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--- other:win10wsl [2022/08/24 15:55]
jypeter [Disk space] Added driver directory example
+++ other:win10wsl [2022/08/26 07:21]
jypeter [Miscellaneous] Added a WSL 1 to WSL 2 section
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
-==== Computer memory ====
+==== The basics before starting ====
-FIXME
+Once you have verified that your Windows is recent enough, you should also:
+  * Install the [[other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows terminal]], because it will be one of the ways to open ''Ubuntu'' terminals, once ''Ubuntu'' is installed
+  * It will be useful to be able to [[other:win10config#displaying_hidden_folders_and_files_and_the_files_extension|see hidden folders and files]]
+  * Have at least some basic knowledge of Linux...
+    * Get some [[other:newppl:starting#useful_documentation_for_beginners|basic Linux documentation]] if required
+==== Computer CPU and memory ====
-==== Disk space ====
+Contrary to other virtual machines, WSL is well integrated with the Windows operating system and the hardware drivers and has a **low default CPU and memory footprint**!
-<code>stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx
+  * You should be able to //play// with WSL even with 8 Gb of RAM, but 16 Gb is recommended
--rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 63M Aug 24 14:52 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx
+  * Of course, depending on what you need to do on your computer, a better processor will always help
+  * WSL+Ubuntu will use more CPU and RAM if you use it for running CPU and/or memory intensive processes! As would be the case with any Windows application... :-)
-stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
--rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1.2G Aug 24 15:20 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
-stdu@sadira034:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
+==== Disk usage ====
-[sudo] password for stdu:
-Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [114 kB]
-Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease [265 kB]
-[...]
-upgraded, 32 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
-Need to get 174 MB of archives.
-After this operation, 305 MB of additional disk space will be used.
-Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
-[...]
-stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx
+=== Overview ===
--rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 63M Aug 24 14:52 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx
-stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
+  * ''WSL'' is part of the Windows operating system and will be installed (and updated) on ''C:\''
--rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2.6G Aug 24 15:24 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
+  * The Linux installation(s) will be installed (and updated) on ''C:\''
-</code>
+    * They can only be relocated to other partitions afterwards
-<code>stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ df -h | grep drivers
+  * => We should **start with at least 10 Gb of free space on ''C:\''** (but more space is always better and safer)
-drivers         472G  116G  356G  25% /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
+    * The initial installation will not use much space (2-3 Gb), but we always need space on ''C:\'' for other applications and Windows maintenance (temporary files, updates, ...)
-stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ du -sh /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
+<WRAP center round alert 60%>
+FIXME The rather technical //Disk usage// sections below should be moved somewhere else!
+</WRAP>
+=== How does it work? ===
+WSL+Linux seems to use a combination of actual Windows files/folders and ''ext4'' Linux partitions stored in ''.vhdx'' ([[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-vhdx/83f6b700-6216-40f0-aa99-9fcb421206e2|Dynamic Virtual Hard Disk]]) files. The Linux disk (of type ''ext4'') is stored in a single ''some_name.vhdx'' Windows file that will automatically grow until it reaches a predefined maximum size of 256 Gb (if there is enough space on the Windows disk...)
+  * Check [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/vhd-size|Expand the size of your WSL 2 Virtual Hard Disk]] if you need more than 256 Gb
+  * Check the following threads if you want to reduce the size of the ''vhdx'' file:
+    * [[https://superuser.com/questions/1606213/how-do-i-get-back-unused-disk-space-from-ubuntu-on-wsl2|How do I get back unused disk space from ubuntu on wsl2?]]
+    * [[https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4699#issuecomment-1136319012|WSL 2 should automatically release disk space back to the host OS]]
+      * [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/hyper-v/optimize-vhd?view=windowsserver2019-ps|Optimize-VHD]]
+=== Disks seen from Linux ===
+The disks and partitions usage, as seen from Linux, can be displayed with ''df -h''
+<code>stdu@sadira034:~$ df -h
+Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
+/dev/sdb        251G  1.5G  237G   1% /
+tmpfs           6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /mnt/wsl
+tools           472G  118G  355G  25% /init
+none            6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /dev
+none            6.2G  8.0K  6.2G   1% /run
+none            6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /run/lock
+none            6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /run/shm
+none            6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /run/user
+tmpfs           6.2G     0  6.2G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
+drivers         472G  118G  355G  25% /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
+lib             472G  118G  355G  25% /usr/lib/wsl/lib
+C:\             472G  118G  355G  25% /mnt/c
+D:\             480G  2.6G  478G   1% /mnt/d</code>
+  * The ''251G'' //Size// of ''/'' depends on the [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/vhd-size|256G default size]] of the growing virtual disk where Linux is installed
+  * The ''/mnt/c'' and ''/mnt/d'' are the way to access the Windows ''C:'' and ''D:'' disks from Linux, and their //Size// is the actual size of the Windows disks
+  * Some //Filesystems// like ''drivers'' are actually Windows file systems!
+    * <code>stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ du -sh /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
 .1G    /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
@@ Line 71: / Line 103: @@
 .1G    /mnt/c/Windows/System32/DriverStore/</code>
-FIXME
-  * //Enough// space on ''C:\''. Microsoft instructions say //The Windows Subsystem for Linux only runs on your system drive (usually this is your C: drive)//
+=== Some important disk locations ===
-    * Exporting a //simple// Ubuntu configuration (after doing everything from //Base installation// to //Advanced configuration// below) with the [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup_of_the_linux_running_in_wsl|wsl --export]] command generated a 2.7 Gb tar file (uncompressed), so it's probably good to **start with at least 3 Gb of free space on ''C:\''** (and you always need to keep enough free space on ''C:\'' for regular Windows operation)
-    * The Linux ''/'' and ''/home'' partitions will always be on ''C:'', but the data files can be on any Windows disk/partition (or external drive) of the computer
+  * Accessing **Windows files from Linux**: ''/mnt/''\\ e.g ''C:\'' is available in ''/mnt/c''
-      * the Windows partitions will be available and accessible in ''/mnt/'', so you can store data on other partitions (e.g. the content of the Windows ''D:\'' partition will be available in ''/mnt/d'' in Linux)
-    * The files will be installed in **hidden partitions of the current user's directory on ''C:\''**: e.g. ''C:\Users\<your_login>''. Other users of the same Windows 10 computer would have to install Ubuntu again, in their own user directory
+  * Accessing **Linux files from the Windows Explorer**: ''\\wsl$''
-      * Checking the properties of ''C:\Users\<your_login>'' will **not** report an accurate size and number of files, because lots of files and directories are hidden! On the test laptop, the reported size of the user backed up directory (with [[other:win10apps#syncbackfree|SyncBackFree]]) was ~20 Gb (user data, WSL+Ubuntu, custom install of the CDAT 8.1 python distribution)
-      * Be sure to monitor the remaining free space on ''C:''!
+  * WSL+Ubuntu installation:
-  * Note: it seems that [[other:win10wsl#restoring_a_wsl_backup|wsl --import]] can restore a backed-up Linux to a user specified location. Maybe this can be used for moving Ubuntu...
+    * Main directory: ''C:\Users\your_login\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc''
-    * Check [[https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues/412|how to move the vhdx of wsl2 to other disk]] and [[https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4320|[WSL 2] move VHD File]] for relocating a WSL (1 or 2) installation if you don't have enough space on ''C:''
+    * //vhdx// file: ''C:\Users\jypeter\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState\ext4.vhdx''
+      * <code>stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
+-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1.2G Aug 24 15:20 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx</code>
+  * Linux //swap// (virtual memory) file:
+    * <code>stdu@sadira034:~$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx
+-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 63M Aug 24 14:52 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Temp/swap.vhdx</code>
+=== Sample disk usage ===
+  * Disk size after the initial installation of //Ubuntu 20.04 LTS//\\ ''-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1.2G Aug 24 15:20 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx''
+  * Disk size after upgrading to //Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS// with ''sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade''\\ ''-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2.6G Aug 24 15:24 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx''
 ===== Base installation =====
@@ Line 225: / Line 270: @@
 Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
 Release:        20.04
-Codename:       focal</code>
+Codename:       focal
+stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ cat /etc/*release*
+DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
+DISTRIB_RELEASE=20.04
+DISTRIB_CODENAME=focal
+DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS"
+NAME="Ubuntu"
+VERSION="20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
+ID=ubuntu
+ID_LIKE=debian
+PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS"
+VERSION_ID="20.04"
+HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
+SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
+BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
+PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
+VERSION_CODENAME=focal
+UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal</code>
     * [[other:win10wsl#updating_wsl_and_ubuntu|More details about updating WSL and/or Ubuntu]] (you can safely skip this for now)
@@ Line 964: / Line 1027: @@
 ===== Miscellaneous =====
+==== Updating WSL 1 to WSL 2 ====
+<code>PS C:\Users\jypeter> wsl --update
+Recherche de mises à jour en cours... Veuillez patienter
+Aucune mise à jour n’est disponible.
+Version du noyau : 5.10.102.1
+PS C:\Users\jypeter> wsl --status
+Distribution par défaut : Ubuntu
+Version par défaut : 2
+La dernière mise à jour effectuée du Sous-système Windows pour Linux date du 24/08/2022
+Les mises à jour WSL automatiques sont activées.
+Version du noyau : 5.10.102.1</code>
+==== Potentially useful stuff ====
   * Determining from **inside** the running Linux if you are using WSL (or another type of virtual machine)\\ <code>$ systemd-detect-virt

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