tlin623 / windows-subsystem-for-linux-setup-guide

An in-depth Guide for getting started with the Windows Subsystem for Linux!

Windows Subsystem for Linux Setup

This is an in-depth guide for new and experienced developers on how to get started with the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

WSL is a feature that allows Windows users to work with a native Linux distro that is directly integrated into Windows.

This is not a Virtual Machine, emulator, or a console wrapper; it is literally Linux inside of Windows, directly mounted to the Windows File System. This guide uses examples that are relevant to Node.js developers, but you can substitue your own tools into the workflow.

Start Here:

Page 1: Introduction into WSL

Please make sure to star or fork this repo! Thanks!

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What this guide covers

By the end of this guide, you will know:

1. What WSL is, and why it's important.
2. How to install WSL and the free Ubuntu App.
3. How the two file systems work together, and how you should work with them.
4. How to update your terminal, and edit WSL files.
5. Where, why, and how to install different programs and software.
6. Additional important information.

YouTube Video Walk-Through

I created a set of videos which walked through the entire guide step by step, so you can see everything I do to get up and running!

YouTube Playlist

I highly recommend you watch the videos while you go through this guide! I talked a tad bit slower on purpose so you can watch them on 1.5x or 2x speed too 😁 !

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Upcoming Additions:

Due date: 11/01/18

The fall release of Windows will be dropping soon, so I will go through it and update the guide as needed!

• Checklist of everything you need to get up and running.
• Gifs of specific sections of the videos.
• Shortcut video that goes through the entire guide very quickly with minimal explainations ( instead of the 3ish hours that the current videos combined are).
• Annotations added to current videos to allow you to jump around to different sections.
• Adding more links to external docs.
• Refinement of current guide.

Past Additions:

7/18:

• Getting new laptop on 7/1/18 and will update the doc in that month. ( Update coming soon! Videos will be included! Minor bug fixes! Delayed due to catcing a cold 😷. (DONE!)

• More links to all the resources that are used.

• Video demos, screen shots, and gifs to help visualize what's going on.

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Credits

Huge thanks to Izzy Baer for editing this guide!

Thanks to the bashonubuntuonwindows community at Reddit for proofing this guide each update!

Thanks to Brenden Hesse for including my in an article he wrote on getting started with WSL ( which I didn't know about until after I started seeing a bunch of traffic here.)

Thank you!