Windows Subsystem For Linux (WSL)

This article focuses on managing and working with WSL or Windows Subsystem for Linux.

For developing with containers see Development Containers (CAP)

Managing WSL

Basic Commands

wsl --list or wsl -l             # Show list of locally available distributions
wsl -l -o                        # Show list of online available distributions
wsl -l -v                        # Show running status
wsl -d <distro>                  # Run specific distribution
wsl -u <username>                # Run image with specific 
wsl -v                           # Show WSL version
wsl --status                     # Show status of WSL
wsl --update                     # Update WSL Core components - Run cmd.exe as admin

Install

wsl -l -o                        # Lookup available distributions online
wsl -install <distro_name>       # install distribution
wsl --set-default <Distribution Name>       # Set default distribution name

Uninstall

wsl --unregister <distro>

Hint: This unregisters the distribution from WLS and also removes most of the files from the disk (see disk locations below)

Clone Image

wsl --export <distro> <filename.tar.gz>
wsl --import <new-distro-name> <distrolocation> <filename.tar.gz>

Disk Location of Distributions

Location of distros is

%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\<subfolder-for-distro>

or

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\packages\<subfolder-for-distro>

Sources

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#list-available-linux-distributions

Logging in as Root

wsl.exe -u root                   # Run image as root

Installing Software

sudo apt-get install <softwarepackage>