Install Ubuntu Linux on Windows 11 Command Prompt using WSL

Summary

This article is a guide for installing Linux on Windows 11 using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). 

It can be tedious to have to remote into a virtual machine to check Linux commands on the fly. This method creates a Linux distribution as an available "Terminal" option inside the Windows 11 Command Prompt.

Procedure

Checking if there is an existing installation of WSL from the Command Prompt

If WSL has already been installed, skip to the next section: "Installing WSL"

1. Navigate to the Command Prompt on a Windows 11 machine (do not Run as Administrator).
2. Select the caret icon to expand the list of available terminal options.
   • This shows the terminals available by default, assuming that a Linux distribution has not already been not installed via the Command Prompt.

3. Another method to check for a distribution is to check the WSL version.
4. In the Command Prompt, type "wsl --version".
5. A message is returned that either "The Windows Subsystem for Linux is not installed", or the installed version is identified, as shown on the next two images. 

Installing WSL

1. If WSL is not currently installed, a prompt enables installation by pressing any key. This installs Ubuntu by default.
   • If WSL is currently installed, a specific Linux distribution can be installed, as follows.
2. To install a specific distribution, do the following steps:
   1. Type "wsl --list --online"
   2. This displays a list of available Linux distributions.
   3. To install one of these versions, you must use the name shown under the NAME column.
   4. For example, to install Arch Linux, type "wsl --install archlinux"
   5. For security reasons, some distributions fail to install, such as Kali Linux.
3. When the installation completes, a prompt is presented to create a user account and password for future logins to the Linux distribution.

4. Once this is complete, the terminal may shift into the newly installed Linux distribution terminal.

5. Close the Command Prompt and reopen it.
6. The Linux distribution should now be an available terminal option in the drop-down, as shown in the next image.