Windows 10: Install Windows Subsystem for Linux with a single command

Windows 10 administrators who want to install WSL, the Windows Subsystem for Linux, can do so running a single command on Windows 10 versions 2004 and later.

Microsoft introduced the enhancement in Insider preview builds back in October 2020, and has now pushed the improvement in recent updates for Windows 10 versions 2004, 20H2 and 21H1.

The enhancement is included in KB5004296, which is an optional update for the listed versions of Windows 10; since updates are cumulative, the new functionality will be introduced on the August 2021 Patch Day to all devices via Windows Updates. Optional updates are installed only on systems if administrators become active, for instance by seeking for the update or downloading it from the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Microsoft makes no mention of the WSL improvement in the release notes. A post on Microsoft's Dev Blog by Craig Loewen confirms the inclusion of the new install option for WSL on Windows 10 version 2004 and higher.

All it takes is to open an elevated command prompt and run the command wsl.exe --install to install WSL on the device. By default, Ubuntu will be installed on the device as it is the default Linux distribution if no distribution is specified.

The main advantage of the new method is that the installation is much faster. Previously, you had to install all required components separately on the device.



Here is an overview of the commands and what you may use them for. Note that some commands can only be run after WSL has been installed on the device.

1. Select Start.
2. Type cmd.exe
3. Select Run as administration.

• wsl.exe --install
  • installs the Ubuntu distribution and WSL on the device.
• wsl --list --online
  • lists all available Linux distributions that you may install using the wsl command. Currently, these are:
  • Ubuntu Ubuntu
  • Debian Debian GNU/Linux
  • kali-linux Kali Linux Rollin
  • 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
• wsl --install -d <DistroName>
  • installs the selected distribution. Replace <DistroName> with the name of the distribution. Can be used to install additional distributions as well.
• wsl --update
  • updates the WSL Linux kernel manually.
• wsl --update rollback
  • rolls back to the previous WSL kernel version.
• wsl --status
  • displays general information about the status of the Windows Subsystem for Linux installation.
• wsl --help
  • displays the list of command parameters.

The command will install version 2 of WSL on the device. You can check that by running wsl with the status parameter after a successful installation. If you see version 2, the second version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux is installed.

Closing Words


The new commands make it easier to install WSL on a Windows 10 device. The only command missing is uninstall, as you cannot use the command line tool to remove a WSL installation from the device again. Microsoft did not mention if the tool will also be included in Windows 11, but it seems likely.

Now You: have you used WSL on Windows If not, would you?

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Windows Subsystem Linux

Hello,

We would like to know more about the issue you're experiencing with using
Windows Subsystem for Linux. Kindly answer the following questions:

• Are you developing a program, an app, or a software for Linux?
• Is your Window 10 PC connected to a domain?
• Are you managing a Windows Server PC?
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?
• Can you tell us the Version and OS build of your Windows 10 device? You can find this information by clicking the
  Start button, type About your PC, and then press
  Enter.

We need the following information in order to determine if we need to refer your concern to the
TechNet forums or the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) forums.

For now, we suggest reviewing these support articles to find out if there's an issue with the installation of
Windows Subsystem for Linux:

• Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux
• Troubleshooting Windows Subsystem for Linux

We'll be waiting for your response.

 

Unable to enable Windows Subsystem for Linux

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you have downloaded Linux Terminal from Microsoft Store and you are getting an error when running the PowerShell command. However, as per the article

Windows Subsystem for Linux Installation Guide for Windows 10 you need to run the PowerShell command first and then install the required Linux distribution from the store. I suggest you to try running the PowerShell command
first and check.



For more information on Windows Subsystem for Linux, please refer the articles

Windows Subsystem for Linux Documentation and

Troubleshooting Windows Subsystem for Linux.



If the issue persists, I suggest you to post your query in
TechNet forums, where we have support professionals and experts on this query to assist you with the appropriate details.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Windows subsystem for Linux

If you want to install Ubuntu on Windows 10, you'll have to create a virtual machine and then install Ubuntu in the virtual machine.

The subsystem for Linux lets you to run Linux command-line tools in Windows.