How to Install Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 11 – Guide
Microsoft for the first time offered some degree of Linux compatibility through the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) introduced with the Windows 10 anniversary update in 2016. This early version of the utility wasn’t perfect, especially since it used a compatible developed kernel with Linux by Microsoft instead of the genuine article. WSL 2 changed that in June 2019, incorporating the full Linux kernel into Windows 10 via the operating system’s built-in Hyper-V hypervisor. Installing WSL used to be a complicated process that involved manually enabling various services, downloading the utility and installing it without much assistance from Windows. This has changed with later versions of Windows 10, however, and Windows 11 continues to make it easy to get started with a variety of Linux distributions in a lightweight virtual machine environment. Here it is how to start using the Windows subsystem for Linux on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
How to install the Windows subsystem for Linux on Windows 11
- Start PowerShell or Command Prompt as System Administrator. This is most easily done by searching for “PowerShell” or “Command Prompt” in the Start menu. Whichever option you choose, don’t just launch the command line by pressing “Enter”, as Windows will not allow you to install WSL as a regular user. Instead, you should click “Run as administrator” in the search results.
- Enter the following command: wsl -install Assuming you have started PowerShell (as shown in our example) or Command Prompt as an administrator, this command should automatically enable the services that WSL depends on, download the utility, and install everything it needs to work without any additional input . It also downloads and installs Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution that can be found on everything from single-board computers to enterprise-class servers, by default.
- Restart your PC. A notification should appear stating that WSL has been installed and will be available for use after restarting the PC. You don’t need to restart the system right away, but if you don’t, WSL will remind you that it needs to be restarted the next time you try to do something with the utility. So restart as soon as convenient. WSL will install itself after reboot.
- Enter a username and password when prompted by WSL. These will be your WSL credentials only. What to do if you say “The requested operation requires elevation” If you type “wsl –install” and see an error message like the one below, then you are not running PowerShell or Command Prompt as an administrator and will need to do so if you want to install WSL. See step one for instructions on how to run the applications as an administrator. Please share this article if you like it!
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