Could you please create a dedicated section for Windows 10 Bash ?

@Brink
Seems Linux on Windows 10 is catching up , and the majority of users are Linux geeks who just fail to explain what's going on and what's the best Linux distro (Linux term for a bundle of user interface and tools to make it act like a graphical operating system) so we need an own section to mess it up with our questions , tutorials and findings etc .

I know we could use this one but its filled already with tons of junk about why windows virtualization is crashing and how to run XP 64 bit over 32 bit home edition kind of questions , so the blend of those two topics can hardly mix .

z3r010 said:

Once enough posts happen on a subject we create a dedicated section for it, there just isn't enough posts/interest yet to justify one.

People aren't even aware its even there so maybe starting a thread with a setup tutorial might start the ball of ice , but maybe this post raise awareness some .

I just started playing a bit with WSL 2.

I've used WSL on my work laptop, but it's been primarily to use linux tools such as grep, and awk to go through data on my Windows laptop. I also run Virtual box with Linux VM's for testing things with Linux (I'm a Linux systems engineer at work). The vast majority of my Linux use is in Amazon AWS for work.

However, I'm pretty excited about the new changes in WSL 2. I just wish it would hit the mainstream Windows 10 release track, versus the Insiders track. i think that is happening in the spring update. I don't have access to WSL 2 on my work laptop as I am not allowed to run the Insiders releases.

I don't yet think we have enough interest here for a dedicated area, but I do hope to see some more WSL 2 posts being made here at tenforms.com

pparks1 said:

I just started playing a bit with WSL 2.

I've used WSL on my work laptop, but it's been primarily to use linux tools such as grep, and awk to go through data on my Windows laptop. I also run Virtual box with Linux VM's for testing things with Linux (I'm a Linux systems engineer at work). The vast majority of my Linux use is in Amazon AWS for work.

However, I'm pretty excited about the new changes in WSL 2. I just wish it would hit the mainstream Windows 10 release track, versus the Insiders track. i think that is happening in the spring update. I don't have access to WSL 2 on my work laptop as I am not allowed to run the Insiders releases.

I don't yet think we have enough interest here for a dedicated area, but I do hope to see some more WSL 2 posts being made here at tenforms.com

See what I mean , you are a sys admin and didn't know it had been on already since creator's update
How to Install Linux Bash Shell on Windows 10 [Step by Step Guide]

The virtues of it is that it is more lightweight than VM boxes , less hassle claims the linux geeks and 64 bit doesn't require virtualization installed / supported and you can mount your system hard drives in there natively I am actually excited to try it out but the resources are rare .

nIGHTmAYOR said:

See what I mean , you are a sys admin and didn't know it had been on already since creator's update
How to Install Linux Bash Shell on Windows 10 [Step by Step Guide]

Actually, that's not quite right. Getting Bash onto Windows is what's called Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). What came out on creators update, was the Windows subsystem for Linux version 1. I knew that was there and I mentioned that I was running WSL on my work laptop.

What I am excited about is WSL 2 (version 2). It's only available in the Insiders program as of today. This is a full blown linux VM running, unlike WSL 1 which is a translation layer between linux commands and the Windows API. Version 2 is much faster, and it gives you a full Linux system, so you can do things like install Docker inside of Ubuntu and run containers.

pparks1 said:

Actually, that's not quite right. Getting Bash onto Windows is what's called Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). What came out on creators update, was the Windows subsystem for Linux version 1. I knew that was there and I mentioned that I was running WSL on my work laptop.

What I am excited about is WSL 2 (version 2). It's only available in the Insiders program as of today. This is a full blown linux VM running, unlike WSL 1 which is a translation layer between linux commands and the Windows API. Version 2 is much faster, and it gives you a full Linux system, so you can do things like install Docker inside of Ubuntu and run containers.

well in that case geeks managed to use that prompt of version 1 to install linux distros on them , i am actually starting to guess that if v2 is coming to give you that then its limiting you from selecting your favorite distro or there should be a mean to replace it ?

Here is a good article that does a good job of explaining what the differences are between WSL1 and WSL2,
Windows Subsystem for Linux: Here's where it's going next - TechRepublic

This article is pretty decent too and easy to understand:
Bad News! Windows 10 Will Soon Have a Real Linux Kernel - It's FOSS

Hi there

what currently works : Bash scripts, file sharing, some backup tools e.g rsync, sshd into other remote servers (windows itself has this anyway but still OK to test it), and one can install a smattering of GUI (Windowed) programs but not yet a full blown GUI desktop. (Install an X server on Windows and you'll find a number of GUI programs will run)


What doesn't work (so far at least from what I can see) is that you can't install distros other than the ones available in the Ms store --maybe someone will work out how to do this. You can't also compile custom kernels as the kernels for WSL seem to be specifically designed for Windows although some "hacking" might be in order.

still it's moved on a long way since it first started. Personally I think unifying BASH (Linux) and POWERSHELL (Windows) would be a great advance.

Cheers
jimbo

The biggest pitfall for me is going to be that WSL 2 is relying on Hyper-V. I use VirtualBox for a ton of other VM things and the two cannot co-exist without running the following commands to turn Hyper-V on and off and rebooting.

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype offbcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto