Using full desktop shell in WSL2 using WSLg (Wayland)

WSL2GUIWSLg-Wayland-en.md

Full desktop shell in WSL2 using WSLg (Wayland)

Note

If you want a more complete experience and already tried the Xvnc tutorial, maybe you should try the WSLg (Xwayland) instead.

Warning

This is a work in progress tutorial. Things done here may break existing functionality, so be careful!

In this tutorial, we will install and use a full GNOME Desktop environment in WSL2, without any external software. The only requirement is a working WSLg installation. At the moment, the instructions are only for Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 and 24.04) distros and GNOME, but you can request me to test other distros and desktop environments.

Current limitations

• No fullscreen support
• No complete desktop support (with Display Manager)
• No support to clipboard (copy & paste) from/to Windows

Ubuntu

GNOME

Installing the required packages

1. Open a Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 or 24.04) terminal. First of all, we need to make sure everything is up to date.

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   

2. WSL doesn't install the app store by default, so we can install it manually (or you can skip this step if you don't need it).

   sudo snap install snap-store
   

3. Now we can install the required packages. This may take a long time, so be patient.

   For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04

   sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop acpi-support-
   

   For Ubuntu 24.04

   sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop
   

Important

Note the minus sign (-) after the package acpi-support. This is necessary because it will be installed by default and installing it will render your distro almost unusable (see microsoft/WSL#10059), so we will tell apt to not install it.

Configuring the environment

1. Now we have everything installed, we must configure some things before using the GNOME Shell. First, we need to deactivate the GDM service, because unfortunately it doesn't work with WSLg yet (at least I didn't figure it out how to make it work).

   sudo systemctl mask gdm.service
   

2. Now we need to fix the directory /tmp/.X11-unix/, because it's mounted as read-only by default. We will create a new systemd unit.

   sudo systemctl edit --full --force wslg-fix.service
   

3. Paste the code below in the editor.

   For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04

   [Service]
   Type=oneshot
   ExecStart=-/usr/bin/umount /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/mkdir /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 1777 /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/ln -s /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

   For Ubuntu 24.04

   [Service]
   Type=oneshot
   ExecStart=-/usr/bin/umount /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/mkdir /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 1777 /tmp/.X11-unix
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/ln -s /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 0777 /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 0666 /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0.lock
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

4. Save the file and close the editor. Now we have to enable this service.

   sudo systemctl enable wslg-fix.service
   

5. The last step is to configure the GNOME Shell to start in nested mode.

   For Ubuntu 20.04

   sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/user/gnome-shell-wayland.service.d/
   sudo nano /etc/systemd/user/gnome-shell-wayland.service.d/override.conf
   

   For Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04

   sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/user/[email protected]/
   sudo nano /etc/systemd/user/[email protected]/override.conf
   

6. Paste the code below in the editor.

   [Service]
   ExecStart=
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/gnome-shell --nested
   

7. Save the file and close the editor. Then close the distro terminal window.

8. Finally we will shutdown WSL.

   wsl.exe --shutdown
   

   The configuration is complete.

Starting the GNOME Shell

1. Now open again your distro terminal, then paste the command below.

   DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu \
   GDMSESSION=ubuntu \
   GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu \
   GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus \
   GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge \
   IM_CONFIG_CHECK_ENV=1 \
   IM_CONFIG_PHASE=1 \
   QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1 \
   QT_IM_MODULE=ibus \
   XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME \
   XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/ubuntu:$XDG_DATA_DIRS \
   XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland \
   XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus \
   MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1366x768 \
   gnome-session
   

2. A GNOME Shell window will appear.

   Ubuntu 20.04

   

   Ubuntu 22.04

   

   Ubuntu 24.04

   

So this has been working great so far, and again, I thank you for the effort you put into this tutorial.

Since budgie seems to be making problems, what about pop os? I saw a video of someone rocking it in wsl: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYooHm8bzJU

Hi, @phil9309. Followed the instructions and managed to install Pop_OS over Ubuntu 22.04. After installing it, you need to follow the steps of this tutorial. Then the launch command is:

DESKTOP_SESSION=pop \
GDMSESSION=pop \
GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=pop \
GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus \
GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge \
NOTIFY_SOCKET=/run/user/`id -u`/systemd/notify \
QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1 \
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus \
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=pop:GNOME \
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/pop:$XDG_DATA_DIRS \
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland \
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus \
MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1366x768 \
gnome-session

You can see it's very similar to the GNOME one. I hope you will be able to reproduce it.

This is really impressive, all my previous attempts at launching gnome in wsl2 failed. Will try this later. Also, see my wsl2 sway repo for how I managed to sync clipboard between windows and Wayland. Clipboard-sync may also work, but it didn't for me

Have half screen when i try to start gnome 47 and Manjaro hehe What can be wrong...

Regards,
Mattias Vinberg

Since this tutorial doesn't cover the use of VcxSrv, I cannot help you with your problem.

Great tutorial! Do you plan to upgrade it for Ubuntu 24.10?

@wartalski, when an Ubuntu 24.10 image for WSL gets ready, yes!