Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

0

Earlier this year at Microsoft’s Annual Build Conference, Microsoft announced the support of running Linux commands within Windows – Windows Subsystem for Linux, a mind-blowing announcement to those who have worked with Linux with the knowledge of understanding Microsoft’s history. It’s a new era, an era of seeing Microsoft embracing open source, and acknowledge the phenomenon of developers shifting away from Windows’ ecosystem to other platforms to do their work.

It has received a huge applause from the web development community. As a web dev myself, I too want to check it out. If you are running a Windows 10 with Insider Preview enabled, this is how you can run Windows Subsystem for Linux.

First, go to Start Menu > Turn Windows features on or off, scroll down to find and check “Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta)”, and click OK.

2016 06 23 0933 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

To enable this feature, you need to restart your PC.

restart thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

Once restarted, launch command prompt, and type bash

2016 06 23 0942 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

It prompts that Windows needs to download and install Ubuntu on Windows.

2016 06 23 0942 001 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

Type “y” to continue.

2016 06 23 0945 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

Once completed, you need to give a username of the user mode. Think of this as the Windows login, but it does not have to be the same.

2016 06 23 0946 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

Repeat your password twice to finish the installation. Now, you are in the Bash on Ubuntu on Windows environment. It is crazy! You can run many Linux commands under this environment, such as Ruby, Node, etc.. Since it’s a brand new environment, there are many issues and many popular tools that might still not work, including Docker for Linux, and many others.

2016 06 23 0947 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

You can now also launch Bash by searching from the start menu.

2016 06 24 1358 thumb - Get Started Windows 10 & Windows Subsystem for Linux

Additional Resources on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

If you find this intriguing, you can find more sources below including this awesome Q&A on what it means now to have this Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10 and how does it different from running a Linux virtual machine.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here