WSL2

Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2)

In this article, we’ll guide you through setting up and using WSL2 on your Windows machine.

Enabling WSL

First, enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Installing WSL2

To list available distributions, use the following command:

wsl --list --online

The output will show a list of valid distributions that can be installed:

C:\>wsl --list --online
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.

NAME               FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu             Ubuntu
Debian             Debian GNU/Linux
kali-linux         Kali Linux Rolling
SLES-12            SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v12
SLES-15            SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v15
Ubuntu-18.04       Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04       Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04       Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
OracleLinux_8_5    Oracle Linux 8.5
OracleLinux_7_9    Oracle Linux 7.9

Installing Debian

First, check if Debian is installed and default:

C:\>wsl --list --all
Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
Ubuntu-20.04 (Default)
docker-desktop
docker-desktop-data

To install Debian, run:

wsl --install -d Debian

The output will confirm the installation:

C:\>wsl --install -d Debian
Installing: Debian GNU/Linux
Debian GNU/Linux has been installed.
Launching Debian GNU/Linux...

Set Debian as default:

wsl --setdefault Debian

Check if Debian is the default:

C:\>wsl --list --all
Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
Debian (Default)
docker-desktop
Ubuntu-20.04
docker-desktop-data

Setting WSL Version

To set the WSL version for a specific distribution, use:

wsl --set-version <Distro> 2

For example, to set Ubuntu-20.04 to use WSL2:

wsl --set-version Ubuntu-20.04 2

In this command:

• wsl is the command-line tool for managing WSL.
• --set-version is an option that specifies you want to set the version of a particular Linux distribution.
• Ubuntu-20.04 is the name of the Linux distribution you are targeting. In this case, it is Ubuntu version 20.04.
• 2 indicates that you want to set this distribution to use WSL 2.

Listing All Distributions

To list all installed distributions, use:

wsl -l

This will show all distributions installed on your system.

By following these steps, you can effectively set up and manage WSL2 on your Windows machine.