Skip to main content

Install Ubuntu WSL

Install Ubuntu​

Windows 11 makes it extremely easy to install WSL and Ubuntu. Open up the Terminal by pressing WIN + x and then select "Terminal". Then paste in:

wsl --install --no-distribution

wsl-install

Reboot once the installation is complete.

Once WSL is installed, the available distros can be viewed with

wsl --list --online

wsl-dist-list

I prefer to install Ubuntu 24.04 which is the latest version at the time. To install, run:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

Install Updates​

Once Ubuntu is installed a prompt will be displayed to provide a username and then password. Afterwards, Ubuntu will be logged in and should be updated. Paste in:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Once complete, restart WSL with the following commands.

Exit Ubuntu

exit

Shutdown WSL

wsl --shutdown

Then start WSL back up with

wsl

Setting a Default Distro​

If more than one distro is installed, it is possible to set the distro that is used as the default. First, list the installed distros:

wsl -l -v

Then set whichever one should be default

wsl --set-default <DISTRO>

Keep Ubuntu VM Running​

If running into issues where the Ubuntu VM keeps shutting down (which was happening to me and closing all my Docker containers). Check out this wiki: