install-wsl.md

Install WSL

Category: Windows

Windows System for Linux (WSL) provides support for running a Linux kernel natively on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2019. The latest version at the time of writing is WSL 2.

List available distros using the following command:

wsl --list --online

Output:

The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
The default distribution is denoted by '*'.
Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'.

  NAME            FRIENDLY NAME
* Ubuntu          Ubuntu
  Debian          Debian GNU/Linux
  kali-linux      Kali Linux Rolling
  openSUSE-42     openSUSE Leap 42
  SLES-12         SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v12
  Ubuntu-16.04    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
  Ubuntu-18.04    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  Ubuntu-20.04    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Install a distro (Ubuntu 20.04) with the following command:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-20.04

Output:

Installing: Virtual Machine Platform
Virtual Machine Platform has been installed.
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows Subsystem for Linux has been installed.
Downloading: WSL Kernel
Installing: WSL Kernel
WSL Kernel has been installed.
Downloading: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
The requested operation is successful. Changes will not be effective until the system is rebooted.

You may need to reboot based on the output from the installation.

Note: You will need to run the installation using administrative priviledges in an elevated command prompt.