WSL 2 CLI Cheat-sheet To Be Run In Powershell

wsl-cheatsheet.ps1

# To list installed distributions
wsl -l
wsl --list

# To list installed distributions along with its running status and wsl config being 1 or 2
wsl -l --verbose
wsl -l -v

# To run a specific distro
wsl -d distro_name
wsl --distribution distro_name

# To terminate/shutdown a specific distro
wsl -t distro_name_to_shutdown
wsl --terminate distro_name_to_shutdown

# To shutdown all disstros
wsl --shutdown

# Set specific distro as default
wsl -s my_default_distro
wsl --set-default my_default_distro

# To EXPORT a running distro as image
wsl --export distro_name_to_export windows_path\tar_file_name.tar

# To IMPORT an image as distro
wsl --import new_distro_name install_location_windows_path tar_file_name.tar --version wsl-version-1-or-2
wsl --import Ubuntu-20 D:\VMs\WSL\Ubuntu-20\ Ubuntu-20.04.tar --version 2 # Setting my secondary HDD as storate loc for new distro

# To UNREGISTER (also removes the its file storage) a distro
wsl --unregister distro_name_that_delete

# To run a WSL distro as the specified user.
wsl -u username -d distroname
wsl -u root -d Ubuntu-20.04

# To change the default user for a distribution
distributionName config --default-user Username
ubuntu config --default-user my_default_username
ubuntu2004.exe config --default-user johndoe # When you have Ubuntu 20.04 version installed from the Microsoft Store