WSL Single Command Install Released to Windows 10

One of the Windows Subsystems for Linux (WSL) most requested features has been officially released to Windows 10.

Single Command Install

If you have been using WSL, you probably noticed that the installation process so far has been long and, at times, complicated.

A few days ago, Microsoft announced that a single command install is available on any Windows 10 machine with build 2004 and above plus the July 2021 Windows 10 cumulative update.

In the screenshot below, you can see the required update (KB5004296)

Install WSL

If you are running the correct version plus the above update, you can install WSL using the following command.

wsl --install 

Note: By default, WSL will get loaded with the Ubuntu 20.04 distribution.

Update WSL

Another great feature that is also available with WSL is checking and updating WSL using a single command. To update WSL, simply run the following command.

wsl --update

The above command will also tell you which Linux Kernel WSL is running, as you can see below.


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