Running Ubuntu on Windows 11 with WSL

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) makes it easy to run a full Linux environment directly on Windows 11. This is great for developers and power users who want Linux tools (e.g. grep, sed, awk, tmux) alongside Windows apps.

This is how you can install Ubuntu on Windows 11:

1. Open PowerShell in administrator mode by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator", run the wsl --install command, and then restart your machine.
2. Run wsl --list --online to list the distributions that can be installed, as shown below:

   PS > wsl --list --online
   
   The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
   Install using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.
   
   NAME                            FRIENDLY NAME
   AlmaLinux-8                     AlmaLinux OS 8
   AlmaLinux-9                     AlmaLinux OS 9
   AlmaLinux-Kitten-10             AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10
   AlmaLinux-10                    AlmaLinux OS 10
   Debian                          Debian GNU/Linux
   FedoraLinux-43                  Fedora Linux 43
   FedoraLinux-42                  Fedora Linux 42
   SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP7    SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7
   SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-16.0      SUSE Linux Enterprise 16.0
   Ubuntu                          Ubuntu
   Ubuntu-24.04                    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
   archlinux                       Arch Linux
   kali-linux                      Kali Linux Rolling
   openSUSE-Tumbleweed             openSUSE Tumbleweed
   openSUSE-Leap-16.0              openSUSE Leap 16.0
   Ubuntu-20.04                    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
   Ubuntu-22.04                    Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
   OracleLinux_7_9                 Oracle Linux 7.9
   OracleLinux_8_10                Oracle Linux 8.10
   OracleLinux_9_5                 Oracle Linux 9.5
   openSUSE-Leap-15.6              openSUSE Leap 15.6
   SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6    SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6
   

3. Run wsl --install Ubuntu (or another distro of your choice)

That’s it! Ubuntu is now running on your Windows 11 system.

You can now open a Ubuntu terminal by running the wsl command.

You can access your Windows files from /mnt/c. You can also install Ubuntu packages using apt.