Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) – Fedora Remix

tl;dr

  • Enable WSL feature using
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
  • Reboot PC
  • Get the latest Fedora Remix *.appxbundle file from here https://github.com/WhitewaterFoundry/Fedora-Remix-for-WSL/releases/latest/
  • Run the following command, ensuring the use the correct path for your downloads folder.
Add-AppxPackage C:\Users\$env:USERNAME\Downloads\Fedora-Remix-*.appxbundle

What is this for?


Windows Subsystem for Linux (I always feel they got this name the wrong way around) is a way to create a lightweight Linux environment within your Windows OS. Although you wont get a full GUI you will get a Linux shell where you can run all your favourite Linux tools. I commonly use this for things like Ansible and OpenSSL.

System Setup:


Operating System:
Windows 10 1909

Linux Subsystem Version:
Fedora Remix for WSL 33.1.1 Final

Getting down to business…

To start we need to run PowerShell as administrator.

We can run the following command

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

This will look like this as it runs.

Once this is run we will need to restart the computer before continuing.

Once rebooted we need to download the lastest *.appxbundle file from here https://github.com/WhitewaterFoundry/Fedora-Remix-for-WSL/releases/latest/.

Once downloaded we can then relaunch PowerShell (as administrator) and start the install using the below command. Take note however that I have removed some of the file name and put a “*”, this it to ensure no matter what version is downloaded it will should install. This might not work so well if you have multiple versions in your Downloads folder.

Add-AppxPackage C:\Users\$env:USERNAME\Downloads\Fedora-Remix-*.appxbundle

The output should then look something like this

Once completed we should then be able to open “Fedora Remix for WSL” from the start menu; just like any other program. This will then take a few minutes to unpack the file system.

After this it will ask you to create a username and set a password.

I am not going to go into a 101 guide for Linux or fedora here but i will quickly show you how to get to your home directory on the windows host. To do this just type the following command. If you were to then run a command like “ls” you will see the contents of this directory.

cd ~/winhome

Enjoy!

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