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Windows Subsystem for Linux

How to run Linux software on Windows

Introduction

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a builtin virtualisation option for Windows 10/11. This provides a full Linux distribution, by default Ubuntu, into a VM with seamless integration of file systems and graphical displays. This is the recommended way to run Linux only software on Windows, for example FSL.

Installation

To install WSL please follow Microsoft's official instructions at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install.

If you have used WSL for a few years on Windows 10, then you should check that you aren't still using WSL version 1, and if so, upgrade to WSL 2. Instructions on how to do this are in the above instructions in the section 'Upgrade version from WSL 1 to WSL 2'.