Back in 2017, Windows released Windows Subsystem for Linux that lets developers run a GNU/Linux environment, including most command-line tools, utilities, and applications directly in Windows without setting up a virtual machine or dual-boot. WSL2 has since been released, and it’s an improvement over version 1. The new and improved version comes with a performance boost, and full system call compatibility, and is built with a new architecture that delivers features that make WSL an amazing way to run a Linux environment in Windows. To install WSL 2 on Windows 10, these two requirements must be met:
Windows 10 May 2020 (2004), Windows 10 May 2019 (1903), or Windows 10 November 2019 (1909) or later A computer with Hyper-V Virtualization support
Since you can now install Linux systems, including Debian directly in Windows, let’s go ahead and install Debian. Before you can do that, you must first enable WSL or WSL2 in Windows. When you’re ready to enable WSL 2 on Windows 10, follow the steps below:
Enable WSL in Windows
To enable WSL in Windows, you will want to open the PowerShell terminal as administrator. Click on Start then begin typing PowerShell. Next, right-click the Windows PowerShell app and choose to run as administrator. When the console opens, run the commands below: After installing, you should get a success message similar to the lines below:
Enable Virtual Machine Platform
WSL 2 requires Windows 10 Virtual Machine Platform to be enabled. This is not Hyper-V. To enable the VM platform feature in Windows, run the commands below from the same PowerShell administrator’s console. If you’re using Windows 10 version lower than 2004, then use the commands below: When you’re done running the commands above, restart your computer for all the configuration changes to apply. If you don’t restart, the below command might not be recognized. After restarting your computer, login back in and launch PowerShell as administrator. Then run the commands below to configure WSL 2 as the default version of WSL. If you get an error about not having Linux kernel installed, get it from the link below and run it in Windows, then try the command above again. https://wslstorestorage.blob.core.windows.net/wslblob/wsl_update_x64.msi
Install Debian in Windows 10
Now that WSL 2 is installed and ready to be used, open the link below to download and install a copy of Debian from the Windows store. Get Debian – Microsoft Store Debian on Windows allows you to use Debian Terminal and run Debian command line utilities including bash, ssh, git, apt, and many more. Click the Get button and install. After installing Debian, you’ll want the option to launch Debian from the Windows WSL environment. After downloading and installing, you will get a Launch button. After launching Debian, it should install and prompt you to create your account. That should do it! Some troubleshooting commands to run when you run into issues. Now simply launch Debian from Windows and start by searching for it. You can also pin it to the taskbar and always have it launch from there. That should do it! Conclusion: This post showed you how to install WSL 2 on Windows 10 and install Debian. If you find any error above please use the comment form below to report.
