Windows Command Line
Insights from the teams behind Windows Terminal, PowerToys, WinGet, and WSL
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Take your Linux development experience in Windows to the next level with WSL and Visual Studio Code Remote
Using VS Code Remote and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) gives you a fully featured Linux development environment on a Windows laptop or desktop. Let’s look at how using these tools will completely change how you develop with Linux tools in Windows. First things first: Installing what you need You will need WSL and VS Code with the VS Code Remote - WSL extension installed to complete the content in this blog post. We’ll quickly go over what both of those are, and how to install them. The Windows Subsystem for Linux Commonly abbreviated down to WSL, this tool lets you run unmodified Linux binaries dire...
Windows Terminal Microsoft Store Preview Release
The Windows Terminal preview is now in the Microsoft Store! The Windows Terminal is the new, powerful, open source terminal application that was announced at Build 2019. Its main features include multiple tabs, Unicode and UTF-8 character support, a GPU accelerated text rendering engine, and custom themes, styles, and configurations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gw0rXPMMPE You can now download the preview version of the Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store if you have Windows 10 version 18362.0 or higher. Please keep in mind that this is an early preview and will be regularly updated with feature i...
WSL 2 is now available in Windows Insiders
We’re excited to announce starting today you can try the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 by installing Windows build 18917 in the Insider Fast ring! In this blog post we’ll cover how to get started, the new wsl.exe commands, and some important tips. Full documentation about WSL 2 is available on our docs page. Getting Started with WSL 2 We can’t wait to see how you start using WSL 2. Our goal is to make WSL 2 feel the same as WSL 1, and we look forward to hearing your feedback on how we can improve. The Installing WSL 2 docs explains how to get up and running with WSL 2. There are some user experience changes th...
A Deep Dive Into How WSL Allows Windows to Access Linux Files
Three months ago, we announced that the Windows Subsystem for Linux will be able to access Linux files from Windows in the blog post: What’s new for WSL in Windows 10 version 1903, and in today’s post we will be showing you how we made these changes possible. Let's jump in! We’re continuing our whiteboard series of deep dives (you can find the full list here) with a new video where Sven Groot and Craig Loewen explain the full architecture behind this new feature. You can expect to learn about how WSL currently accesses Linux files, how we’ve added a 9P file server into the init process of each Linux distro, and...
Windows Terminal Build 2019 FAQ
Last week, Microsoft held its Build 2019 conference at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Build is a large event with several thousand people from around the world attending to learn all about the current, newest, and future developer-oriented tech coming from Microsoft. We had the pleasure of meeting so many of you at our booth and answering all your questions! Frequently Asked Questions Below are some of the most frequent questions we have heard (and are still hearing), along with official responses: When and where can I get the new Terminal? Is Windows Terminal replacing Command Pr...
WSL 2 Post BUILD FAQ
After announcing WSL 2 last week, we have had an amazing response from the community and received many great questions about the details surrounding this new architecture. We love answering your questions and want to make sure these answers reach as many WSL users as possible. In this Q&A styled post we’ve gathered some of the most frequently asked questions, and our responses. Does WSL 2 use Hyper-V? Will it be available on Windows 10 Home? WSL 2 will be available on all SKUs where WSL is currently available, including Windows 10 Home. The newest version of WSL uses Hyper-V architecture to enable its virt...
Introducing Windows Terminal
We are beyond excited to announce Windows Terminal! Windows Terminal is a new, modern, fast, efficient, powerful, and productive terminal application for users of command-line tools and shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL. https://aka.ms/terminal-video Windows Terminal will be delivered via the Microsoft Store in Windows 10 and will be updated regularly, ensuring you are always up to date and able to enjoy the newest features and latest improvements with minimum effort. Windows Terminal key features Multiple tabs You've asked and we've listened! The most frequently requested feature for the Ter...
Shipping a Linux Kernel with Windows
Beginning with Windows Insiders builds this Summer, we will include an in-house custom-built Linux kernel to underpin the newest version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This marks the first time that the Linux kernel will be included as a component in Windows. This is an exciting day for all of us on the Linux team at Microsoft and we are thrilled to be able to tell you a little bit about it. Tuned for WSL The term “Linux” is often used to refer both to the Linux kernel as well as the GNU userspace. As with WSL1, WSL2 will not provide any userspace binaries. Instead, the Microsoft kernel will interfac...
Announcing WSL 2
Today we’re unveiling the newest architecture for the Windows Subsystem for Linux: WSL 2! Changes in this new architecture will allow for: dramatic file system performance increases, and full system call compatibility, meaning you can run more Linux apps in WSL 2 such as Docker. What exactly is WSL 2? Our top requests from the WSL community have been to increase the file system performance, and make more apps work inside of WSL (i.e: introduce better system call compatibility). We have heard your feedback, and are glad to announce that WSL 2 helps solve these issues. WSL 2 is a new version of the architecture ...