troytse / wsl-autostart

Support for starting the Linux services in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows startup

WSL Autostart

Support for starting the Linux services in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows startup.

README | 中文文档

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage

Installation

• Clone to any directory using the git command: (e.g C:\wsl-autostart)

git clone https://github.com/troytse/wsl-autostart

• Add a startup item to the registry.

• Add a string item under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (e.g WSLAutostart)

• Set the path to the script (e.g C:\wsl-autostart\start.vbs)

Usage

• Modify /etc/sudoers in the WSL to specify the service commands calling on startup without a password.

• For example,

  • for the distribution Ubuntu and other Debian derivates:

    %sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/cron
    %sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/ssh
    %sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/mysql
    %sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/apache2
    

  • for the distribution Opensuse:

    %users ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/cron
    

• Modify commands.txt in the wsl-autostart directory to specify the service commands accordingly. For example,

  • for the distribution Ubuntu and other Debian derivates:

    /etc/init.d/cron
    /etc/init.d/ssh
    /etc/init.d/mysql
    /etc/init.d/apache2

  • for the distribution Opensuse:

    /usr/sbin/cron

Other methods

• Using gpedit.msc, it is possible to define a program that runs when the computer starts

  Note that the configured program will run as the system user.

• Using taskschd.msc, it is possible to schedule a task after the startup of the computer.

  You may configure which user will run the program, a delay before a run and a number of retries. the same taskschd.msc program will show a specific log regarding the execution of the task

See here how to avoid the UAC prompt. One option is:

1. create an elevated shortcut by https://winaero.com/blog/create-elevated-shortcut-to-skip-uac-prompt-in-windows-10/ (or more conveniently by the Winaero Tweaker as pointed out at the end of these instruction) and
2. put it into the startup folder %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

wsl-autostart's Issues

does this commands.txt support systemd?

does this commands.txt support systemd?
eg:
my systemd service is pm2-user.service
to start custom service:

sudo systemctl start pm2-user.service

the systemd conf file path:

/etc/systemd/system/pm2-user.service

content:

[Unit]
Description=PM2 process manager
Documentation=https://pm2.keymetrics.io/
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
User=user
LimitNOFILE=infinity
LimitNPROC=infinity
LimitCORE=infinity
Environment=PATH=/usr/local/go/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
Environment=PM2_HOME=/home/user/.pm2
PIDFile=/home/user/.pm2/pm2.pid
Restart=on-failure

ExecStart=/usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 resurrect
ExecReload=/usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 reload all
ExecStop=/usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 kill

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

how to set the commands.txt file for this?

UAC prompt at boot

UAC prompt at boot anyway to avoid this?

README.md may include instructions to use windows admin tools instead of modifying registry

The README.md suggests an installation that modify the windows registry. Instead of that option, it is possible to configure Windows 10 to run a program when the computer starts using a startup policy or a scheduled task using administrative tools.

• Using gpedit.msc, it is possible to define a program that run when the computer starts
  • Note that the configured program will run as the SYSTEMuser.
• Using taskschd.msc, it is possible to schedule a task after the startup of the computer.
  • You may configure which user will run the program, a delay before run and a number of retries.
  • the same taskschd.msc program will show a specific log regarding the execution of the task

In addition, note that the scheduled task can be created programmatically using Powershell. An user may run a .ps1 script to installs the wsl-autostart as a scheduled task very easily.

Windows scheduler ubuntu autostart

I've added ubuntu2004.exe to Scheduler (after user login).
It starts fine. But I have a UAC popup:

Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?
C:\work\wsl-autostart\control.bat

How to fix this? I've seen a similar thread. But I think it addresses not control.bat but something else.

Switch from "wsl sudo" to "wsl -u root"

The wsl command lets you specify what "Linux" user will be used to run a command. Rather then setting up sudo, why not just use "wsl -u root" in your control.bat file?

This only works if a user login windows

Is there a way to make it run after windows startup?

Fix for when installed in path with spaces

change control.bat to:

%~d0
cd "%~p0"
for /f %%i in (commands.txt) do (wsl sudo %%i %*)

so that it works when installed under a path that constains spaces