5 ms·

Even stuff like WSL is loosing it's shine now for me. I've personally hit a bug on multiple computers that I can reliably repo a blue screen if I attempt to up

Even stuff like WSL is loosing it's shine now for me. I've personally hit a bug on multiple computers that I can reliably repo a blue screen if I attempt to update a specific package. The github bug for this issue last had activity from MS 4 months ago. Kinda makes it hard to take it seriously if such a major blocker is treated with such low priority.

mwcampbell 5y ago
Is that WSL 1 or 2?
- banana_giraffe 5y ago
  WSL 1, my attempt to install WSL 2 after this BSOD failed miserably, put a machine in a boot loop, I haven't dug into what was going on there.
  - gruez 5y ago
    AFAIK WSL 1 isn't actively being worked on anymore, now that there's WSL 2. As for your issue with WSL 2, it runs off hyper-v, so my guess is that there's something with your BIOS/UEFI/firmware settings that's breaking it (eg. secureboot/CSM, TPM, virtualization).
    - banana_giraffe 5y ago
      You might be right about WSL 1 being dead, which is just annoying since it's useful for me. Ironically with your comment about Hyper-V: I moved to using Linux in a Hyper-V VM for now for this workflow. It's in that category of category of "ugh, not worth the time to figure out" for now, which probably means I won't bother for quite a while. Honestly, when things slow down again, I'll probably just flatten this machine and install Linux. MS is kinda killing whatever inertia I had for dealing with their quirks.
      - GekkePrutser 5y ago
        Agreed. The concept of WSL1 was much more interesting. Interfacing with Windows through a Linux userland. Actually do stuff on the windows system with a familiar interface. WSL2 is just Linux in a VM which has been around like forever. By the way it also put my system in a boot loop (blue screen on boot). I tracked it down to a buggy Lenovo driver but when I removed that it crashed on something else and I got sick of it and gave up.
        apatheticonion 5y ago
        omg thank you for this. The amount of people trying to tell me WSL2 is groundbreaking - meanwhile I have been rocking Fedora in virtualbox for years. WSL1 was really interesting, but ultimately Microsoft needed a flagship product to demonstrate the capabilities of Hyper-V and WSL was the perfect project.
        derac 5y ago
        To be clear, wsl 2 lets you interact with the Windows filesystem. I believe you can launch exes in wsl1, but not 2. However, I've never needed to do that. It's definitely not groundbreaking, but it is convenient. Using it with the new terminal app is nice. It will load and unload the ram for the instance immediately whenever you pop open a linux shell. IMO opening and closing virtualbox/hyper-v takes longer and is clunkier. Overall it reduces friction.
        balakk 5y ago
        Windows exes open fine in WSL2. You can also run linux apps from a Windows prompt - which is weird, but it works. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/filesystems https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/filesystems
        garaetjjte 5y ago
        WSL2 filesystem access is just ordinary 9p mount.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
My system bluescreens when I so much as install WSL2 on my second work laptop with Windows 11. Tried to track it down and it seems to be some stupid Lenovo driver but it's almost impossible to fix :(
sandGorgon 5y ago
wsl2 has been very very stable for me. in fact, i have spent a lot of time in the last 6 months on wsl2 (FYI - fedora is my main) i really recommend trying out wsl2. you now can install it from the window store.
- banana_giraffe 5y ago
  Yep, I know people love it. It sent my machine into a boot loop till I could uninstall it in safe mode. I'll live with a dedicated VM for now.
- edgyquant 5y ago
  Yeah I’ve never had issues. I’ve used Linux as a daily driver since Vista came out so wsl has been nice for me. I can finally have a gaming PC that can also serve as a docker server and just generally test my backend on. With that said my two coworkers, who are very much Windows daily driver users, have had nothing but issues. Some times I think my Linux knowledge is what’s helped me here, ironically.
augustl 5y ago
You're definitely an early adopter if you're on WSL now. I'd say it's probably not prime time until 2024 or so.
bastardoperator 5y ago
Try doing anything I/O intensive in WSL and it all falls apart. I have a 32 core machine with 128GB using nvme disks and it's getting murdered performance wise by an 8 core AWS instance with 16GB of ram on gp2 disks.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  1 or 2, and doing the I/O inside the virtual disk or not? WSL2 inside the virtual disk should be very fast.

mwcampbell 5y ago

Is that WSL 1 or 2?

banana_giraffe 5y ago
WSL 1, my attempt to install WSL 2 after this BSOD failed miserably, put a machine in a boot loop, I haven't dug into what was going on there.
- gruez 5y ago
  AFAIK WSL 1 isn't actively being worked on anymore, now that there's WSL 2. As for your issue with WSL 2, it runs off hyper-v, so my guess is that there's something with your BIOS/UEFI/firmware settings that's breaking it (eg. secureboot/CSM, TPM, virtualization).
  - banana_giraffe 5y ago
    You might be right about WSL 1 being dead, which is just annoying since it's useful for me. Ironically with your comment about Hyper-V: I moved to using Linux in a Hyper-V VM for now for this workflow. It's in that category of category of "ugh, not worth the time to figure out" for now, which probably means I won't bother for quite a while. Honestly, when things slow down again, I'll probably just flatten this machine and install Linux. MS is kinda killing whatever inertia I had for dealing with their quirks.
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago
      Agreed. The concept of WSL1 was much more interesting. Interfacing with Windows through a Linux userland. Actually do stuff on the windows system with a familiar interface. WSL2 is just Linux in a VM which has been around like forever. By the way it also put my system in a boot loop (blue screen on boot). I tracked it down to a buggy Lenovo driver but when I removed that it crashed on something else and I got sick of it and gave up.
      - apatheticonion 5y ago
        omg thank you for this. The amount of people trying to tell me WSL2 is groundbreaking - meanwhile I have been rocking Fedora in virtualbox for years. WSL1 was really interesting, but ultimately Microsoft needed a flagship product to demonstrate the capabilities of Hyper-V and WSL was the perfect project.
        derac 5y ago
        To be clear, wsl 2 lets you interact with the Windows filesystem. I believe you can launch exes in wsl1, but not 2. However, I've never needed to do that. It's definitely not groundbreaking, but it is convenient. Using it with the new terminal app is nice. It will load and unload the ram for the instance immediately whenever you pop open a linux shell. IMO opening and closing virtualbox/hyper-v takes longer and is clunkier. Overall it reduces friction.
        balakk 5y ago
        Windows exes open fine in WSL2. You can also run linux apps from a Windows prompt - which is weird, but it works. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/filesystems https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/filesystems
        garaetjjte 5y ago
        WSL2 filesystem access is just ordinary 9p mount.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

My system bluescreens when I so much as install WSL2 on my second work laptop with Windows 11. Tried to track it down and it seems to be some stupid Lenovo driver but it's almost impossible to fix :(

sandGorgon 5y ago

wsl2 has been very very stable for me. in fact, i have spent a lot of time in the last 6 months on wsl2 (FYI - fedora is my main) i really recommend trying out wsl2. you now can install it from the window store.

banana_giraffe 5y ago
Yep, I know people love it. It sent my machine into a boot loop till I could uninstall it in safe mode. I'll live with a dedicated VM for now.
edgyquant 5y ago
Yeah I’ve never had issues. I’ve used Linux as a daily driver since Vista came out so wsl has been nice for me. I can finally have a gaming PC that can also serve as a docker server and just generally test my backend on. With that said my two coworkers, who are very much Windows daily driver users, have had nothing but issues. Some times I think my Linux knowledge is what’s helped me here, ironically.

augustl 5y ago

You're definitely an early adopter if you're on WSL now. I'd say it's probably not prime time until 2024 or so.

bastardoperator 5y ago

Try doing anything I/O intensive in WSL and it all falls apart. I have a 32 core machine with 128GB using nvme disks and it's getting murdered performance wise by an 8 core AWS instance with 16GB of ram on gp2 disks.

Dylan16807 5y ago
1 or 2, and doing the I/O inside the virtual disk or not? WSL2 inside the virtual disk should be very fast.