Windows 10: New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

Brink · May 4, 2021

Note: This blog post is co-authored by the awesome WSL dev Pierre Boulay. Thanks Pierre!

Weâve just shipped the 5.10.16.3 WSL 2 Linux kernel version to Windows Insiders which brings exciting new changes: Support for the LUKS disk encryption, and some long-awaited bug fixes. Weâd like to seize this opportunity to highlight these improvements and show you how these changes land on your Windows machine no matter your Windows version.

New feature addition: Support for LUKS disk encryption

This kernel update adds support for LUKS disk format. Such disks can now we accessed using wsl âmount.

LUKS disks can be mounted through the following steps: (Refer to distro specific instructions to install cryptsetup if needed).

Code:

$ wsl --mount [disk-id] --bare
$ wsl cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdX my-device # Replace /dev/sdX with the block device path in WSL.
$ wsl mkdir /mnt/wsl/my-mountpoint
$ wsl mount /dev/mapper/my-device /mnt/wsl/my-mountpoint
Click to expand...

The disk content can then be accessed by navigating to \\wsl$\<yourDistroName>\mnt\wsl (Replace with the name of your distro, any disto works). Please check the wsl âmount docs page for full instructions on how to mount a disk in WSL.

Bug fix: Clock sync

This new kernel version also contains a bug fix for a clock sync issue (Github Issue #5324). This issue causes the clock inside of your WSL 2 instances to be different than the actual time on your host machine. This bug was fixed entirely by changes inside of the Linux kernel itself that are present in this latest version.

Our kernel servicing process

These changes are very easy to get onto your machine, in fact itâs likely you wonât even notice that you are put onto the latest kernel version! We leverage Microsoft Update to ship this to you, and by hitting âCheck for Updatesâ in your settings, or just letting your computer update like normal, youâll be kept up to date.

Microsoft Update delivers general updates to your operating system that donât rely on giving a full update to your Windows build. These updates include things such as the latest virus definitions for Windows Defender, new graphics or sound card drivers, and now updates to your WSL 2 Linux kernel.

At Microsoft, the Linux Systems Group is responsible for creating the WSL 2 Linux kernel. You can read about this process at the âShipping a Linux Kernel with Windowsâ blog post. Once they have a kernel version ready, we test it internally to make sure it works on WSL 2 scenarios, and then ship it to Windows Insiders. The Windows Insiders audience is an invaluable group of people who use early preview versions of Windows, and so we recruit their help as well to get the first preview of new WSL 2 Linux kernels. Our release process is data driven, and once weâve gained enough confidence on the quality of the new kernel, we expand its audience to further Windows Insider rings and then eventually to retail.

We publish our kernel version history to the Linux kernel release notes page on the WSL docs, and since the WSL 2 Linux kernel is fully open source we make sure to link to its source code as well.

Where to learn more and give feedback

For any WSL issues please file them at the WSL Github repo. If youâd like to learn more about WSL please check out the WSL docs, and if you have general questions you can follow me on Twitter @craigaloewen and WSL team members at this list. Happy coding!

Craig Loewen
Program Manager, Windows Developer Platform

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/comma...-linux-kernel/

How to Update from WSL to WSL 2 in Windows 10

Tweet— Twitter API (@user) View on Twitter
Click to expand...

:)

Brink · May 5, 2021

New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

Note: This blog post is co-authored by the awesome WSL dev Pierre Boulay. Thanks Pierre!

We’ve just shipped the 5.10.16.3 WSL 2 Linux kernel version to Windows Insiders which brings exciting new changes: Support for the LUKS disk encryption, and some long-awaited bug fixes. We’d like to seize this opportunity to highlight these improvements and show you how these changes land on your Windows machine no matter your Windows version.

New feature addition: Support for LUKS disk encryption

This kernel update adds support for LUKS disk format. Such disks can now we accessed using wsl –mount.

LUKS disks can be mounted through the following steps: (Refer to distro specific instructions to install cryptsetup if needed).

Code:

$ wsl --mount [disk-id] --bare
$ wsl cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdX my-device # Replace /dev/sdX with the block device path in WSL.
$ wsl mkdir /mnt/wsl/my-mountpoint
$ wsl mount /dev/mapper/my-device /mnt/wsl/my-mountpoint
Click to expand...

The disk content can then be accessed by navigating to \\wsl$\<yourDistroName>\mnt\wsl (Replace with the name of your distro, any disto works). Please check the wsl –mount docs page for full instructions on how to mount a disk in WSL.

Bug fix: Clock sync

This new kernel version also contains a bug fix for a clock sync issue (Github Issue #5324). This issue causes the clock inside of your WSL 2 instances to be different than the actual time on your host machine. This bug was fixed entirely by changes inside of the Linux kernel itself that are present in this latest version.

Our kernel servicing process

These changes are very easy to get onto your machine, in fact it’s likely you won’t even notice that you are put onto the latest kernel version! We leverage Microsoft Update to ship this to you, and by hitting ‘Check for Updates’ in your settings, or just letting your computer update like normal, you’ll be kept up to date.

Microsoft Update delivers general updates to your operating system that don’t rely on giving a full update to your Windows build. These updates include things such as the latest virus definitions for Windows Defender, new graphics or sound card drivers, and now updates to your WSL 2 Linux kernel.

At Microsoft, the Linux Systems Group is responsible for creating the WSL 2 Linux kernel. You can read about this process at the ‘Shipping a Linux Kernel with Windows’ blog post. Once they have a kernel version ready, we test it internally to make sure it works on WSL 2 scenarios, and then ship it to Windows Insiders. The Windows Insiders audience is an invaluable group of people who use early preview versions of Windows, and so we recruit their help as well to get the first preview of new WSL 2 Linux kernels. Our release process is data driven, and once we’ve gained enough confidence on the quality of the new kernel, we expand its audience to further Windows Insider rings and then eventually to retail.

We publish our kernel version history to the Linux kernel release notes page on the WSL docs, and since the WSL 2 Linux kernel is fully open source we make sure to link to its source code as well.

Where to learn more and give feedback

For any WSL issues please file them at the WSL Github repo. If you’d like to learn more about WSL please check out the WSL docs, and if you have general questions you can follow me on Twitter @craigaloewen and WSL team members at this list. Happy coding!

Craig Loewen
Program Manager, Windows Developer Platform
Click to expand...

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/comma...-linux-kernel/

How to Update from WSL to WSL 2 in Windows 10

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) View on Twitter
Click to expand...

Devlin Sco · May 5, 2021

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.

Brink · May 5, 2021

Announcing New Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) for Windows 10

Today we’re unveiling the newest architecture for the Windows Subsystem for Linux: WSL 2! Changes in this new architecture will allow for: dramatic file system performance increases, and full system call compatibility, meaning you can run more Linux apps in WSL 2 such as Docker.

What exactly is WSL 2?

Our top requests from the WSL community have been to increase the file system performance, and make more apps work inside of WSL (i.e: introduce better system call compatibility). We have heard your feedback, and are glad to announce that WSL 2 helps solve these issues.

WSL 2 is a new version of the architecture that powers the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run ELF64 Linux binaries on Windows. This new architecture changes how these Linux binaries interact with Windows and your computer’s hardware, but still provides the same user experience as in WSL 1 (the current widely available version). Individual Linux distros can be run either as a WSL 1 distro, or as a WSL 2 distro, can be upgraded or downgraded at any time, and you can run WSL 1 and WSL 2 distros side by side. WSL 2 uses an entirely new architecture that uses a real Linux kernel.

Microsoft will be shipping a Linux kernel with Windows

Yes, you did just read that heading correctly! We will be shipping a real Linux kernel with Windows that will make full system call compatibility possible. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has shipped a Linux kernel, as we have already shipped one in 2018 when we announced Azure Sphere. However, this will be the first time a Linux kernel is shipped with Windows, which is a true testament to how much Microsoft loves Linux! We’ll be building the kernel in house from the latest stable branch, based on the source available at kernel.org. In initial builds we will ship version 4.19 of the kernel.

This kernel has been specially tuned for WSL 2. It has been optimized for size and performance to give an amazing Linux experience on Windows. We will service this Linux kernel through Windows updates, which means you will get the latest security fixes and kernel improvements without needing to manage it yourself.

Lastly, of course this Linux kernel will be fully open source! When we release WSL 2 we will have the full configuration available online on Github, so you can see how it works and build it yourself. If you’d like to read more about this kernel you can check out this blog post written by the team that built it.

A quick explanation of the architectural changes in WSL 2

WSL 2 uses the latest and greatest in virtualization technology to run its Linux kernel inside of a lightweight utility virtual machine (VM). However, WSL 2 will NOT be a traditional VM experience. When you think of a VM, you probably think of something that is slow to boot up, exists in a very isolated environment, consumes lots of computer resources and requires your time to manage it. WSL 2 does not have these attributes. It will still give the remarkable benefits of WSL 1: High levels of integration between Windows and Linux, extremely fast boot times, small resource footprint, and best of all will require no VM configuration or management.

Here’s a quick demo of WSL 2 in action. When we start our distro we get access to a working bash shell in under two seconds, and can run services and apps like docker right away. To summarize: while WSL 2 does use a VM, it will be managed and run behind the scenes leaving you with the same user experience as WSL 1.

You can expect more detail on the exact changes to the architecture posted to this blog in the near future, so please stay tuned!

How much faster is WSL 2?

File intensive operations like git clone, npm install, apt update, apt upgrade, and more will all be noticeably faster. The actual speed increase will depend on which app you’re running and how it is interacting with the file system. Initial tests that we’ve run have WSL 2 running up to 20x faster compared to WSL 1 when unpacking a zipped tarball, and around 2-5x faster when using git clone, npm install and cmake on various projects. We’re looking forwards to seeing speed comparisons from the community when we release!

Full System Call Compatibility

Linux binaries use system calls to perform many functions such as accessing files, requesting memory, creating processes, and more. In WSL 1 we created a translation layer that interprets many of these system calls and allows them to work on the Windows NT kernel. However, it’s challenging to implement all of these system calls, resulting in some apps being unable to run in WSL 1. Now that WSL 2 includes its own Linux kernel it has full system call compatibility. This introduces a whole new set of apps that you can run inside of WSL. Some exciting examples are the Linux version of Docker, as well as FUSE!

Using WSL 2 means you can also get the most recent improvements to the Linux kernel much faster than in WSL 1, as we can simply update the WSL 2 kernel rather than needing to reimplement the changes ourselves.
WSL 2 will be a much more powerful platform for you to run your Linux apps on, and will empower you to do more with a Linux environment on Windows.

Release details

Initial builds of WSL 2 will be available through the Windows insider program by the end of June 2019.

We will be announcing when the initial release is available right here on this blog, as well as on Twitter. You can follow the WSL team on Twitter below, where you can ask us questions and get more updates on everything WSL.

WSL Team members on Twitter:

Taylor Brown @Taylorb_msft

Yosef Durr @yosefdurr

Sven Groot @svengroot_ms

Ben Hillis @benhillis

Craig Loewen @craigaloewen

Sunil Muthuswamy @SunilMut

Brian Perkins

Palkesh Soni @sonipalkesh

John Starks @gigastarks

Craig Wilhite @CraigWilhite

Kayla Cinnamon @cinnamon_msft

Thank you so much for your support. We can confidently say that WSL would not be what it is today without its amazing community, and as always, we look forwards to hearing your valued feedback about the new WSL!

-The WSL Team

Craig Loewen,
Program Manager, Windows Developer Platform
Click to expand...

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/comma...ouncing-wsl-2/

See also: Shipping a Linux Kernel with Windows 10

Tip How to Enable or Disable Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10

Tweet

— Twitter API (@User) View on Twiiter

Windows 10: New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10

New Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 Linux kernel to Windows 10 - Similar Threads - Subsystem Linux WSL

relate to Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL

relate to Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL

relate to Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL

windows 10 subsystem linux wsl on desktop

windows 10 subsystem linux wsl on desktop

windows 10 subsystem linux wsl on desktop

Announcing New Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) for Windows 10

New Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) Linux kernel with Windows 10

WSL - Enabling Windows Subsystem for Linux