Commands

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands

• whoami

• WSL Versions / Status:

  • wsl -l -v
  • wsl --list --online
  • wsl --version
  • wsl --status

• WSL Update:

  • wsl --update

• List available distributions:

  • wsl --list --online
  • wsl -l -o

• Run a specific Linux distribution from PowerShell or CMD:

  • wsl --distribution <Distribution Name> --user <User Name>

• Change directory to home:

  • wsl ~

• Mount a disk or device:

  • wsl --mount <DiskPath>

• Unmount disks:

  • wsl --unmount <DiskPath>

• Shutdown:

  • wsl --shutdown

• Terminate:

  • wsl --terminate <Distribution Name>

• Unregister or uninstall a Linux distribution:

  • wsl --unregister <DistributionName>