Install and configure Ubuntu WSL

Installation

Enable WSL2 as Administrator via Power Shell (information is from link1, link2):

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

then restart and call after wsl --set-default-version 2

Update WSL from console opened as Administrator wsl --update and restart then using wsl --shutdown.

If you have problem with self-update, try to use WSL kernel installer or check another tips from this article
Install Ubuntu
- from Microsoft Windows Store or
- via cli
  - wsl -l --online
  - wsl --install -d Then check WSL version for installed Ubuntu distribution wsl --list --verbose. It must be 2. If distribution is not default it can be run so wsl -d <Distro>
- NOTE: You can install not only Ubuntu, but other Linux family OS:
  - CentWSL
  - Import any Linux distribution to use with WSL

Set up default username with a password

Installing, this may take a few minutes...
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: gorshkov
New password: ***
Retype new password: ***
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.
  
Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-19041-Microsoft x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage
 
  System information as of Fri Nov  5 00:28:25 +04 2021

  System load:    0.52      Processes:              7
  Usage of /home: unknown   Users logged in:        0
  Memory usage:   53%       IPv4 address for eth3:  10.236.151.120
  Swap usage:     0%        IPv4 address for wifi0: 192.168.1.7

1 update can be applied immediately.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable


The list of available updates is more than a week old.
To check for new updates run: sudo apt update


This message is shown once a day. To disable it please create the
/home/gorshkov/.hushlogin file.

Update all packages
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
```

Optionally upgrade Ubuntu release. It takes usually 1-2 hours

sudo LANG=C do-release-upgrade

and check

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 21.04
Release:        21.04
Codename:       hirsute

In you have a problem like Command terminated with exit status 1 check this tip

In order to run in current folder use command ubuntu.exe run . It can be usefull to add run icons to Total Commander

Configuration

Edit /etc/wsl.conf (see documents)

[wsl2]
localhostForwarding=true
[interop]
appendWindowsPath=false # To avoid collisions. Any necessary paths can be set manually
[automount]
options="metadata" # To avoid this error https://askubuntu.com/questions/1115564/wsl-ubuntu-distro-how-to-solve-operation-not-permitted-on-cloning-repository
# [user]
# default=user # can be important to change default user

then call wsl --shutdown

X-Server

Implementation
- WSLG it should be the fastest solution but only on windows 11 (check if you have win11)
- GWSL: the simpliest solution for windows 10
  - Run GWSL and click on icon in the status bar
  - Choose GWSL Distro Tools in opened menu
  - Tick Display/Audio auto exporting to set environment variables DISPLAY/PULSE_SERVER in WSL (see ~/.bashrc)
  - To make GWSL start on Windows startup use receipt
- VcXsrv Windows X Server: classic, that is used by other solutions under hood, as well as in GWSL
  - Run VcXsrv and follow the suggestions
  - Add to ~/.bashrc this line
```
export DISPLAY=$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2; exit;}'):0.0
```
How to check
- sudo apt install x11-apps
- xeyes

Scripts

Mount flash drive

mountdrv() {
  sudo mkdir -p  /mnt/$1
  sudo mount -t drvfs $1: /mnt/$1 -o uid=$(id -u $USER),gid=$(id -g $USER),metadata
}

Convert Docker Container to WSL Distribution

set containerName=centos7
set tar="c:/WSLs/%containerName%.tar"
set DIR=c:/WSLs
set DIR_CENTOS=%DIR%/Centos
mkdir "%DIR_CENTOS%"

wsl --terminate centos7
wsl --unregister centos7
rmdir /S /Q c:\WSLs\Centos

docker run -d -t --rm --name %containerName% -it centos:7 /bin/bash
docker export %containerName% -o %tar%

wsl --import %containerName% "%DIR_CENTOS%" "%tar%"