[Debian sid with systemd on WSL2] Instructions for running Debian sid with systemd on WSL2 #windows #wsl2 #debian #sid #linux

debian-sid-with-systemd-on-wsl2.md

Debian sid with systemd on WSL2

Instructions for running Debian sid with systemd on WSL2

⚠️ Note: WSL now supports systemd

Instructions

1. Make sure you're running Windows 10 Build 19041+ (run ver)

2. Enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux (reboot if needed):

    # In an elevated PowerShell session
    Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
   

3. Follow the instructions on this page or install a Linux distro from the Microsoft Store (this is required for preparing a Debian sid WSL distro)

4. Download the latest Debian sid cloud image. Make sure to download the latest .tar.xz file for your processor architecture (ex. debian-sid-generic-amd64-daily-20200710-323.tar.xz)

5. Create a rootfs archive from the downloaded sid image:

    # In WSL (assuming you're running Debian Linux)
    
    
    # Extract the disk image from the archive
    # Make sure tar and xz-tools are installed (ie. apt install tar xz-utils)
    
    tar xf debian-sid-generic-*.tar.xz
    
    
    # mount the Linux filesystem
    # make sure fdisk, grep, and gawk are installed (ie. apt install fdisk grep gawk)
    
    sector_size=$(/sbin/fdisk -l disk.raw | grep 'Sector size' | grep -Po '\K([0-9]+)(?= bytes$)')
    start=$(/sbin/fdisk -l disk.raw | grep 'Linux filesystem' | awk '{ print $2 }')
    offset=$(($start * $sector_size))
    
    sudo mkdir -p /mnt/sid
    sudo mount -o loop,offset=$offset disk.raw /mnt/sid
    
    
    # Create a rootfs `tar.gz` archive
    
    sudo tar -C /mnt/sid -cpzf debian-sid.tar.gz .
    sudo chown $(id -un):$(id -gn) debian-sid.tar.gz
   

6. Open File Explorer, navigate to \\wsl$\name-of-the-distro, and move the rootfs archive file to a directory accessible to Windows

7. Open a PowerShell prompt in the directory containing the rootfs archive and import it:

    wsl --import debian-sid \path\to\the\directory\you\want\to\install\debian-sid\into debian-sid.tar.gz --version 2
   

8. Start a shell in Debian sid and run the following commands:

    # Update the OS
    apt update
    apt full-upgrade -y
    
    # Make sure sudo is installed
    apt install sudo
   

9. Edit /etc/adduser.conf and set ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS to 1

10. Create a non-root (ie. adduser YOUR_USERNAME)

11. Edit /etc/wsl.conf and make sure the following lines exist in the file:

    [user]
    default = YOUR_USERNAME
    

12. Restart WSL:

    # In PowerShell
    wsl --shutdown
    wsl -d debian-sid
    

13. Remove unnecessary packages/files:

    apt remove --purge 'grub-*' 'linux-image-*'
    rm -rf /boot/*
    rm -rf /lost+found
    

14. TODO: Adapt this

15. Create a file in /etc/profile.d/wsl.sh with the following contents:

    # Start or enter a PID namespace in WSL2
    source /usr/sbin/start-systemd-namespace
    
    # TODO: move the following lines into a script and allow running it script without a password (ie. /etc/sudoers.d/...)
    sudo systemctl default
    sudo systemctl reset-failed
    

16. Mask the services with not-found state:

    TODO: do something with the output of the following command (possibly pipe to xargs systemctl mask)
    systemctl --plain --no-legend --no-pager --state=not-found --all | awk '{ print $1 }'
    

Hi @zhengliuer. Thanks for your comment but as I mentioned in the gist, WSL now supports systemd officially. This procedure is no longer needed. You want to install a fresh copy of Debian, and create a file in /etc/wsl.conf with the following contents:

[boot]
systemd=true

Please see this link for more information.

nit: Sid has changed the disk type names (not sure when), but it's called "Linux root" now.

$ /sbin/fdisk -l disk.raw

Disk disk.raw: 2 GiB, 2147483648 bytes, 4194304 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 6BA6B33A-602C-D14B-AAFA-E89DD3A8324E

Device      Start     End Sectors  Size Type
disk.raw1  262144 4192255 3930112  1.9G Linux root (x86-64)
disk.raw14   2048    8191    6144    3M BIOS boot
disk.raw15   8192  262143  253952  124M EFI System

Partition table entries are not in disk order.