Table of Contents
Overview #
The Windows Subsystem for Linux lets developers run a GNU/Linux environment — including most command-line tools, utilities, and applications — directly on Windows, unmodified, without the overhead of a virtual machine.
You can:
- Choose your favorite GNU/Linux distributions from the Microsoft Store.
- Run common command-line free software such as
grep,sed,awk, or other ELF-64 binaries. - Run Bash shell scripts and GNU/Linux command-line applications including:
- Tools: vim, emacs, tmux
- Languages: Javascript/node.js, Ruby, Python, C/C++, C# & F#, Rust, Go, etc.
- Services: sshd, MySQL, Apache, lighttpd
- Install additional software using own GNU/Linux distribution package manager.
- Invoke Windows applications using a Unix-like command-line shell.
- Invoke GNU/Linux applications on Windows.
Installation how-to #
Before installing any Linux distros for WSL, you must ensure that the “Windows Subsystem for Linux” optional feature is enabled:
- Open PowerShell as Administrator and run: PowerShell
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
Restart your computer when prompted.
To download and install your preferred distro(s), you have three choices:
Download and install from the Microsoft Store #
- Open the Microsoft Store and choose your favorite Linux distribution.
The following links will open the Microsoft store page for each distribution: - From the distro’s page, select “Get”
Now that your Linux distro is installed, you must initialize your new distro instance once, before it can be used.
