Windows 10: What is new in Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 - Sept. 2020

Brink · Sep 22, 2020

This blog post highlights the WSL updates being made over the past few months, in addition to some sneak previews of our upcoming features and future plans.

WSL 2 distro support is now available in Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909

An update on running Linux GUI apps in WSL

WSL âinstall with distro support is coming soon to Insiders

Access Linux file systems using WSL

Open-sourcing TensorFlow with DirectML

The latest Linux kernel versions are now being automatically updated via Microsoft Update on all WSL devices

WSL 2 support is now available in Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909

Weâve heard feedback on how many users have enjoyed using WSL 2 and have made WSL 2 available to more Windows users with this backport. Customers running Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909 can now enjoy faster file system performance, 100% system call compatibility, and be able to use Docker Desktop with the WSL2-based engine. Read more about these updates, including how to ensure your machine has them, in the blog post announcement.

Update on running Linux GUI apps in WSL

GUI app support in WSL is becoming a reality! We are getting closer to an initial preview and happy to announce a preview release for Windows Insiders within the next couple of months.

Below is an early look at an internal build running GUI apps in WSL! You can see that WSL will support many different types of applications, including IDEs running fully in a Linux environment. We have included lots of fit and finish details, such as showing the icons for Linux apps in the task bar and support for audio with your microphone (and yes, that really is the Linux version of Microsoft Teams running in WSL).

Stay tuned for more details about this feature coming soon. If youâd like to learn more about the architecture behind this change, check out https://youtu.be/b2mnbyRgXkY?t=7975 from Steve Pronovost.

WSL âinstall with distro support is coming soon to Insiders

At the BUILD 2020 conference we announced that we will be adding a new command that will allow you to fully install WSL called wsl --install. The first iteration of this feature is currently available in Windows Insiders. Within the next couple of weeks, the --install argument will include the ability to install WSL distros, meaning you will be able to fully set up WSL on your machine, along with your chosen distro, with just one command.

Access Linux file systems using WSL

Starting with Windows Insiders preview build 20211, WSL 2 offers a new feature: wsl --mount. This new parameter allows a physical disk to be attached and mounted inside WSL 2, enabling you to access filesystems that arenât natively supported by Windows (such as ext4). You can also navigate to these files inside of Windows File Explorer.

To learn more about this feature read the WSL 2 mount disk doc or announcement blog post.

Open-sourcing TensorFlow with DirectML

WSL includes support for GPU compute workflows, available now in Windows Insiders builds. Read more about this change and how to get started in our docs: GPU accelerated machine learning training. Additionally, we made the source code of TensorFlow-DirectML, an extension of TensorFlow on Windows, available to the public as an open-source project on Github. TensorFlow-DirectML broadens the reach of TensorFlow beyond its traditional Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) support, by enabling high-performance training and inferencing of machine learning models on any Windows devices with a DirectX 12-capable GPU through DirectML. DirectML is a hardware-accelerated deep learning API on Windows. You can learn more about this change on the announcement blog post.

Linux kernel versions now auto-updated via Microsoft Update for WSL

Earlier this year, we announced that the Linux kernel in WSL 2 will be serviced out of the Windows image. This means you can have greater control over your Linux kernel version, as well as your Windows version, enabling you to stay safe and secure as Windows keeps you up to date. The new kernel versions are no longer only for Windows Insiders, now any device that has WSL enabled and has opted in to Microsoft Updates will automatically receive the latest kernel version! Find our Linux kernel release history on the WSL docs.

Follow up with us

Let us know what you think about these changes via Twitter, you can follow me @craigaloewen and find all the WSL team members in this twitter list. If you run into any issues, or have technical feedback and feature requests for our team please file an issue on our WSL repo in Github.

Craig Loewen
Program Manager, Windows Developer Platform
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Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/comma...eptember-2020/

Enable or Disable Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in Windows 10

How to Update from WSL to WSL 2 in Windows 10

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Devlin Sco · Sep 22, 2020

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 · Sep 22, 2020

The Windows Subsystem for Linux BUILD 2020 Summary

This year at an all virtual BUILD conference we had many exciting announcements for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)! This blog post gives you a summary of all the WSL news, including what’s available now and what you can expect in the future.

WSL’s BUILD news at a glance

Available this month

Support for WSL 2 distros is coming this month in the Windows 10 May 2020 Update

Docker Desktop released a new version using WSL 2 as their backend

Current roadmap: What’s coming to WSL

You’ll soon be able to install WSL with a single command. Just open a Windows Terminal and enter wsl.exe --install

WSL 2 will be the new default when installing for the first time

WSL will support GPU Compute workflows

Adding Linux GUI app support to WSL is on our roadmap

Please read on below for the details for each item.

Available this month

Support for Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) distros is coming this month in the Windows 10 May 2020 Update

4 years ago, at Build 2016, Microsoft surprised the world by announcing Windows Subsystem for Linux – WSL (also known at the time as “Bash on Ubuntu on Windows”). WSL enables Windows users to run native, unmodified Linux command-line tools and apps directly in Windows, alongside all their favorite Windows apps and tools. WSL usage has grown enormously from initially just a few thousand people downloading the first preview build to more than 3.5 million monthly active devices today!

However, we wanted WSL to do more – to run all Linux apps and tools, and to run apps and tools faster. At Build 2019, the WSL team unveiled the first preview of WSL 2, which utilizes new capabilities in Windows’ Hypervisor Platform to run distros and tools in containers, atop a real Linux kernel image that is built and delivered by Microsoft, hosted in a lightweight VM, which boots from cold in less than 2s! This means that WSL 2 delivers full system call compatibility with a real Linux kernel and is 3-6x faster compared to earlier versions of WSL.

The response from the community has been huge and, frankly, positively overwhelming – sincerest thanks to everyone who ran WSL 2, filed issues, and asked for features, you’ve helped us make WSL2 even better than we hoped it could be!

Docker Desktop released a new version using WSL 2 as their backend

WSL 2’s new capabilities have not gone unnoticed by our partners either!

Shortly after WSL 2 was announced, Docker Inc. decided to host Docker Desktop for Windows atop WSL 2! Following a successful preview period, Docker has announced that Docker Desktop for Windows will now default to run atop WSL 2 when installed on the Windows 10 May 2020 update, which will bring Docker Desktop to Windows Home users as well.

This change to host Docker on WSL 2 will result in containers booting up faster, while consuming fewer resources on the host machine due to WSL 2’s more lightweight footprint vs. full VMs.

You can learn more about the Docker Desktop WSL 2 backend here.

Current roadmap: What’s coming to WSL

You’ll soon be able to install WSL with a single command. Just open a Windows Terminal and enter `wsl.exe –install`

One common complaint about WSL is that it’s not easy to find and enable. We agree, which is why we’re working on some improvements to the wsl.exe command-line tool to help you install WSL. Soon you will be able to simply install WSL by entering: wsl.exe --install in your command-line!

This command will be added to every Windows machine so that all you need to do is open a Terminal window elevated with administrator privileges and run wsl.exe --install. From there the WSL optional components will be enabled, and your specified distro will be downloaded and installed for you automatically upon restart.

You can expect to see initial releases of this feature in the next few months in the Windows Insiders Fast Ring.

WSL 2 will be the new default when installing for the first time

We’re also introducing the change to make WSL 2 the new default distribution type when installing WSL for the first time. WSL 2 brings significant improvements and we found that the majority of our users on Insider branches are using WSL 2 distros. When developing wsl.exe --install it made sense for it to default to what people are using: WSL 2, and we’ve included this as well for any new installations of WSL when enabling the ‘Windows Subsystem for Linux’ optional component. You’ll see these changes in the Insiders Fast ring in the next few months alongside the wsl.exe --install improvement.

WSL will support GPU Compute workflows

Adding CUDA and/or GPU Compute support to WSL has been our #1 most requested feature since our first release! Over the last 3+ years, the WSL, Virtualization, DirectX, Windows Driver teams, and our silicon partners have been working hard on a complex engineering feat to deliver this capability.

This is why we’re thrilled to announce that we will start previewing GPU compute support for WSL in Windows 10 Insider builds within the next few months!

Initially, the GPU compute capability will support two scenarios:

NVIDIA CUDA

Supports existing Linux tools & workflows used by professionals

DirectML

Initially targeting beginners and students, leveraging DirectX 12 capable GPUs from several vendors

The team will be releasing a preview package of TensorFlow with a DirectML backend enabling hardware agnostic acceleration of AI & ML workloads across the breadth of Windows hardware – DirectML will also support native Windows too, including TensorFlow on Windows!

Once this preview is released, you will simply need to ensure that you have the latest Windows Insider Fast build, WSL 2 installed, install the correct driver for your GPU from the hardware vendor, and then you’ll be ready to start developing, training and testing your machine learning and AI models inside of WSL!

This change will be released to the Windows Insiders Fast ring in the next few months. For all the details of what this change means and how it was made possible, please read the DirectX Developer blog post (coming soon!).

Adding Linux GUI app support to WSL is on our roadmap

One of our other most prolific requests is to support not just command-line apps, but Linux GUI apps as well. For example, some users want to run their preferred Linux GUI text editor or IDE in a Linux environment and work on their code stored locally within their distro’s filesystem, or simply develop Linux GUI apps on their Windows machine.

Our goal is for you to be able to run Linux GUI apps on your desktop seamlessly alongside your Windows apps. This will enable you to use Linux apps to edit, build, and run your code, visualize data plots in Python, or even use applications that are optimized for a Linux environment.

At BUILD we demonstrated an early version of this work, running a few GUI sample apps directly from WSL such as Eye of Gnome, gedit and the mpv media player. These apps connected to a wayland server running inside of WSL, which communicated with a RDP client on the Windows host. You can see a screenshot of this in action below where we’re running the GNOME file manager in WSL and Outlook side by side.

These changes are on the WSL’s team roadmap and you can expect to hear more about this work by holiday 2020.

Stay Involved

To summarize, once you update to the Windows 10 May 2020 Update you’ll have full support for WSL 2 distros! If you join the Windows Insiders Fast Ring you’ll be ready to start receiving the latest WSL features including the new install experience and GPU compute within the next few months.

There’s lots of exciting news and features coming to WSL, so please stay tuned to this blog for the details of any big announcements. You can follow me on Twitter @craigaloewen or members of the WSL team that are on Twitter for any news there as well. Please check out Kevin Gallo’s blog post for all of the Windows developer focused news from BUILD. Thank you for supporting WSL!

Craig Loewen
Program Manager, Windows Developer Platform
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Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/comma...-2020-summary/

See also: DirectX is coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

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

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Nikhar_K · Sep 22, 2020

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 10: What is new in Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 - Sept. 2020

What is new in Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 - Sept. 2020

What is new in Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 - Sept. 2020

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