WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

These instructions should install WSL 2, but on some older versions of Windows, it will install WSL 1, but that is addressed in the final section of this doc.

Should be able to get to this by first hitting 🪟 Key, and then typing “devleoper settings” and hitting enter. (Equivelent of: Settings > Update and Security > For developers)

Toggle “Developer Mode” to on.

Run this in powershell:

wsl --install

After the install, go to 🪟 key > turn windows features on or off (it’s in control panel).

Then you should be able to scroll down to Windows Subsystem for Linux and check the box before saving and quitting.

FINALLY, you can bring up 🪟 key > microsoft store > Debian (app) and hit install.

Disable terminal bell/beep in wsl

For BASH:

sudo sed -i 's/# set bell-style none/set bell-style none/' /etc/inputrc

For VIM:

set visualbell
set t_vb=

Requires restart of WSL app (in my case, Debian).

VPN causing issues with DNS resolution

Edit /etc/wsl.conf and uncomment generateNetworkConf=false or whatever it’s called, and set it to false if it isn’t already. Then unlink your etc/resolv.conf and modify it to be the VPN’s name servers only.

Can’t echo brew path into .bashrc

When you try this:

echo "export PATH=$PATH:/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin" >> ~/.bashrc

You will get some errors about characters like this (. It’s because by default, windows puts their own awful spaced and parenthesed directories into your default path, and BASH is expanding the $PATH variable on the commandline, without escaping any of that nonsense.

Just open up vim and manually put in the following to it’s own line in your .bashrc:

export PATH=$PATH:/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin

Installing Docker for wsl

You’ll need to first install Docker Desktop for Windows.

You’ll need your Linux distro to be using wsl 2, and you can check with this in powershell:

PS C:\Users\jesse> wsl -l -v
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Debian    Stopped         2

In the above example I am already running my distro, Debian on the wsl 2 backend, but if you’re not, you can fix it like this (replacing Debian with your distro).

wsl.exe --set-version Debian 2

To set v2 as the default version for future installations, run:

wsl.exe --set-default-version 2

After all of that, which takes easily 15 minutes, you’ll need to reboot, and then you can launch Docker from windows, and then go to: ⚙️ Settings > Resources > WSL

Toggle the switch to on for your distro. Fin.

More info on Docker Desktop WSL 2 backend and Docker is available here.

Launching Windows File Explorer for pwd in Linux

From WSL, you’ll want to run the following command, and that will launch File Explorer on Windows for your current Linux directory.

explorer.exe .

I know it’s confusing to see exe run from a Linux shell, but bear with me. In my case, this launched file explorer to my home dir, which was located here in windows:

\\wsl$\Debian\home\jesse

Which, in the URI bar, will show as đź“‚ > Network > wsl$ > Debian > home > jesse