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* You can't run your distro of choice unless you build it yourself * Lots of programs don't work properly (citation needed, can't remember specifics) * You ca

* You can't run your distro of choice unless you build it yourself * Lots of programs don't work properly (citation needed, can't remember specifics) * You can only run command line programs, although I understand this could be different in Windows 11 My last job mandated windows laptops so I used WSL for a couple of months before I got too frustrated and just ran a virtualbox VM.

DeathArrow 5y ago
In the article it says clearly that you can run the distro of your choice using WSL.
- testermelon 5y ago
  Can it run Linux From Scratch (LFS)? It seems like it could.
  - shanoaice 5y ago
    Yes sure it can, create a usable (chrootable) Linux From Scratch rootfs tarball and import it using wsl --import, and everything should be fine. Though don't forget to remove the kernels because WSL don't load them, instead WSL uses a custom kernel shipped with the Windows system.
- withinboredom 5y ago
  And building a custom one is easy. I have Gentoo running in WSL with no fuss.
- gertrunde 5y ago
  The distro of your choice from the small pool that you are given to choose from. It's not a completely unrestricted choice. That pool includes Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Fedora and a few others if I remember correctly, although it may have expanded since. I'm not sure how straightforward rolling your own is.
  - int_19h 5y ago
    The pool in question is open - anybody (not just Microsoft) can package and publish a distro there. And for one-off use, there's wsl --import: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-distro https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-dist...
  - Atomskun 5y ago
    You have no idea what you are talking about. You can install any kind of distribution by copying over their rootfs. For example, I am running Void Linux on WSL2.
tomc1985 5y ago
Can't you run an xorg server under Windows and let the WSL apps connect to that?
- disgruntledphd2 5y ago
  Yeah, you can, but it's pretty janky.
  - int_19h 5y ago
    Not if you use an X server that's specifically designed for it: https://x410.dev/ https://x410.dev/
    - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
      I'll have to check that out, thanks!
test1235 5y ago
>You can only run command line programs, although I understand this could be different in Windows 11 WSLg solves this, apparently https://github.com/microsoft/wslg https://github.com/microsoft/wslg

DeathArrow 5y ago

In the article it says clearly that you can run the distro of your choice using WSL.

testermelon 5y ago
Can it run Linux From Scratch (LFS)? It seems like it could.
- shanoaice 5y ago
  Yes sure it can, create a usable (chrootable) Linux From Scratch rootfs tarball and import it using wsl --import, and everything should be fine. Though don't forget to remove the kernels because WSL don't load them, instead WSL uses a custom kernel shipped with the Windows system.
withinboredom 5y ago
And building a custom one is easy. I have Gentoo running in WSL with no fuss.
gertrunde 5y ago
The distro of your choice from the small pool that you are given to choose from. It's not a completely unrestricted choice. That pool includes Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Fedora and a few others if I remember correctly, although it may have expanded since. I'm not sure how straightforward rolling your own is.
- int_19h 5y ago
  The pool in question is open - anybody (not just Microsoft) can package and publish a distro there. And for one-off use, there's wsl --import: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-distro https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/use-custom-dist...
- Atomskun 5y ago
  You have no idea what you are talking about. You can install any kind of distribution by copying over their rootfs. For example, I am running Void Linux on WSL2.

tomc1985 5y ago

Can't you run an xorg server under Windows and let the WSL apps connect to that?

disgruntledphd2 5y ago
Yeah, you can, but it's pretty janky.
- int_19h 5y ago
  Not if you use an X server that's specifically designed for it: https://x410.dev/ https://x410.dev/
  - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
    I'll have to check that out, thanks!

test1235 5y ago

>You can only run command line programs, although I understand this could be different in Windows 11 WSLg solves this, apparently https://github.com/microsoft/wslg https://github.com/microsoft/wslg