How to upgrade from WSL 1 to WSL 2

Raymond Raymond
Raymond
Stats
articleArticles 555
codeCode 5
imageDiagrams 54
descriptionNotebooks 0
chat_bubble_outlineThreads 8
commentComments 297
loyaltyKontext Points 6182
account_circle Profile
visibility 4,574 event 2022-02-09 access_time 2 years ago language English
more_vert

WSL is a very powerful tool to allow developers to use Linux features on Windows machines. The latest version is WSL 2.WSL 2 uses the latest virtualization technology to run a Linux kernel inside of a lightweight utility virtual machine (VM). For more information about WSL 1 and 2 differences, refer to Comparing WSL 1 and WSL 2 | Microsoft Docs.

Upgrade from WSL 1 to 2

Run the following command will show the current installed distros:

wsl -l -v

The command prints out the distros with versions in my Windows machine:

2022020983316-image.png

As shown in the above screenshot, I have multiple different versions of distro installed. 

To upgrade from WSL1 to WSL2, we can simply run the following command:

wsl --set-version <distro name> 2

For example, the following command upgrade my Ubuntu-18.04 distro to WSL 2.

wsl --set-version Ubuntu-18.04 2
It make takes a few minutes to complete.
Once it is done, you can use list command `wsl -l -v` to check the version. 
More from Kontext
copyright This page is subject to Site terms.
Like this article?
Share on
comment Comments
No comments yet.

Please log in or register to comment.

account_circle Log in person_add Register

Log in with external accounts