Do you need Windows 10 to install WSL 2?
Before you install WSL 2, you need Windows 10, version 1903, build 18362 or higher. You must first enable the optional features of “Windows Subsystem for Linux” and Virtual Machine Platform before installing any Linux distribution on the Windows system.
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What should I use instead of Windows 8.1 WSL?
Install Debian Testing, Ubuntu, Fedora or stick with Win 8 and install Linux as a VM in VirtualBox if you just need some specific functionality. Sorry, something went wrong. You really should use VMware, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V, whichever works best for you, instead of WSL, on Windows 8.1.
How does WSL 2 communicate between Windows and Linux?
WSL 2 uses virtual machine technology instead of a translation layer to communicate between Windows and Linux. Open PowerShell as administrator and run the following commands to enable the WSL and VM feature and reboot the system once.
How to enable Windows PowerShell on Windows WSL?
Enabling WSL on Windows To enable WSL on Windows, you’ll want to open the PowerShell terminal as an administrator. Click Start and then start typing PowerShell. Next, right-click on the Windows PowerShell app and choose to run it as administrator.
To upgrade to WSL 2, you must be running Windows 10. For x64 systems: Version 1903 or higher, with build 18362 or higher. For ARM64 systems: Version 2004 or higher, with Build 19041 or higher. Builds prior to 18362 are not compatible with WSL 2.
Is there a backport for WSL 2 on Windows 10?
To summarize, if your minor build number is 1049 or higher on Windows builds 18362 or 18363, then you have the backport and ability to run WSL 2 distributions. Once you have verified that you have the correct version of Windows, follow the steps below. instructions here to install WSL, or simply upgrade to use WSL 2.
How to set WSL 2 as the default version?
Open PowerShell as administrator and run this command to set WSL 2 as the default version of WSL: You can (at any time) set a distribution to run in WSL 1 mode if needed. Step 4. Install a distribution
Can a Linux distribution run as WSL 2?
Each Linux distribution can run as either WSL 1 or WSL 2, and you can switch between them at any time. All features of the WSL 2 distributions will now be available to an even larger user base: improved system call support for all Linux applications, in particular: Docker, FUSE, rsync, etc.
