“A guide on how to run Ubuntu Linux under your Windows environment making use of the WSL feature”

Introduction:

What is WSL and what you can do when run Ubuntu under Windows WSL:

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 traditional virtual machine or dual boot setup.

• Choose your favorite GNU/Linux distributions from the Microsoft Store.
• Run common command-line tools such as grep, sed, awk, or other ELF-64 binaries.
• Run Bash scripts and GNU/Linux command-line applications including:
  • Tools: vim, emacs, tmux
  • Languages: NodeJS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, C/C++, C# & F#, Rust, Go, etc.
  • Services: SSHD, MySQL, Apache, lighttpd, MongoDB, PostgreSQL.
• Install additional software using your own GNU/Linux distribution package manager.
• Invoke Windows applications using a Unix-like command-line shell.
• Invoke GNU/Linux applications on Windows.
• Run GNU/Linux graphical applications integrated directly to your Windows desktop
• Use GPU acceleration for machine learning, data science scenarios and more

Preparing your computer to run Ubuntu under Windows WSL

1. From the Start menu or search bar, search for Turn Windows features on or off.
2. Next, open the Windows features pop-up menu.
   • Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux.
   • Enable Virtual Machine Platform.
     
3. Reboot your computer.

Update WSL and set to version 2

1. From the Start menu or search bar, search for Windows PowerShell.
2. At Windows PowerShell run the following commands:

wsl --update
wsl --set-default-version 2

Installing Ubuntu

1. At Windows PowerShell run the following commands:

wsl --install -d ubuntu

2. As the installation process it will ask for the username and password for your default user.
3. Once finished it will log you to Ubuntu

Run your first commands at Ubuntu

1. Run this commands to have Ubuntu updated.

sudo apt up
date sudo apt upgrade

Troubleshooting

How to run ubuntu after installation

1. Run Ubuntu at Windows PowerShell

ubuntu