====== Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2), and Ubuntu ======
[[other:index#windows_10_notes|Other Windows 10 related notes]]
JYP is still working on this page! Some content may be out of date, or still related to WSL 1
* What is described on this page was tested with [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions#whats-new-in-wsl-2|WSL 2]].\\ **WSL 2** is available in [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual#step-2---check-requirements-for-running-wsl-2|Windows 11 or Windows 10, Version 1903, Build 18362 or later]]
* You can also check JYP's [[other:win10_wsl_1|original WSL 1 instructions]]
* ...but even **if you need WSL 1, you should use this page for installing WSL, and then switch to WSL 1** with [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#set-default-wsl-version|--set-default-version]] or [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#set-wsl-version-to-1-or-2|--set-version]]
* The user can choose to install Linux using **WSL 1 or WSL 2**
* **WSL 2 should be your default choice**
* If you have doubts, check the [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions|differences between WSL1 and WSL2]] and read [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions#exceptions-for-using-wsl-1-rather-than-wsl-2|Exceptions for using WSL 1 rather than WSL 2]] before choosing
The commands on this page have to be typed:
* either in **Windows PowerShell terminals**
* or in **bash terminals running in WSL**
It should be clear enough which type of terminal you have to use
===== What is WSL ? =====
//Windows Subsystem for Linux// (**WSL**) lets you **run a Linux distribution on your Windows computer**, without the overhead of a traditional Virtual Machine (VM) or dual-boot setup
More reading:
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about|What is the Windows Subsystem for Linux? (and WSL 2)]]
* [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WSL#What_is_WSL.3F|What is WSL?]] on the Ubuntu wiki site
===== Prerequisites =====
==== Windows version ====
* A computer running [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual#step-2---check-requirements-for-running-wsl-2|Windows 11 or Windows 10, Version 1903, Build 18362 or later]]
* [[other:win10maintain#checking_the_installed_version|Check the installed version on your computer]]\\ If you don't have the Windows version required for running WSL, you can:
* [[other:win10misc#windows_10_versions|Check the available Windows versions]]
* [[other:win10maintain#updating_windows_10|Check if you can update Windows]]
==== The basics before starting ====
Once you have verified that your Windows is recent enough, you should also:
* **Install the [[other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows terminal]]**
* Once //Ubuntu// is installed, there will be additional ways to open [[other:win10wsl#opening_a_terminal|Linux terminals]]
* **Know how to use copy-paste** in a //Windows Terminal//, a //PowerShell// or a ''cmd'' interpreter
* It should work more or less the same way everywhere as in a [[other:win10apps#windows_cmd_command_interpreter|cmd interpreter]]
* Follow the instructions to **be able to [[other:win10config#displaying_hidden_folders_and_files_and_the_files_extension|see hidden folders and files i n the Windows explorer]]**
* **Have some basic knowledge of Linux**...
* Get some [[other:newppl:starting#useful_documentation_for_beginners|basic Linux documentation]] if required
==== Computer CPU and memory ====
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**!
* You should be able to //play// with WSL even with 8 Gb of RAM, but 16 Gb is recommended
* 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... :-)
==== Disk usage ====
=== Overview ===
* ''WSL'' is part of the Windows operating system and will be installed (and updated) on ''C:\''
* The Linux installation(s) will be installed (and updated) on ''C:\''
* They can only be relocated to other partitions afterwards
* => We should **start with at least 10 Gb of free space on ''C:\''** (but more space is always better and safer)
* 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, ...)
FIXME The rather technical //Disk usage// sections below should be moved somewhere else!
=== 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''
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
* 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!
* stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ du -sh /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
9.1G /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
stdu@sadira034:/usr/lib/wsl/drivers$ du -sh /mnt/c/Windows/System32/DriverStore/
9.1G /mnt/c/Windows/System32/DriverStore/
=== Some important disk locations ===
* Accessing **Windows files from Linux**: ''/mnt/''\\ e.g ''C:\'' is available in ''/mnt/c''
* Accessing **Linux files from the Windows Explorer**: ''\\wsl$''
* WSL+Ubuntu installation:
* Main directory: ''C:\Users\your_login\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc''
* //vhdx// file: ''C:\Users\jypeter\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState\ext4.vhdx''
* stdu@sadira034:~$ 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
* Linux //swap// (virtual memory) file:
* 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
=== 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''
* Size of the [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup_of_the_linux_running_in_wsl|backup tar file]] of this installation, generated with ''%%wsl --export%%'': ~1.4 Gb
==== Hyper-V requirements ====
You can skip reading this WSL //requirement// if you are installing WSL for the first time, and are therefore directly installing WSL 2
Come back here later (only) if you have problems
WSL 2 needs the //Virtual Machine Platform// to be enabled on your computer. If you have never used WSL before, you can probably go directly to the [[other:win10wsl#base_installation|Base installation]] section and ''wsl'' should install everything correctly
If you have problems (e.g. [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting#error-0x80370102-the-virtual-machine-could-not-be-started-because-a-required-feature-is-not-installed|The virtual machine could not be started because a required feature is not installed]]), or if you are updating WSL 1 to WSL 2, type ''systeminfo'' in a PowerShell to check if your machine meets the [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/reference/hyper-v-requirements?source=recommendations#verify-hardware-compatibility|Hyper-V requirements]]
If you get a ''No'' for one of the ''Hyper-V requirements'', check the //virtualization// settings in your [[other:bios#entering_the_bios|computer BIOS]].\\ You can have a look at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization|x86 virtualization]] wikipedia page if you are wondering what ''VT-x'' and ''VT-d'' means for //Intel// processors (''AMD-v'' and ''AMD IOMMU'' for //AMD//)
Example: HP laptop with an **Intel** CPU, and **virtualization not activated in the BIOS**
* //Hyper-V// section of the ''systeminfo'' output
* Configuration requise pour Hyper-V: Extensions de mode du moniteur d’ordinateur virtuel : Oui
Virtualisation activée dans le microprogramme : Non
Traduction d’adresse de second niveau : Oui
Prévention de l’exécution des données disponible : Oui
* //Virtualization// section of the [[other:bios#entering_the_bios|HP BIOS]]: you need to **enable ''Virtualization Technology (VTx)'' and ''Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VTd)''** in the BIOS, save the settings and finish booting
* {{ :other:hp_bios_vtx_vtd.png?direct&600 |}}
* //Hyper-V// section of the ''systeminfo'' output with **virtualization activated in the BIOS** (after activation and reboot)
* Virtualisation activée dans le microprogramme : Oui
=== Hyper-V related information ===
Miscellaneous technical links and information, in case we need this later...
* [[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/|Virtualization documentation]]
* [[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/api/|Hyper-V APIs]]
* ''hcsdiag list'' and ''hcsdiag kill ''
===== Base installation =====
* [[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027538/windows-create-a-system-restore-point|Create a system restore point]] ([[https://support.microsoft.com/fr-fr/help/4027538/windows-create-a-system-restore-point|Créer un point de restauration système]]), and give it a meaningful name (e.g. //Before installing WSL//), in the very unlikely case you have to restore it later (i.e. go back to a state where //WSL// was not activated)
* The steps below (based on [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install|Install Linux on Windows with WSL]]) will work if you have //Windows 10 version 2004 and higher (Build 19041 and higher) or Windows 11//
* If you have an older Windows version (at least //Version 1903, Build 18362//), follow the [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual|Manual installation steps for older versions of WSL]]
* Open a ''PowerShell'' in //administrator// mode
* ''Start''=>''W''=>''Windows PowerShell'' then right-click on ''Windows PowerShell'' and select //Run as Administrator//
* Use a [[https://wiki.lsce.ipsl.fr/pmip3/doku.php/other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows Terminal]], if you have already installed it. Use ''CTRL''+ on ''Windows Powershell'' in the pull-down menu to get a ''Powershell'' in //administrator// mode
* Determine which Linux distributions are (directly) available for installation.\\ We will use the default ''Ubuntu'' distribution
* ''Ubuntu'' will always automatically upgrade to the latest ''LTS'' release available (contrary to ''Ubuntu-.04'' that will stick to the specified '''' release)
* We could specify a specific Linux version (or even [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-distro|import any Linux distribution]], or [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/build-custom-distro|create a custom Linux distribution]]!)
* PS C:\> wsl --list --online
NAME FRIENDLY NAME
* Ubuntu Ubuntu
Debian Debian GNU/Linux
kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling
openSUSE-42 openSUSE Leap 42
SLES-12 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v12
Ubuntu-16.04 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu-18.04 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
* Install the latest //Ubuntu LTS// version available\\ This step will run pretty quickly\\ PS C:\> wsl --install -d Ubuntu
Installation en cours : Plateforme de machine virtuelle
Plateforme de machine virtuelle a été installé.
Installation en cours : Sous-système Windows pour Linux
Sous-système Windows pour Linux a été installé.
Téléchargement en cours : Noyau WSL
Installation en cours : Noyau WSL
Noyau WSL a été installé.
Téléchargement en cours : Ubuntu
L’opération demandée est réussie. Les modifications ne seront pas effectives avant que le système ne soit réamorcé.
* Reboot the computer and be patient
* This step will take some time (make sure you have 15-30 mn available). Windows will install and configure what it needs for running //WSL+Ubuntu//, reboot, and install some more //stuff//
* The final installation step will take place when you open your Windows session. A terminal opens, displaying the final installation of Ubuntu, and asking you for a username and password, and giving you access to a ''bash'' prompt\\ [[other:win10wsl#wsl_security_warning|Do not use an existing password for the Linux installation]]
* Installing, this may take a few minutes...
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: stdu
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo ".
See "man sudo_root" for details.
Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.10.16.3-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64)
* Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com
* Management: https://landscape.canonical.com
* Support: https://ubuntu.com/advantage
System information as of Tue Aug 23 17:32:20 CEST 2022
System load: 0.0 Processes: 8
Usage of /: 0.4% of 250.98GB Users logged in: 0
Memory usage: 0% IPv4 address for eth0: 172.20.23.145
Swap usage: 0%
stdu@sadira034:~$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash
* Note: after installing (even from the PowerShell command line), Ubuntu will appear as a regular installed application in the //Microsoft Store// and the list of applications
* {{ :other:ubuntu_ms-store.png?direct&400 |}}
* {{ :other:ubuntu_applications.png?direct&400 |}}
* Get some information about your new ''Ubuntu'' installation
* $ lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS
* [[other:win10wsl#linux_version_installed|More information]] example
* Disk usage example
* $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb 251G 1.1G 238G 1% /
tmpfs 6.2G 0 6.2G 0% /mnt/wsl
tools 472G 112G 361G 24% /init
none 6.2G 0 6.2G 0% /dev
none 6.2G 4.0K 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 112G 361G 24% /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
lib 472G 112G 361G 24% /usr/lib/wsl/lib
C:\ 472G 112G 361G 24% /mnt/c
D:\ 480G 2.6G 478G 1% /mnt/d
* Get some disk usage information about your ''WSL'' installation
* From Windows, the installed files are located in\\ ''C:\Users\jypeter\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc''
* From (inside) WSL, the installed files are in\\ ''/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/''
* stdu@sadira034:/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages$ find /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/ -type f -print
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/Settings/roaming.lock
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/Settings/settings.dat
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/User.dat
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/User.dat.LOG1
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/User.dat.LOG2
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/UserClasses.dat
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/UserClasses.dat.LOG1
/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/SystemAppData/Helium/UserClasses.dat.LOG2
stdu@sadira034:/mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1.2G Aug 24 11:37 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/AppData/Local/Packages/CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc/LocalState/ext4.vhdx
* Note: location of the //vhdx swap file//:
* From windows: ''C:\Users\jypeter\AppData\Local\Temp\swap.vhdx''
* From WSL:\\ 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
* Update //Ubuntu// with: ''sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade''
* stdu@sadira034:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
stdu@sadira034:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
[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]
[...]
278 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:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
* [[other:win10wsl#linux_version_installed|More installed version information]]
* [[other:win10wsl#updating_wsl_and_ubuntu|More details about updating WSL and/or Ubuntu]] (you can safely skip this for now)
* Update the //Linux kernel// used by WSL, after stopping the running WSL instances
* PS C:\> wsl --status
Distribution par défaut : Ubuntu
Version par défaut : 2
La dernière mise à jour effectuée du Sous-système Windows pour Linux date du 23/08/2022
Les mises à jour WSL automatiques sont activées.
Version du noyau : 5.10.16
PS C:\> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Running 2
PS C:\> wsl --terminate Ubuntu
PS C:\> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
PS C:\> wsl --update
Recherche de mises à jour en cours... Veuillez patienter
Téléchargement de mises à jour en cours... Veuillez patienter.
Installation en cours des mises à jour... Veuillez patienter
Cette modification sera effective au prochain redémarrage complet de WSL. Pour forcer un redémarrage, exécutez « wsl --shutdown ».
Version du noyau : 5.10.102.1
PS C:\> wsl --status
[...]
Version du noyau : 5.10.102.1
PS C:\> wsl cat /proc/version
Linux version 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (oe-user@oe-host) (x86_64-msft-linux-gcc (GCC) 9.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.34.0.20200220) #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022
* Create a [[other:win10wsl#backup_of_a_full_linux_installation|backup of the newly installed distribution]]
* This will allow you to easily [[other:win10wsl#restoring_or_relocating_a_linux_installation|restore or relocate your distribution later]]
===== After the base installation =====
After completing the base installation steps, you get a //Ubuntu// machine with:
* a //root// and //user// account
* the //user// account is pre-configured to use ''sudo'' for commands that need root access
* pre-installed base Linux applications
* **no** graphics
* enough to play a bit with a Linux computer and test that the installation is working, but not enough to do some real work
==== Opening a terminal ====
Having a terminal you can efficiently interact with is the basis of your future work with WSL+Ubuntu!
* Read the sub-sections below to find out the different ways to open //terminals//
* Opening the first terminal (after opening a regular Windows session) will start WSL+Ubuntu
* The next terminals will open instantly (because Ubuntu is already running)
* Closing all terminals will not stop WSL+Ubuntu. Read the [[#rebooting_wsl|rebooting WSL section]] if you need a clean start of WSL without rebooting Windows
Optional reading (if you really have time):
* [[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/4126/what-is-the-exact-difference-between-a-terminal-a-shell-a-tty-and-a-con|What is the exact difference between a 'terminal', a 'shell', a 'tty' and a 'console'?]]
* [[https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/conemu-vs-hyper-vs-terminus-vs-mobaxterm-terminator-vs-ubuntu-wsl|ConEmu vs Hyper vs Terminus vs MobaXTerm Terminator vs Ubuntu WSL]] for more details about terminals
=== The default terminal ===
The default terminal will be available without installing extra applications like ''WSLtty'' or the ''Windows Terminal''. It will work for testing WSL, but it is **not recommended** if you want to work comfortably
The **Default WSL+Ubuntu //terminal//** is basically a //bash// shell running inside a regular Windows ''cmd'' text console. You do not need to have an [[other:x_conf#using_an_x_server_on_windows|X server]] running to use it!
There are several ways to open a default terminal:
* Type ''wsl''+'''' in the (Cortana) Search field on the task bar
* The other ways listed below **will only work as supposed if you have not [[other:win10wsl#restoring_or_relocating_a_linux_installation|restored or relocated a Linux installation]]!**\\ If you are using a restored/relocated installation, this will trigger a re-installation of the default Ubuntu on ''C:\''. Not a major problem, but it will use some unwanted space on ''C:\'' and you will need to [[other:win10wsl#uninstalling_wsl_or_a_distribution|use 'wsl --unregister Ubuntu']] to remove this unwanted version
* Type ''ubuntu''+ in the (Cortana) Search field on the task bar
* Select //Ubuntu// from the ''Start'' menu
* Click on the //Ubuntu// icon on the task bar
* if you don't have a //Ubuntu// icon on the task bar yet: right-click on the //Ubuntu// icon (in the ''Start'' menu) -> More -> Pin to the task bar
* to open more terminals: right-click on the //Ubuntu// icon on the task bar -> Ubuntu
== Copy/paste in the default terminal ==
Check this [[other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows Terminal]] section
=== The WSLtty terminal ===
* This is **the recommended (by JYP) option for now**, until we can use regular Linux select-copy/paste in the Windows Terminal ([[https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/7646|Feature request: add xterm-style select/copy/paste options]])
* If you can't open a ''WSLtty'' terminal after upgrading from ''WSL'' to ''WSL 2'', install the latest version of WSLtty !
[[https://github.com/mintty/wsltty|WSLtty]] allows you to use the efficient //Mintty// as a terminal for WSL. **You do not need to have an [[other:x_conf#using_an_x_server_on_windows|X server]] running to use it!**
* Use [[https://github.com/mintty/wsltty#windows-package-manager|winget]] (in a PowerShell) to install WSLtty
* PS C:\Users\your_login> winget install wsltty
Trouvé WSLtty [Mintty.WSLtty] Version 3.6.0
[...]
Installé correctement
* After installing WSLtty, you will get **several new ways to open a terminal**:
* **A ''WSL terminal'' icon on the desktop, that will be //The Way to open a terminal//**
* ''Start'' => ''U'' => ''Ubuntu terminal'' (or ''Ubuntu_custom terminal'' or something similar if you have [[other:win10wsl#restoring_or_relocating_a_linux_installation|restored/relocated a Linux installation]])
* ''Start'' => ''W'' => ''WSL Terminal'' in the ''Start'' menu
* There is also a ''W'' => ''WSLtty'' folder, than you probably will not need (more details in [[https://github.com/mintty/wsltty#configuration|Configuration]]), except possibly ''configure WSL shortcuts'' (//run after adding or removing WSL distributions, in order to create the respective set of shortcuts in the Start menu//)
* Open a terminal and right-click in it to check the available options
* **Recommended //text// options**:
* use the ''Text'' option to select the nice //Cascadia Code// font bundled with the [[other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows Terminal]]
* if you don't automatically get the ''en_US.UTF8'' localization in WSLtty when trying to [[other:win10wsl#specifying_a_correct_system_language|specify a correct system language]], explicitly force //Locale//=''en_US'' and //Character set//=''UTF-8'' in the text options
* {{ :other:wsltty_text_options.png?direct&250 |}}
* You can access even more options with CTRL+right-click
* Note: the WSLtty (non-default) settings are stored in: ''C:\Users\jypeter\AppData\Roaming\wsltty\config''
* You can cycle between the open WSLtty terminals with CTRL+Tab and Shift+CTRL+Tab
* Extra [[https://github.com/mintty/mintty/wiki|technical stuff]] (on the Mintty wiki)
=== The Windows Terminal ===
The [[other:win10apps#windows_terminal|Windows Terminal]] is really nice and powerful, and will become the recommended (by JYP) option as soon as we can use regular Linux select-copy/paste ([[https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/7646|Feature request: add xterm-style select/copy/paste options]])
=== Terminals started from Linux ===
You can [[other:win10wsl#adding_useful_packages|install additional graphical terminals in the Linux installation]], but **you will need to have a running [[other:x_conf#using_an_x_server_on_windows|X server]] if you want to open them**. In these terminals, the //usual// Linux copy/paste rules will apply!
* ''xterm'' package
* ''xfce4-terminal'' package
==== Where are the files? ====
=== Accessing Linux files from the Windows Explorer ===
* You can access the Linux files in ''/'' from Windows by opening the //virtual// ''\\wsl$'' path in the Windows explorer
* Your Linux //home// directory is located in ''\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\''
* There will be some content in ''\\wsl$'' only if a Linux installation is running (i.e. it shows as //Running// in ''wsl -l -v'')
* It's useful to [[[other:win10config#local_linux_folders|create a shortcut to wsl$ on the desktop]]
=== Accessing Windows files from Linux ===
When you are in a Windows //explorer// window, you can directly open a Linux terminal in a specific directory by holding Shift and right-clicking on a directory and selecting //Ouvrir l'interpréteur de commandes Linux ici// (//Open the Linux command line here//?) in the context menu.
The Windows partitions are mounted under ''/mnt'' in Linux:
$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb 251G 1.5G 237G 1% /
[...]
C:\ 472G 121G 351G 26% /mnt/c
D:\ 480G 4.2G 476G 1% /mnt/d
Read the [[#mounting_disks_and_network_drives|Mounting disks and network drives]] section if you want to access remote server disks on your local network, or just want to access USB disks/sticks on your local computer.
=== Misc ===
* The ''wslpath'' command can be used to make Windows<->Linux path conversion
* FIXME More technical WSL disks information (move the disk technical information to the advanced usage section, and link to it)
==== Linux version installed ====
You can use the following commands to get some information about WSL and the currently installed Linux
$ date
Tue Sep 13 16:48:10 CEST 2022
$ env | grep WSL
WSL_DISTRO_NAME=Ubuntu_custom
WSL_INTEROP=/run/WSL/12_interop
WSL_GUEST_IP=192.168.113.203
WSLENV=
WSL_HOST_IP=192.168.112.1
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (oe-user@oe-host) (x86_64-msft-linux-gcc (GCC) 9.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.34.0.20200220) #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022
$ uname -a
Linux sadira034 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/*release*
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=20.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=focal
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.5 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.5 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
==== Ubuntu packages installed ====
$ dpkg --list | head -n 10
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============================-=================================-============-===============================================================================
ii accountsservice 0.6.55-0ubuntu12~20.04.5 amd64 query and manipulate user account information
ii adduser 3.118ubuntu2 all add and remove users and groups
ii alsa-topology-conf 1.2.2-1 all ALSA topology configuration files
ii alsa-ucm-conf 1.2.2-1ubuntu0.13 all ALSA Use Case Manager configuration files
ii apparmor 2.13.3-7ubuntu5.1 amd64 user-space parser utility for AppArmor
$ dpkg --list > /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/Ubuntu_Installed_List_`date +"%y-%m-%d"`.txt
$ wc -l /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/Ubuntu_Installed_List_*.txt
642 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/Ubuntu_Installed_List_22-08-29.txt
Full (example) list of installed packages: {{ :other:ubuntu_installed_list_22-08-29.txt |}}
==== Update ubuntu ====
Use the following to update your ubuntu installation:
''$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade''
or $ sudo -s
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get upgrade
==== Managing WSL ====
This is just place to store some technical information, that will probably not be needed by most people
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#managing-multiple-linux-distributions|command-line options]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#set-wsl-launch-settings|Changing the start-up settings]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windows/wsl/interop#invoking-wsl-from-the-windows-command-line|Invoking WSL from the Windows Command Line]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windows/wsl/interop#invoking-windows-binaries-from-wsl|Invoking Windows binaries from WSL]]
* News in the [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/|Windows Command Line Tools For Developers]] WSL blog
===== Getting ready for some real work =====
We often assume below that you are using the **root** account (with ''sudo -s'', or ''sudo'') when executing the ''apt*'' installation commands, and other //admin// commands
==== Create a backup before starting ====
Nothing will go wrong, but it does not hurt to [[other:win10wsl#backup_of_a_full_linux_installation|save an image of your full installation]], in case you want to try some really different settings later.
==== Specifying a correct system language ====
WSL will automatically try to use in the terminals the same language as the one used by the Windows computer, but this could lead later to some difficult to debug **side-effects** when you connect to remote Linux servers (e.g. the ''sort'' command may give different results !).
It is **safer** to [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting#changing-the-display-language|force the Linux installation to use a standard English localization]]. The ''update-locale'' command will change the content of the ''/etc/default/locale'' file
$ sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF8
$ echo $LANG
en_US.UTF8
$ locale -v
LANG=en_US.UTF8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF8"
[...]
LC_ALL=
After updating the system //localization// (and possibly restarting ''wsl'' with ''%%wsl --shutdown%%''), open the [[other:win10wsl#opening_a_terminal|available terminals]] and type ''echo $LANG'' in order to check that are indeed getting ''en_US.UTF8''
If you are still not getting ''en_US.UTF8'' in some terminals (e.g. you are still getting ''C.UTF-8''), you can check if you can override the //localization// options in the terminals settings. Check the [[other:win10wsl#the_wsltty_terminal|Text options of the WSLtty terminals]]
==== Package management ====
=== How does it work ? ===
* **Ubuntu applications** are distributed through package files in **//Debian// format** (''.deb'' files) that are found in [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Applications#Software_repositories|software repositories]]
* High level package management tools such as ''aptitude'' or ''synaptic'' rely on ''apt'' which, itself, relies on ''dpkg'' to manage the packages in the system
* The ''apt'' tool merges functionality of ''apt-get'' and ''apt-cache'' and by default has a fancier colored output format, making it more pleasant for humans. For usage in scripts or advanced use cases, ''apt-get'' is still preferable or needed
* ''apt*'' tools and ''dpkg'' are pre-installed on Ubuntu
* [[https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkgtools.en.html#aptitude|aptitude]] can be used on the command-line or through a **text-based interface**
* You do not need to have an [[other:x_conf|X server]] running to use ''aptitude'', therefore aptitude can be used in the early stages of a Linux installation, or on a remote Linux computer
* [[https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkgtools.en.html#synaptic|synaptic]] is a graphical package manager
* You need to have an [[other:x_conf|X server]] running in order to use it
* All the details can be found in [[https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkgtools.en.html|The Debian package management tools]]
=== What about snap ? ===
FIXME [[https://snapcraft.io/docs|Snap documentation]]
=== Installing extra package managers ===
* Installation: ''sudo apt install aptitude synaptic''
* It may install lots of dependencies, but that's to be expected if no other packages have been installed yet\\ $ sudo apt install aptitude synaptic
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
[...]
The following NEW packages will be installed:
adwaita-icon-theme aptitude aptitude-common at-spi2-core cpp cpp-9 fontconfig gcc-9-base
[...]
x11-xserver-utils xdg-utils
0 upgraded, 129 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 31.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 137 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
* Documentation:
* ''apt'':
* EN: [[https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkgtools.en.html#apt-get|apt @ Debian]]\\ [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto|Package management with APT @ Ubuntu]]
* FR: [[https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/apt-cli|apt @ ubuntu-fr]]
* ''aptitude'':
* EN: [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptitudeSurvivalGuide|Aptitude Survival Guide @ Ubuntu]]
* FR: [[https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/aptitude|aptitude @ ubuntu-fr]]
* ''synaptic'':
* EN: [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto|synaptic Howto @ Ubuntu]]
* FR: [[https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/synaptic|synaptic @ ubuntu-fr]]
=== Some useful commands ===
* ''apt update'': update the list of packages known by your system
* ''apt upgrade'': upgrade all the packages on your system
* ''apt search word'': find packages whose description contain ''word''
* ''apt install foo'': install the ''foo'' package and all its dependencies
* ''apt show package'': print the detailed information of a package
* ''apt remove foo'': remove the foo package from your system
* ''dpkg -l'': list installed packages
* ''dpkg -L package_name'': list files installed from ''package_name''
* ''dpkg -S path/command'': name of the package used to install ''path/command''
=== Example ===
$ dpkg -l | grep -i wsl
ii ubuntu-wsl 1.450.2 amd64 Ubuntu on Windows tools - Windows Subsystem for Linux integration
ii wslu 2.3.6-0ubuntu2~20.04.0 all collection of utilities for the Windows 10 Linux Subsystem
$ dpkg -L wslu
/.
/usr
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/wslfetch
/usr/bin/wslsys
/usr/bin/wslupath
/usr/bin/wslusc
/usr/bin/wslvar
/usr/bin/wslview
[...]
$ apt show wslu
Package: wslu
Version: 2.3.6-0ubuntu2~20.04.0
[...]
Description: collection of utilities for the Windows 10 Linux Subsystem
[...]
=== Adding useful packages ===
There is not that much installed by default in Ubuntu, and we use ''apt insall'' to get ready for some real work!
$ sudo apt install gcc libglu1-mesa mesa-utils x11-apps xterm xfce4-terminal emacs evince eog imagemagick nco cdo netcdf-bin ncview
Notes:
* Some of the installed packages (''nco cdo netcdf-bin ncview'') are used for handling data files in //NetCDF format// may not be useful to people outside LSCE
* Adding lots of extra packages requires **much more disk space**, and the size of the ''.vhdx'' will increase significantly!
* $ ls -lh /mnt/d/WSL_Distributions/Ubuntu_custom/ext4.vhdx
4.7G Sep 16 18:02 /mnt/d/WSL_Distributions/Ubuntu_custom/ext4.vhdx
* Size of the [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup|backup]] after adding the extra packages: we go from 549 Mb to 1.2 Gb!\\ 1.2G Sep 19 13:52 WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-09-19.tar.gz
==== Using an X server ====
You will need to have an **X server** running locally on your Windows 10 machine if you want to display graphics generated by the Linux running locally, or on a remote server. Applications running in text mode only (e.g. ''vi'') do not require a running X server.
You will get a //Can't open display// error if no server is running (even if the ''DISPLAY'' variable is correctly defined)
your_login@your_machine:~$ echo $DISPLAY
localhost:0.0
your_login@your_machine:~$ xterm &
xterm: Xt error: Can't open display: localhost:0.0
[Everything is fine after starting a local X server]
jyour_login@your_machine:~$ xterm &
[1] 55
==== Installing an X server ====
Read the [[other:x_conf|Installing and configuring an X server]] page
==== Configuration (in your local Linux account) ====
* Set the ''DISPLAY'' variable in the shell by hand, or automatically in the shell configuration file(s):
* //bash// shell: ''export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0''\\ Can be defined in the ''~/.bashrc'' file
* //tcsh// shell: ''setenv DISPLAY localhost:0.0''\\ Can be defined in the ''~/.login'', or the ''~/.cshrc'' file
* Warning! ''export DISPLAY=:0.0'' will also work for using graphics locally, but **will fail when trying to use graphics on a remote computer**, with a ''connect /tmp/.X11-unix/X0: No such file or directory'' error message ([[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/57138/why-does-my-x11-forwarding-attempt-fail-with-connect-tmp-x11-unix-x0-no-such/|source]])
* FIXME **//X server// and WSL2** : check ''export DISPLAY=$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2}'):0.0'' in [[https://solvercube.com/how-to-install-ubuntu-20-04-on-windows-using-wsl/|How to install Ubuntu 20.04 on Windows using WSL]]
===== Updating WSL and ubuntu =====
You don't have to worry about the //Upgrade// section if you have just installed WSL+Ubuntu, because you are already using the latest Ubuntu stable release!
==== WSL ====
**Nothing to do!** WSL is automatically updated, provided you have **enabled** the [[other:win10maintain#updating_microsoft_office|Get updates for other Microsoft products]] option
[[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#managing-multiple-linux-distributions| WSL command line options]]
==== Updating ubuntu ====
The ''Ubuntu **16**.04.3 LTS'' that was initially installed from the //Windows Store// when the test computer was running ''Win 10 1709'' was automatically updated to ''Ubuntu **18**.04.2 LTS'' when the computer was updated to ''Win 10 1809''.
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic
We also ran the ''do-release-upgrade'' command to complete the upgrade (from 16.04 to 18.04) [ [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/upgrading-ubuntu/|More info from WSL team]] - [[https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/migration|more info from Ubuntu]] ]
And we then ran the usual upgrade commands. These commands can be run any time for updating the installed packages
$ sudo -s
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get upgrade
Full list of the resulting {{ :other:pkg_190221.txt |installed packages}}, generated with
$ dpkg --list >$ dpkg --list > /mnt/h/Scratch/jyp/pkg_190221.txt
$ wc -l /mnt/h/Scratch/jyp/pkg_190221.txt
578 /mnt/h/Scratch/jyp/pkg_190221.txt
==== Upgrading Ubuntu ====
You can skip this section if you have just installed Ubuntu, since you are already running the latest stable release available
The **updates** are for maintaining the same version of Ubuntu (e.g. you go from version ''18.04.2'' to ''18.04.5''), while **upgrades** are for going from one major version to the next (e.g ''16.xx'' => ''18.xx'' => ''20.xx''). We try to only use the stable major releases, that have an even version number.
We use the **LTS versions** (//Long Time Support//) to ensure even more stability, which means that we will get updates of a given major release for quite some time after the next major release is available, so it is not mandatory to upgrade Ubuntu if you are still receiving updates for the (major) release you are using
There should not be any risk, but it may be a good idea to [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup_of_the_linux_running_in_wsl|create a backup]] of your current Ubuntu before upgrading it!
Use ''sudo'' for each command below, or just become root by using ''sudo su -''
* before the Linux upgrade:
* [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup_of_the_linux_running_in_wsl|create a backup]]
* Check how much space is left on ''C:''
* make sure you have a network connection
* read the official WSL [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/upgrading-ubuntu/#upgrading-your-distribution|Upgrading your distribution]] instructions
* Launch the upgrade with the ''do-release-upgrade'' command and follow the instructions
* if you get a //There is no development version of an LTS available// message, use ''do-release-upgrade -d''
* if you get a //Please install all available updates for your release before upgrading// message, use ''apt-get dist-upgrade'' and then try ''do-release-upgrade -d'' again (see [[https://www.liquidweb.com/kb/troubleshooting-please-install-available-updates-release-upgrading/|How to Solve the Upgrade Ubuntu Install Updates Error]])
* if you get ''sleep: cannot read realtime clock: Invalid argument'' error, temporarily replace the ''sleep'' binary with an executable empty file. Do not forget to restore the original sleep command after the upgrade!!
* # sleep 1
sleep: cannot read realtime clock: Invalid argument
# mv /bin/sleep /bin/sleep.back
# ls -l /bin/sleep.back
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35000 Jan 18 2018 /bin/sleep.back
# touch /bin/sleep
# chmod +x /bin/sleep
# sleep 1
#
* Note: you may have to use the //empty sleep command trick// again, if the sleep command itself is updated and breaks the upgrading process again. Do not forget to restore the original sleep command after the upgrade!!\\ [...]
Restarting services possibly affected by the upgrade:
cron: stopping...sleep: cannot read realtime clock: Invalid argument
dpkg: error processing package libpam0g:amd64 (--configure):
installed libpam0g:amd64 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
# ls -l /bin/sleep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39256 Sep 5 2019 /bin/sleep
# mv /bin/sleep /bin/sleep.back2
# touch /bin/sleep
# chmod +x /bin/sleep
#
* see also [[https://www.how2shout.com/how-to/how-to-upgrade-ubuntu-18-04-lts-to-20-04-lts-on-wsl-windows-10.html|How to Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS on WSL (Windows 10)]]
* Do not forget to restore the correct ''sleep'' executable, if you had to move it
* # ls -l /bin/sleep*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 23 23:57 /bin/sleep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35000 Jan 18 2018 /bin/sleep.back
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39256 Sep 5 2019 /bin/sleep.back2
# cp -p /bin/sleep.back2 /bin/sleep
# ls -l /bin/sleep*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39256 Sep 5 2019 /bin/sleep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35000 Jan 18 2018 /bin/sleep.back
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39256 Sep 5 2019 /bin/sleep.back2
==== Cleaning up things ====
* [[https://linoxide.com/how-to-clear-apt-cache/|How to Clear Apt Cache]]
===== Advanced configuration =====
==== Get Linux configuration files ====
* You can either adapt your existing Linux configuration files (''.profile'', ''.bashrc'', ...) from another Linux computer, or download some example files in your WSL home directory and use (and improve) them as suggested below (or as you wish)
* $ cd
$ scp -pr @ssh1.lsce.ipsl.fr:/home/users/jypeter/WSL_config .
* You get a default ''.bashrc'' file in your home directory when your WSL account is created. Add the following line at the end of ''~/.bashrc'' to use what is defined in the downloaded ''WSL_config'' directory:\\ ''source ~/WSL_config/bashrc_extra.sh''
* If you use the //emacs// text editor, you can use your own ''.emacs'' configuration file, or get an example configuration file the following way:
* $ cd
$ ln -s WSL_config/emacs .emacs
* Font configuration (type, size, ...): FIXME
* You can either copy the full ''.ssh'' directory of your Linux account, or just get the //private key// files:
* $ cd
$ scp -pr @ssh1.lsce.ipsl.fr:.ssh .
* Make sure you **also** read the [[other:win10wsl#ssh_agent_and_keys_related_questions|ssh, agent and keys related questions]] section below!
==== ssh, agent and keys related questions ====
This assumes that you have already created a private/public ssh key pair and that the private key is available somewhere in the Windows 10 computer
=== ssh from WSL ===
== Authorizing ssh to use old dsa keys ==
//dsa// ssh keys are disabled by default (becoming obsolete). ''ssh'' will ask for your password even if you have a ''~/.ssh/id_dsa'' file. ''ssh -v'' will print ''Skipping ssh-dss key /home//.ssh/id_dsa - not in PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes''. The solution is to generate a new couple of public/private keys not based on //dsa// encryption, or to use the user ssh ''config'' file to authorize //dsa// ([[https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/247614|source]])
* Add ''PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes +ssh-dss'' to ''~/.ssh/config'' (**before** the ''HOST'' sections)
* Make sure the config file has the correct access rights: ''chmod 600 config''
== Using Putty Pageant as an ssh agent ==
This assumes that you have installed the full [[other:win10apps#putty_pageant|Putty]] package (with the //msi// installer), converted your private ssh key with ''PuTTYgen'', and unlocked the converted ssh private key in Pageant.
The converted ssh private key is located in a Windows 10 folder
* Download the required binaries from the [[https://github.com/vuori/weasel-pageant|weasel-pageant github page]] and extract them to a Windows directory, e.g. ''C:\Utils\weasel-pageant-x.x''
* Add the following line to your ''~/.bashrc'' file:\\ ''eval $(/mnt/c/Utils/weasel-pageant-x.x/weasel-pageant -rb -a $HOME/.weasel-pageant.sock)''
* This is done by default in the ''~/WSL_config/bashrc_extra.sh'' if you have downloaded and adapted it
* Open a new terminal:
* Type ''ssh-add -l'': it will display either ''The agent has no identities'', or as many lines as you have entered keys in Pageant
* Type ''ssh user@host'' to connect to a computer where you have your public key
Note: the other similar solutions are [[https://github.com/rupor-github/ssh-agent-wsl|ssh-agent-wsl]] (the key is stored in the Windows ssh-agent instead of Pageant) or [[https://github.com/benpye/wsl-ssh-pageant|wsl-ssh-pageant]]
== Using Ubuntu as an ssh-agent ==
The ssh key (and other ssh settings) are in the ''~/.ssh'' directory of your WSL+Ubuntu account
This is the most simple setting, **but** there will be one running //ssh-agent// per terminal, and the key will be stored independently for each terminal (which means that you will have to type ''ssh-add'' and your pass-phrase for each terminal)
* It's not possible by default to add a key to ssh-agent ('ssh-add' will print ''Could not open a connection to your authentication agent'')
* If you want to use ''ssh-add'' in a terminal, you first need to type ''eval `ssh-agent -s`'' in the (or ''eval $(ssh-agent)'')
* In that case, it's just easier to add ''eval $(ssh-agent)'' to the ''.bashrc'' file!
* This is done by default in the ''~/WSL_config/bashrc_extra.sh'' if you have downloaded and adapted it
== Notes & TODO ==
* See if a solution appears for [[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/504083/wsl-keeping-ssh-private-key-accessible-as-long-as-i-dont-restart-windows-10-l/|WSL: Keeping ssh private key accessible as long as I don't restart Windows 10 (like the behaviour of pageant)]]
* See if we can use something from [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/sharing-ssh-keys-between-windows-and-wsl-2/|Sharing SSH keys between Windows and WSL 2]]
=== ssh to WSL ===
FIXME Maybe check [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting#openssh-server-connection-issues|OpenSSH-Server connection issues]]
Maybe it could be useful to do a ''ssh'' from the Win10 part of the machine to the WSL part, and from outside the machine to the WSL part
It would probably already be enough to enable the ssh server on Win10 (the [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/using-the-openssh-beta-in-windows-10-fall-creators-update-and-windows-server-1709/|ssh 1709 release beta features]] are now officially in Win10)
[[https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=wsl+ssh|Google search: wsl ssh]]
* [[https://gist.github.com/dentechy/de2be62b55cfd234681921d5a8b6be11|How to automatically start ssh server on boot on Windows Subsystem for Linux]]
* [[https://www.illuminiastudios.com/dev-diaries/ssh-on-windows-subsystem-for-linux/|SSH on Windows Subsystem for Linux]]
* [[https://superuser.com/questions/1123552/how-to-ssh-into-wsl|How to SSH into WSL]]
==== Creating shortcuts to Linux programs on the Windows desktop ====
* Install [[https://github.com/wslutilities/wslu|wslu]] (A collection of utilities for WSL) if it is not already installed
* ''apt-get install wslu''
* Have a quick look at the wslu [[https://github.com/wslutilities/wslu|github]] page and [[https://github.com/wslutilities/wslu/wiki|wiki]] to find about the available tools (that you may need later)
* You can create a shortcut by using ''wslusc'' in any Linux terminal
* e.g. you can create a shortcut on the Windows desktop to start emacs (in WSL!) with:\\ ''wslusc -g emacs''
* This will make it easier to start emacs, but since this is a graphical Linux application, **you need to have an X server running before you click on the emacs shortcut**!
* You can optionally get some information about the [[https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/3404|technical details]]
==== Mounting disks and network drives ====
By default, the local disks and the external USB disks available (and decrypted!) when WSL is started (i.e. when the first WSL terminal is opened) are automatically available (//mounted//) in ''/mnt'' : the content of ''C:\'' is available in ''/mnt/c'', etc... The list of available disks is refreshed when the Windows session is restarted (the user logs out and in, or Windows is rebooted) or when just [[other:win10wsl#rebooting_wsl|WSL is restarted]].
Extra local disks or //network drives// (what you can access by opening ''\\dfshost\dfs\'' in the file explorer when you are on the LSCE network) can be either mounted on the fly with the ''mount'' command, or automatically by configuring the ''/etc/fstab'' file.
You will access the network drives with the access rights you have in the current Windows session (and you may have to access the drives in Windows before you can mount them in WSL)
Warning! In all cases, the owner, groups and permissions displayed may not be accurate (but the actual access rights will apply).
* the user/group of the files may appear as ''your_login''/''your_login'' or ''root''/''root''. Example of a local file belonging to the current Windows //jypeter// user, and a system file
* $ ls -l /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/Desktop/File_on_Desktop.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 jypeter jypeter 0 Jan 21 11:50 /mnt/c/Users/jypeter/Desktop/File_on_Desktop.txt
$ ls -l /mnt/c/Windows/notepad.exe
-r-xr-xr-x 3 jypeter jypeter 181248 Mar 19 2019 /mnt/c/Windows/notepad.exe
* the access rights may appear as ''rwxrwxrwx'' even if the actual rights are more restrictive. Example after mounting the LSCE ''/home/scratch01'' disk
* # File access rights seen from WSL+Ubuntu
$ ls -l /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2755154 Jan 13 15:10 /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
# Actual access rights (on the Linux server)
>ls -l /home/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 jypeter lsce 2755154 Jan 13 15:10 /home/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
# You can't change the access rights from WSL+Ubuntu, but you can remove a file, or create a new one
$ chmod 600 /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
chmod: changing permissions of '/mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip': Operation not permitted
$ rm /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
$ ls -l /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip
ls: cannot access '/mnt/scratch01/jypeter/Chrome_backup.zip': No such file or directory
$ touch /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/new_file_from_wsl.txt
jypeter@lsce5203:/mnt/scratch01/jypeter$ ls -l /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/new_file_from_wsl.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jan 21 11:37 /mnt/scratch01/jypeter/new_file_from_wsl.txt
# The new file has the correct (default) access rights on the Linux server
>ls -l /home/scratch01/jypeter/new_file_from_wsl.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 jypeter lsce 0 Jan 21 11:37 /home/scratch01/jypeter/new_file_from_wsl.txt
=== Enabling metadata ===
Some access rights handling can be slightly improved by automatically enabling the ''metadata'' mount option. This will allow you to use ''chmod''/''chown'' on **local NTFS disks** (disks directly connected to your computer, e.g. ''/mnt/c/Users/your_login'').
- become //root// in a terminal with: ''sudo -s''
- create a ''/etc/wsl.conf'' with the following content:[automount]
options = "metadata"
You need to [[other:win10wsl#rebooting_wsl|restart WSL+ubuntu]] to activate the new content of ''/etc/wsl.conf''. See below an example of the ''mount -l'' output:
* Before: ''C: on /mnt/c type drvfs (rw,noatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,case=off)''
* After enabling //metadata//: ''C: on /mnt/c type drvfs (rw,noatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,metadata,case=off)''
Optional: more details about ''wsl.conf'' in [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#set-wsl-launch-settings|WSL launch settings]], [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/automatically-configuring-wsl/|How to use wsl.conf]] and [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/chmod-chown-wsl-improvements/|metadata and access rights management]]
=== On-the-fly mount ===
You have to create a //mount point// in the existing ''/mnt'' directory and then use the ''mount'' command
# Must be root for most 'mount' related commands
$ sudo -s
# Create the mount point (once), e.g. for accessing /home/scratch01 on the local LSCE servers
# This works when the Windows 10 computer is on the LSCE network
$ mkdir /mnt/scratch01
# Mount the remote disk
$ mount -t drvfs '\\dfshost\dfs\scratch01' /mnt/scratch01
# List the mounted disks
$ mount -l
[...]
\\dfshost\dfs\scratch01 on /mnt/scratch01 type drvfs (rw,relatime,case=off)
# Unmount the disk, or just shutdown Windows or WSL when you are finished
$ umount /mnt/scratch01
If you connect a USB disk/stick and windows sees it as a new ''J:\'' drive, you can also manually mount it
$ sudo -s
# Create the mount point (once)
$ mkdir /mnt/j
# Mount the USB disk
$ mount -t drvfs J: /mnt/j
# Unmount the disk, or just shutdown Windows or WSL when you are finished
$ umount /mnt/j
=== Automatic mount ===
The disks defined in ''/etc/fstab'' will be automatically mounted when you start WSL and if they are actually accessible from your Windows session (e.g. ''\\dfshost\dfs'' can only be accessed from the LSCE network)
You need to add 1 line per mount point to ''/etc/fstab'', and create (once) the directories that will be used for mounting the disks
$ sudo -s
# Create the mount points (once)
# The example below is to access the LSCE /home/users and /home/scrath01 disks
$ mkdir /mnt/users /mnt/scratch01
# Make a backup copy of /etc/fstab before modifying it (for safety reasons!)
$ cp -p /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
# Add lines to /etc/fstab associating mount points and directories
$ cat /etc/fstab
LABEL=cloudimg-rootfs / ext4 defaults 0 0
\\dfshost\dfs\users /mnt/users drvfs defaults 0 0
\\dfshost\dfs\scratch01 /mnt/scratch01 drvfs defaults 0 0
# Try to mount all the disks in /etc/fstab
$ mount -a
# Check the result
$ mount -l
[...]
\\dfshost\dfs\users on /mnt/users type drvfs (rw,relatime,case=off)
\\dfshost\dfs\scratch01 on /mnt/scratch01 type drvfs (rw,relatime,case=off)
=== Accessing remote file systems with sshfs ===
FIXME
It seems this can be done with a combination of [[https://github.com/billziss-gh/winfsp|WinFsp]] and [[https://github.com/billziss-gh/sshfs-win|SSHFS-Win]] (see [[https://superuser.com/questions/1423371/sshfs-remote-directory-mounting-syntax|SSHFS remote directory mounting syntax]] for details
=== Extra resources ===
Useful ''mount'' options:
* ''mount -a'' (must be //root//): mount everything specified in ''/etc/fstab''
* ''umont /mnt/scratch01'' (must be //root//): unmount the disk accessible through ''/mnt/scratch01''
* ''mount -l'': list all the mounted disks and the mount options (useful when you are using the default mount options and want to know which options were actually applied)
Useful links (used for writing this section):
* [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/automatically-configuring-wsl/|Automatically Configuring WSL]]
* [[https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wsl/2017/04/18/file-system-improvements-to-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux/|File System Improvements to the Windows Subsystem for Linux]]
* [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/chmod-chown-wsl-improvements/|Chmod/Chown WSL Improvements]] (the new //metadata// option)
* [[https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/2636|Automount additonal filesystems from fstab]]
* [[https://gist.github.com/sgtoj/f82990bcd9e89db49b84e2d2e70b281d|Ubuntu for Windows: Mounting C: Drive to WSL's Root]]
==== Rebooting WSL ====
It is not possible to **stop or reboot WSL** like a regular Linux computer
* ''shutdown -r now'' will generate an error message
* WSL keeps on running even when all the Linux terminals are closed
Shutting down or rebooting the Windows computer will of course stop WSL but it's useful to be able to just stop/restart WSL in order to:
* force WSL to **recognize new disk drives** and make them available as ''/mnt/
A regular Linux installation (on a Linux-only computer) is fairly secure,\\ but a Linux installation on WSL is not secure at all, **by design**
WSL+Linux is designed to allow you to easily use Linux on Windows, including **very easily using the Linux root account without knowing any password** of the Linux installation!
PS C:\Users\your_login> wsl
wsl_default_user@your_machine:/mnt/c/Users/your_login$ whoami
wsl_default_user
PS C:\Users\your_login> wsl -u root
root@your_machine:/mnt/c/Users/your_login# whoami
root
This is **a feature and not a security issue**, because your installation is protected by your Windows account security
You should be aware (and act accordingly) that:
* Somebody gaining access to your Windows account will also have full access to the Linux installation
* Do not use an existing password for the WSL Linux account\\ Somebody could easily extract your password information...
* Storing data in the Linux part of your computer does not add any extra security
* Always **make sure that only you can access your Windows account**
* Your LSCE Windows laptop (not your desktop) is encrypted with [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/Bitlocker/bitlocker-overview|BitLocker]], which adds some extra security
* Somebody gaining access to a backup of your Linux installation will easily have access to the Linux installation itself
* You can store your Linux installation backup to [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/bitlocker/bitlocker-to-go-faq|an external disk encrypted with BitLocker]]
==== Creating a backup ====
=== Backup of a FULL Linux installation ===
You can use ''wsl'' to [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq#how-can-i-back-up-my-wsl-distributions--or-move-them-from-one-drive-to-another-|save a full Linux installation]] to a //tar// file, that can be:
* used later for //restoring// the full installation
* used for //relocating// the full installation from ''C:\'' to another disk
Detailed [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#export-a-distribution-to-a-tar-file|--export]] example:
* Determine the name of the current Linux installation(s) used in WSL
* > wsl --list --verbose
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu_custom Running 2
* [[other:win10wsl#rebooting_wsl|Stop all running installations]]
* > wsl --shutdown
> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu_custom Stopped 2
* ... or stop just the specific installation that you want to save:\\ ''%%> wsl --terminate Ubuntu_custom%%''
* Export the specified Linux installation to a //tar// file:
* You should export to a directory or external disk where you have //enough// space\\ e.g. The tar file for a [[other:win10wsl#base_installation|newly installed and updated]] //Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS// is ~1.4 Gb (550 Mb after compression)
* You should use a detailed enough file name for the tar file\\ e.g. WSL____.tar
* Example: ''%%wsl --export Ubuntu C:\Scratch\your_login\WSL\WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-10-27.tar%%''
* You can (probably) save a lot of space by compressing the backup
* It is not documented (yet), but the [[https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues/1607|wsl --import]] command (if you need to use it later) can directly import ''tar.gz'' files!
* $ ls -lh /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-10-27.tar
3.3G Oct 27 18:01 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-10-27.tar
$ gzip /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-10-27.tar
$ ls -lh /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_*
549M Aug 29 17:49 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-08-29.tar.gz
548M Sep 14 16:18 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-09-14.tar.gz
1.2G Sep 19 13:52 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-09-19.tar.gz
1.3G Oct 27 18:01 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-10-27.tar.gz
=== Backup of specific directories ===
You can also just create backups of specific directories:
* Your Linux //home// directory (''/home/your_login/''), or some specific sub-directories of the //Ubuntu// running in WSL (sub-directories of ''/''): the best way to save them is probably to **create a //tar// file from Linux**, and put this //tar// file in a specific Windows //WSL backup folder// (we will use below the directory ''/mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL'' or ''c:\Scratch\your_login\WSL'')
* $ cd /home
$ du -sh $USER
88K your_login
# We assume below that there is an existing /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/ directory
# Same directory (seen from WINDOWS) C:\Scratch\your_login\WSL\
$ tar cfz /mnt/c/Scratch/$USER/WSL/${USER}_home_`date +%y-%m-%d_%H%M`.tgz $USER
# Check the size of the new (and existing old) backup(s)
$ ls -ltrh /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/${USER}_*.tgz
5.0K Oct 28 16:09 /mnt/c/Scratch/your_login/WSL/stdu_home_22-10-28_1609.tgz
* Regular Windows folders where you store data used by WSL: you can use ''tar'' in a Linux terminal, as above, or use any usual way of backing up Windows files (drag and drop, some specific [[other:win10apps#backup_software|backup software]])
* WARNING: there should not be performance issues using ''tar'' (from Linux) to make a backup of Windows files with WSL 1, but **WSL 2 is significantly slower than WSL 1 to access Windows files** ([[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions#exceptions-for-using-wsl-1-rather-than-wsl-2|Exceptions for using WSL 1 rather than WSL 2]])
==== Restoring or relocating a Linux installation ====
When we have the ''tar'' file of a [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup|FULL backup]], we can use [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#import-a-new-distribution|--import]] to install or restore it to a specific location.
Note:
* This is currently the only way of **moving (//relocating//) a Linux installation** to another disk than the default ''C:\'' location
* //Importing// will mostly put the ''ext4.vhdx'' file in the specified target location
* You need [[other:win10wsl#disk_usage|enough disk space]] in the new disk location, knowing that the size of the //restored// ''vhdx'' file will start growing (as needed) as soon as you use your installation
* Creating a backup and restoring it is an indirect way of **reclaiming the unused space of a Linux installation ''vhdx'' file**: the size of the ''ext4.vhdx'' file after importing can be smaller than the size of the originally exported ''ext4.vhdx'' file.
Detailed [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#import-a-new-distribution|--import]] example:
* We assume that we have an exported installation ''tar'' file available
* In this example, we use the compressed backup file created in [[other:win10wsl#backup_of_a_full_linux_installation|Backup of a FULL Linux installation]]\\ ''C:\Scratch\\WSL\WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-08-29.tar.gz''
* ''%%--import%%'' can directly use a ''.tar.gz'' file! ([[https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues/1607|wsl --import should mention 'tar.gz' support !]])
* Create the directory where the Linux installation (mostly its ''ext4.vhdx'' file) will be restored
* Hint: choose an explicit directory path and name, using the name of the distribution that will be restored, because the name of the restored file itself will always be the same (''ext4.vhdx'')\\ e.g. ''D:\WSL_Distributions\Ubuntu_custom''
* Import the distribution, giving it a unique name (that does not appear already in ''wsl -l -v'')
* > wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
> wsl --import Ubuntu_custom D:\WSL_Distributions\Ubuntu_custom C:\Scratch\\WSL\WSL_Ubuntu_20.04.5_LTS_stdu_22-08-29.tar.gz
> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
Ubuntu_custom Stopped 2
* After importing, there should be a new ''ext4.vhdx'' file in the previously empty ''D:\WSL_Distributions\Ubuntu_custom'' directory
* Start the imported ''Ubuntu_custom'' distribution
* Select ''Ubuntu_custom'' in the Windows Terminal pull-down menu
* Or specify ''Ubuntu_custom'' in a PowerShell, using:\\ ''%%wsl --distribution Ubuntu_custom%%''\\ or ''wsl -d Ubuntu_custom''
* WARNING: even if the imported distribution had an existing default user (''stdu'' in our example), the //new// default user will be ''root'' !
* It is possible to explicitly specify the requested user each time we start a terminal, but it will be more convenient to specify a new default user\\ ''%%wsl --distribution Ubuntu_custom --user stdu%%''
* You can easily open a ''root'' session with\\ ''%%wsl -d Ubuntu_custom -u root%%''
* Select a new (non ''root'') default user (note: [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-distro#add-wsl-specific-components-like-a-default-user|Add WSL a default user]] also shows how to //create a new user//). We just have to use the ''root'' account to add a default user (user ''stdu'' in this example) to the [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#user-settings|/etc/wsl.conf]] file
* # cat /etc/wsl.conf
cat: /etc/wsl.conf: No such file or directory
# echo -e "[user]\ndefault=stdu" >> /etc/wsl.conf
# cat /etc/wsl.conf
[user]
default=stdu
* Restart the Linux installation to take the new settings into account
* ''%%wsl --terminate Ubuntu_custom%%''
* If you need the ''root'' account later, you will need to use the ''sudo'' command from the new default account (or use ''wsl -d Ubuntu_custom -u root'' in a PowerShell)
* $ whoami
stdu
stdu@sadira034:~$ sudo su -
[sudo] password for stdu:
root@sadira034:~# whoami
root
* If the //relocation// goal was to free up some space on ''C:'', it is possible to [[other:win10wsl#removing_the_main_linux_installation|Remove the main installation]], once the relocated installation has been successfully tested
Questions FIXME
* Is it possible to restore to the default location (on ''C:\'') ?
==== Uninstalling WSL or a distribution ====
Before uninstalling //something//, you probably want to [[other:win10wsl#creating_a_backup|create a backup]], just to be safe...
=== Removing a specific Linux installation ===
This process is called //unregistering// (based on [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands#unregister-or-uninstall-a-linux-distribution|Unregister or uninstall a Linux distribution]])
You just need to get the list of the currently installed Linux distributions, stop them and remove/unregister a specific distribution name
> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
Ubuntu_custom Running 2
> wsl --terminate Ubuntu_custom
> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
Ubuntu_custom Stopped 2
> wsl --unregister Ubuntu_custom
Désinscription...
> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu Stopped 2
=== Removing the main Linux installation ===
If you remove the main installation (on ''C:\''):
* Another //relocated// installation will become the new default installation (if present)
* PS C:\Users\your_login> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
Ubuntu_custom Running 2
* Ubuntu Running 2
PS C:\Users\your_login> wsl --unregister Ubuntu
Désinscription...
PS C:\Users\your_login> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
* Ubuntu_custom Running 2
* The initial installation directory will still be present on ''C:\'', and should probably be left untouched:
* ''C:\Users\your_login\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\''
* ...with a very low disk usage (the big ''ext4.vhdx'' is removed during the ''unregister'' step)
* ''Ubuntu'' will still appear in the Microsoft store, and clicking on ''Launch'' will trigger a re-installation on ''C:\''
* If you end up with an installation error message and a new //orphan// ''ext4.vhdx'' file on ''C'', click on ''Launch'' to restart and complete the installation
* ''Ubuntu'' will still appear in the list of installed applications (''Windows'' + ''I'' => ''Applications'') but with a smaller disk usage, probably just the size of the //Linux kernel// installed and updated independently of the Linux installations)
=== Removing WSL ===
''wsl'' is a part of the Windows system and probably can't be removed.
Anyway, when all existing Linux distributions are uninstalled, there should not be any big ''.vhdx'' files remaining (i.e. //no extra disk space used//), and there will not be any Linux processes running (i.e. //no extra CPU used//).
===== Miscellaneous =====
==== Upgrading WSL 1 to WSL 2 ====
You will be able to run existing WSL 1 installations with WSL 2, so upgrading should not be a problem!
=== Determining which version of WSL is installed ===
If you have never used WSL on a computer, WSL 2 will be installed directly when you follow the [[other:win10wsl#base_installation|Base installation]] steps
You can determine if your installed Linux distributions are running on WSL 1 or WSL 2 by typing ''wsl -l -v'' in a PowerShell, but if you are not sure if you are currently using WSL 1 or WSL 2 for running Linux, you can check if [[https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues/1599|Is there an easy (PowerShell?) way to get more information about WSL?]] has been answered, or make the following checks
* ''wsl --update'' will give the same output (i.e. the installed Linux kernel version) for both WSL 1 and WSL 2
* 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
* ''wsl --status'' will display again the kernel version if you already have WSL 2, but **will display a link to the WSL installation page if you are running WSL 1**: https://aka.ms/wsl2-install
* PS C:\Users\jypeter> wsl --status
Distribution par défaut : Ubuntu
Version par défaut : 2
Activez la fonctionnalité Windows de plateforme de machine virtuelle et assurez-vous que la virtualisation est activée dans le BIOS.
Pour plus d’informations, rendez-vous sur https://aka.ms/wsl2-install
=== Prerequisites ===
* If WSL 1 is already running, you should have no problem with the [[other:win10wsl#prerequisites|disk and memory requirements]]
* For WSL 2, you also need to meet the [[other:win10wsl#hyper-v_requirements|Hyper-V requirements]]
=== Upgrading WSL ===
[[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual#step-3---enable-virtual-machine-feature|Activate the Virtual Machine Platform]] (just the //Step 3// instructions) and **reboot the computer**
After rebooting, go back to the [[other:win10wsl#determining_which_version_of_wsl_is_installed|Determining which version of WSL is installed]] section above, and check that you are now using WSL 2
==== Potentially useful stuff ====
* Determining from **inside** the running Linux if you are using WSL (or another type of virtual machine)\\ $ systemd-detect-virt
wsl
$ env | grep -i wsl
WSL_DISTRO_NAME=Ubuntu
WSLENV=
===== Other WSL resources and links =====
* Possibly useful things to sort
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/networking|Accessing network applications with WSL]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq#how-do-i-run-an-openssh-server-|How do I run an OpenSSH server?]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/release-notes|Release Notes for Windows Subsystem for Linux]]
* [[https://www.phoronix.com/search/WSL|WSL performance benchmarks @ phoronix]]
* [[https://craigloewen-msft.github.io/WSLTipsAndTricks/|WSL Tips and Tricks]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq|Frequently Asked Questions]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting|Troubleshooting]]
* [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/user-support|User Accounts and Permissions]]
* [[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/|Windows Command Line Tools For Developers]]
* Very useful Microsoft blogs about //Windows Console, Command-Line, Windows Subsystem for Linux, WSL, Linux//
* [[https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL|WSL @ github]]
* [[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/windows-subsystem-for-linux|WSL @ stackoverflow]]
* [[https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/266908-command-prompt/filters/top|WSL @ UserVoice portal]]
* [[https://github.com/sirredbeard/Awesome-WSL|Awesome-WSL]]: An Awesome collection of Windows Subsystem for Linux information, distributions, and tools
* [[https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2018/01/10/hands-on-with-wsl-installation-and-new-features.aspx|Hands-On with WSL: Installation & New Features]] (five nice and useful articles)
* [[https://github.com/ethanhs/WSL-Programs|A list of which programs work...]]
* [[https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/wsl]]
* [[https://github.com/UV-CDAT/uvcdat/wiki/CDAT-under-windows|CDAT under windows]]
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