WSL: Run Linux GUI Apps

You can now run Linux apps that use a graphic user interface (or GUI) on Windows using WSL. In this episode, Craig Loewen will explain what this means, what you can do with it, show us some demos, and tell us about a few additional new features for the Windows Subsystem for Linux. I'll also hit him with a list of rapid-fire questions that I've been wondering about.

This episode will cover:

00:00 - Craig Loewen, PM for WSL, introduces us to WSLg
00:40 - Linux GUI apps running on Windows?
01:49 - What can I do with this?
02:39 - Demo: Running Linux GUI apps with WSL
05:50 - Demo: Audio Support
06:55 - Demo: GPU Acceleration
08:30 - How does this work? How is it architected?
09:56 - What else is new for WSL? (--install, --mount)
10:58 - Rapid-Fire Questions (Identifying Windows vs WSL, pinning Linux apps, compat with VirtualBox & VMWare, limiting RAM consumption, WSL + Git, WSL + Docker, Cut + Paste, Linux user space, file access, open-source WSLg, Mariner distro, updates)
16:31 - Where can I learn more?

Learn more:

Run Linux GUI apps on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (preview):

[windmaple]

Windows is now officially the biggest Linux distro

[utsavpoudyal]

Can I install WINE to run my Windows apps from within WSL? Just curious

[KwanLowe]

I'm a longtime Linux user and have to say that WSL is the most useful software I've ever used on Windows. I'm not saying this in a back-handed way that Windows is finally useful to me, but because it works so well. VSCode integrates cleanly, all the tools I expect on a native Linux system works as expected, even Podman. I no longer need PuTTY and WinSCP. I can compile Go for Windows or Linux easily versus using klunky VMs. My only wishes are support for more distributions (CentOS/RHEL especially), optimized disk (no hard numbers, but disk intensive operations seem to bog), and rare, but occasional crashes under load (not sure of the cause, but has occurred a couple times over the past few months when grepping through mass logs).

[act..]

This is some cool stuff. I already had the setup working with WSL running openSUSE Leap 15.3 on a test laptop. I put it into the Dev channel and let it upgrade to Windows 11. After letting it upgrade, it then upgraded the WSL and I was able to install KATE. I opened KATE and the menus had no working fonts. I installed the KDE Base system and it all works flawlessly. I am impressed.

[nameundefined]

Next: The Linux Subsystem for Windows (LSW)

[buzzebee]

You can tell he's a dev because he had a billion tabs open.

[darkyelox]

This is great! I have been testing this through windows insiders and I actually installed a MAC os using qemu on Windows and runs as well as on Linux

[kamalzubairov]

Is UI being rendered by OpenGL? After last update Nvidia Experience's window pops up when I open terminal as if I open a game

[vaisakhkm]

The irony is that most of views of this channel might be Linux lovers...

[bunnxr]

Dang dude. This is called improvement.

[kennarnett]

Greetings. I am attempting to install WSL on my Windows machine that has Windows 10 Pro installed Version 20H2 (OS Build 19042.1415) and I cannot get the Microsoft App store to download Ubuntu. Ive enabled the Windows/Linux connection. The App Store says "The thing that you are looking for isn't here." What gives? I can find this app on the store with my slightly newer laptop

[xzpmnjm]

vim-gtk3 doesn't wotk properly. when I open a gvim window, even though I didn't stroke any keys, the cursor goes down to the bottom line. please fix it.

[omegaz]

As linux user, I feel this is definitely a welcome move, since many apps are not available on linux, this is a great feature.

[adarshaeth]

how to setup static ip for wsl2 ubuntu distro?

[KevinSheppard]

Oh to have all the power of Linux with the commercial app support of Windows (and without dual booting!) I think I'll give WSL2 a try this year.

[jorgemarquez]

Thank you! How could I get to display the camera through WSL2, if possible?

[brunofunnie]

It's been two months since I replaced my Linux environment for a WSL environment and everything works just fine, no lag, no slowness while compiling gcc and other things, I use asdf to manage versions and everything works perfectly fine.

[jogiji]

Doing some deeplearning training stuff on WSL2.. seeing it work from get go is so cool... although there are still some issues to be resolved in terms of GPU feature support..

[tinkot]

My system meets all the requirements, i followed the tutorial and did the exact same installation but whatever i do i can't open any application with a GUI

[groundzero]

What is the best Linux desktop environment?
Microsoft: I think it is windows.