Kia Zhi Tang (Ryen Tang)

Kia Zhi Tang (Ryen Tang)

Technology Evangelist, Infrastructure as Code Developer, Automation Guru

To find out more about me.

Getting Ubuntu distro environment on Windows for DevOps

5 minute read

Previously, I blogged about Working with Ruby and Jekyll on Windows for GitHub Pages and I am constantly being asked about Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

  • Can it be deployed on a Windows Server?
  • Can it be upgraded so that it does not reach end of life?

I decided to blog this walk-through on how you can enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), maintain your linux distro environment and upgrade the linux distro instance to stay ahead. Let’s get started with command lines.

Getting Started with Ubuntu on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

In this blog post, I will be documenting the basic steps in getting Bash and other common linux tools from Ubuntu distro working on Windows 10 using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) feature.

What is actually Windows Subsystem for Linux? In short, it is a Windows feature on Windows 10 that allows developers to run linux environment directly on Windows without deploying a virtual machine. That means you get to use Bash and many other tools that focus primarily on linux first to work on Windows.

↑Top

Pre-requisite requirements

  • Windows 10 Build 16215 or later
  • Windows Server 1709 or later

↑Top

Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux feature on Windows 10

To enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux Feature on Windows 10 and reboot the Windows 10 using PowerShell.

Note: A reboot of the Windows 10 operating system is required after enabling the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature

  • Launch Windows PowerShell with elevated privileges
  • Use the Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature PowerShell cmdlet to enable the feature
1
2
3
4

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature `
    -FeatureName "Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux" `
    -Online `
    -NoRestart:$False ;

↑Top

How to obtain Ubuntu distro instance for Windows

Once you have verified that your current environment meets the pre-requisite requirements and you have enabled the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature.

Let’s get started with obtaining Ubuntu distro instance with Windows Subsystem for Linux for Windows 10 or Windows Server.

↑Top

Downloading Ubuntu distro instance

In this example, we will use Invoke-WebRequest PowerShell cmdlet to download the linux distro application package to your home folder.

1
2
3
4
5

# Download Ubuntu application for WSL
Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Uri "https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu" `
    -OutFile "~\Ubuntu.appx" `
    -UseBasicParsing ;

↑Top

Installation for Windows 10

Natively, you can use Add-AppxPackage PowerShell cmdlet to add the linux distro application package to your Windows 10.

1
2
3

# Install the Ubuntu application for WSL
Add-AppxPackage `
    -Path "~/Ubuntu.appx" ;

During your initial launch of Ubuntu on Windows 10, you will be requested to configure your new UNIX username and password.

Note: This setup a normal non-administrative user account that will login by default when you launch the distro. The username and password does not require to be same as your Windows user account. To elevate privileges in the distro instance, use sudo and input your password. For more information, you are refer to this documentation here.

↑Top

Installation for Windows Server

For Windows Server, you will have use Rename-Item PowerShell cmdlet to rename the linux distro application package extension to a compressed file extension.

Since the file has been renamed to a compressed file extension, you will use Expand-Archive PowerShell cmdlet to expand the compressed file to your home folder or ~\.wsl\distro\ custom home folder location.

After the file has been expanded to the destination, use the Start-Process PowerShell cmdlet to launch the executable to begin the initial configuration of the linux distro instance.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

# Rename the file extension to compressed file extension
Rename-Item `
    -Path "~\Ubuntu.appx" `
    -NewName "Ubuntu.zip" ;

# Expand the compressed file to destination
Expand-Archive `
    -Path "~\Ubuntu.zip" `
    -DestinationPath "~\.wsl\distro\Ubuntu" ;

# Launch the distro setup
Start-Process `
    -FilePath "~\.wsl\distro\Ubuntu\Ubuntu.exe" ;

Once the Ubuntu.exe is running, the installation will begin and you will be requested to configure your new UNIX username and password.

Note: This setup a normal non-administrative user account that will login by default when you launch the distro. The username and password does not require to be same as your Windows user account. To elevate privileges in the distro instance, use sudo and input your password. For more information, you are refer to this documentation here.

↑Top

How to update the Ubuntu distro instance

When you switched into the linux distro for the first time, you will need to use the linux distro’s preferred package manager to update and upgrade those installed packages. This is because most of the linux distro are shipped with an empty/minimal package catalog.

For Ubuntu, we will use apt update command to update the packages index and perform apt upgrade to upgrade those packages based on the up to date packages index. For more information about apt, you can refer to the documentation here.

Note: Microsoft does not maintain those linux distro and the linux distro instance running on Windows Subsystem for Linux are not maintained by Windows Updates.

1
2

# Update and upgrade Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

↑Top

How to switch into Ubuntu distro shell environment

After you have configured and updated your Ubuntu distro instance, you can always quickly switch into the linux distro shell environment by doing the following below.

  • Launch Command Prompt or PowerShell Console
  • Input wsl or bash to switch into Ubuntu distro shell environment

↑Top

How to validate Ubuntu distro instance version

To check the Ubuntu distro instance version, use the lsb_release command with -a parameter.

1
2

# Display Ubuntu version
lsb_release -a

↑Top

How to perform an in-place upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

If you are still using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS distro instance and wanted to use Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, you can use do-release-upgrade command with -d parameter to upgrade your distro instance to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

1
2
3
4
5

# Validate release upgrade configuration is set to LTS
cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades | grep Prompt=

# Upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS
sudo do-release-upgrade -d

↑Top

Conclusion

There you have it. You can deploy this feature on Windows 10 or Windows Server and keep the instance up to date with that linux distro before it reaches end of life.

If you find that this information useful, feel free to bookmark this or share it with your colleagues and friends.

↑Top

References

↑Top

↑Top

You May Also Enjoy