wsl2-tutorial

July 14, 2019 · View on GitHub

The tutorial will tell you how to run desktop environment inside Windows Subsystem for Linux. And you don't need to build a developement environment with virtual machines any more. :)

Screenshot

wsl 2

Prerequisites

Please note that you'll need to be running Windows 10 build 18917 or higher.

To find your Windows version, open Settings>System>About and look for the "OS build" field. os_build

Enable windows features

1. Enable the "Virtual Machine Platform" and "Windows Subsystem for Linux" feature

features

2. Restart your computer

Install Ubuntu

Install "Ubuntu 16.04 LTS" or "Ubuntu 18.04 LTS" in Microsoft Store

Set Ubuntu to be backed by WSL 2

In PowerShell run:

wsl --set-version <Distro> 2

Make sure to replace with the actual name of your distro. (You can find these with the command: wsl -l).

Additionally, run the command below to make WSL 2 your default architecture:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Install VcXsrv

Install the lastest version of VcXsrv.

Upgrade Ubuntu

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Install xfce desktop

sudo apt-get install xfce4-terminal
sudo apt-get install xfce4

Specify the display server

Add bellow code to your ~/.bashrc, and don't forget to run source ~/.bashrc. :)

export DISPLAY=$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print \$2}'):0
export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1

Launch display server

Open XLaunch, choose "One large window" or "One large window without titlebar", set the "display number" to 0 and click "Next.

vcxsrv

Check "Disable access control" and click "Next".

extra_settings

Choose "Start no client" and click "Next".

client_startup

Click "Finish" to launch display server.

finish

Run xfce desktop

Execute the following command inside Ubuntu.

startxfce4

Fix powerline fonts rendering

Install the lastest version of Hack fonts.

Fix Unicode fonts rendering

sudo apt-get install fonts-noto
sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-hinted
sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-mono
sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-unhinted

Fix Chinese fonts rendering

sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-cjk

Fix mkdir command has wrong permissions

Add the following shell code to your bashrc

if grep -q microsoft /proc/version; then
    if [ "$(umask)" == '0000' ]; then
        umask 0022
    fi
fi

Install Chinese input method

1. Install fcitx

sudo apt-get install fcitx
sudo apt-get install fcitx-pinyin

2. Add the following command to your bashrc file

export XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx

3. Relogin

Install drop-down terminal

sudo apt-get install guake