What is the Windows Subsystem for Linux?

There are various ways and multiple applications to run multiple operating systems in parallel on the Windows platform. Windows Subsystem for Linux is one among them. WSL offers a simpler installation process for some popular Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and Kali Linux.

What Is WSL 2?

WSL 2 is the latest version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux architecture that upgrades the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run ELF64 Linux binaries on Windows.

So If you are trying to install Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows? Here is the detailed installation process.

Prerequisites to Install WSL2

Before moving ahead firstly we need to have the following prerequisites to install WSL2

To run WSL2, For Windows 10 we should have the below versions

• For x64 systems: Version 1903 or higher, with Build 18362 or higher
• For ARM64 systems: Version 2004 or higher, with Build 19041 or higher
• Windows 11

Installation Process of WSL2

You can now install everything you need to boot Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) by entering one single command in an administrator cmd or PowerShell

Command: “ wsl –install ”

Note:

• This command will install WSL2 by default. The wsl –set-version command can use to downgrade from WSL 2 to WSL 1 or to update previously installed WSL1 to WSL2.
• You will need to reboot your system after running the installation command to reflect the changes.

Manual Installation Process of  WSL2

By the following 03 steps, we can easily do a manual installation of WSL2.

1st Step

• Open ‘Turn Windows features on or off on your Windows Computer
• Enable ‘Virtual Machine Platform‘ and ‘Windows Subsystems for Linux‘ features by enabling a checkmark and clicking on ‘OK‘.

• Post successful installation you will need to reboot your system.

2nd Step

• Install your Linux distribution of choice and Windows Terminal
• Download and Install Ubuntu 20.04 (latest) and Windows Terminal
• After successful Installation, Lunch the installed Linux Distribution
• Once you open the Ubuntu App, it will ask you to set up the Username of your Ubuntu system and followed by the Password.

3rd Step

Once you successfully set up a password then, you have to enable wsl2, for that we need to install the Linux kernel from the windows site WSL2 Linux kernel update package for x64 machines

This is how you can run Ubuntu on Windows using WSL2.

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