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

   

Hi @tdcosta100. I did try Xming, with identical (non-)results.

As for xdpyinfo, would you be able to find anything useful in the output?

$ xdpyinfo
name of display:    :0
version number:    11.0
vendor string:    Microsoft Corporation
vendor release number:    12010000
maximum request size:  16777212 bytes
motion buffer size:  256
bitmap unit, bit order, padding:    32, LSBFirst, 32
image byte order:    LSBFirst
number of supported pixmap formats:    7
supported pixmap formats:
    depth 1, bits_per_pixel 1, scanline_pad 32
    depth 4, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 8, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
    depth 15, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 16, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
    depth 24, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
    depth 32, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
keycode range:    minimum 8, maximum 255
focus:  PointerRoot
number of extensions:    22
    BIG-REQUESTS
    Composite
    DAMAGE
    DOUBLE-BUFFER
    GLX
    Generic Event Extension
    MIT-SHM
    Present
    RANDR
    RECORD
    RENDER
    SHAPE
    SYNC
    X-Resource
    XC-MISC
    XFIXES
    XFree86-VidModeExtension
    XINERAMA
    XInputExtension
    XKEYBOARD
    XTEST
    XVideo
default screen number:    0
number of screens:    1

screen #0:
  dimensions:    640x480 pixels (169x127 millimeters)
  resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
  depths (7):    24, 1, 4, 8, 15, 16, 32
  root window id:    0x390
  depth of root window:    24 planes
  number of colormaps:    minimum 1, maximum 1
  default colormap:    0x22
  default number of colormap cells:    256
  preallocated pixels:    black 0, white 16777215
  options:    backing-store WHEN MAPPED, save-unders NO
  largest cursor:    640x480
  current input event mask:    0x580000
    SubstructureNotifyMask   SubstructureRedirectMask PropertyChangeMask
  number of visuals:    270
  default visual id:  0x23
  visual:
    visual id:    0x23
    class:    TrueColor
    depth:    24 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
  visual:
    visual id:    0x24
    class:    DirectColor
    depth:    24 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
            .
            .
            .
    visual:
    visual id:    0x38d
    class:    TrueColor
    depth:    32 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
  visual:
    visual id:    0x38e
    class:    TrueColor
    depth:    32 planes
    available colormap entries:    256 per subfield
    red, green, blue masks:    0xff0000, 0xff00, 0xff
    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits

Thanks to this and some other github gist I got waydroid running. But there is no sound. I don't know if theres a way to get sound working on waydroid even though gnome shell has sound.

https://www.reddit.com/r/timbo303/comments/1ivzrn8/how_to_run_waydroid_on_windows_11/