Minimal distribution
The fastest distribution to install is the already configured Alpine:
❯ install-wsl alpine1 -Distribution Alpine -Configured
####> Creating directory [C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\alpine1]...
####> Downloading https://github.com/antoinemartin/PowerShell-Wsl-Manager/releases/download/latest/miniwsl.alpine.rootfs.tar.gz => C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\RootFS\miniwsl.alpine.rootfs.tar.gz...
####> Creating distribution [alpine1]...
####> Done. Command to enter distribution: wsl -d alpine1
Once the root filesystem is downloaded locally, subsequent installations are even faster:
PS❯ install-wsl alpine2 -Distribution Alpine -Configured
####> Creating directory [C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\alpine2]...
####> Alpine Root FS already at [C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\RootFS\miniwsl.alpine.rootfs.tar.gz].
####> Creating distribution [alpine2]...
####> Done. Command to enter distribution: wsl -d alpine2
PS❯ wsl -d alpine2
[powerlevel10k] fetching gitstatusd .. [ok]
wsl❯ exit
PS❯
Get-Wsl allows retrieving infomrmation about the installed distrbutions:
❯ get-wsl alpine* | format-table -Property *
FileSystemPath BlockFile Length Name State Version Default Guid BasePath
-------------- --------- ------ ---- ----- ------- ------- ---- --------
\\wsl$\alpine2 ext4.vhdx 146800640 alpine2 Stopped 2 False 580da4f4-d3d3-4609-bd63-8b1120e8f792 C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\alpine2
\\wsl$\alpine1 ext4.vhdx 146800640 alpine1 Stopped 2 False db7601cf-9cff-42ae-85c4-ab1ba516c118 C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\alpine1
Locally configured distribution
Installing a locally configured distribution allows starting from the official distribution root filesystem that contains updated packages:
PS❯ install-wsl ubuntu2210 -Distribution Ubuntu
####> Creating directory [C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\ubuntu2210]...
####> Downloading https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/wsl/noble/current/ubuntu-noble-wsl-amd64-wsl.rootfs.tar.gz => C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\RootFS\ubuntu.rootfs.tar.gz...
####> Creating distribution [ubuntu2210]...
####> Running initialization script [configure.sh] on distribution [ubuntu2210]...
####> Done. Command to enter distribution: wsl -d ubuntu2210
PS❯ wsl -d ubuntu2210
[powerlevel10k] fetching gitstatusd .. [ok]
wsl❯ exit
PS❯
Incus based distributions
Incus allows running linux system containers in Linux. It is similar to WSL as it can use root filesystems as source. Canonical provides root filsystems for the most popular Linux distributions. The images built can be browsed here.
Incus root filesystems may contain more packages than the ones needed for a minimal WSL installation. However, they provide a reliable and centralized source for Linux distributions.
The complete list of Incus images is available as a JSON file [here][json incus image list]. The image details are also available in this [json file]json incus images detail.
Let’s imagine that we want to try the Alpine edge distribution. We can type:
PS> install-wsl edge -Distribution incus:alpine:edge
####> Creating directory [C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\edge]...
####> Downloading https://images.linuxcontainers.org/images/alpine/edge/amd64/default/20221213_13:02/rootfs.tar.xz => C:\Users\AntoineMartin\AppData\Local\Wsl\RootFS\incus.alpine_edge.rootfs.tar.gz...
####> Creating distribution [edge]...
####> Running initialization script [configure.sh] on distribution [edge]...
####> Done. Command to enter distribution: wsl -d edge
PS> wsl -d edge
[powerlevel10k] fetching gitstatusd .. [ok]
❯ id
uid=1000(alpine) gid=1000(alpine) groups=10(wheel),1000(alpine)
❯ exit
PS>
[json incus image list]: https://images.linuxcontainers.org/imagesstreams/v1/index.json [json incus images detail]: https://images.linuxcontainers.org/imagesstreams/v1/images.json