Skip to content

Edit this page

Open and issue

WSL2

The Windows 10 May 2020 update makes installing WSL2 much easier.

Turn on WSL feature and virtual machine platform

  1. Open Windows PowerShell as administrator and run the commands:

    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
    
  2. You will need to restart your computer.

Download the WSL2 update

  1. Prior to running WSL2 you will need to download and install the WSL2 kernel update.

Download a linux distro

  1. Open the Microsoft Store and choose your favorite linux distribution by searching for them (I prefer Ubuntu):

    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
  2. From the distro's page, select Get

  3. Once done installing, open up Powershell as administrator and run (replace distro with the name of the distro you installed):

    wsl --set-default-version 2
    
    wsl --set-version [Distro] 2
    

Finalizing

  1. To complete the initialization of your newly installed distro, launch a new instance by searching in the Start menu and launching the distro

  2. The first time a newly installed distro runs, a Console window will open, and you'll be asked to wait for a minute or two for the installation to complete

  3. Once installation is complete, you will be prompted to create a new user account (and its password)

  4. Most distros ship with an empty/minimal package catalog. You should regularly be updating your package catalog, and upgrading your installed packages using your distro's preferred package manager

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade