The password will be used quite frequently for installing software as the super user. Once done, start it up and it will ask you to create a root account. Click the blue Install button at the top right, where Launch is located as per the screenshot below. Restart your PC and head out to the Microsoft Store and install Ubuntu, or click from here. If you encounter issues with getting WSL2 running, here is Microsoft’s troubleshooting guide. Note regarding WSL2 (): Since writing this post, Microsoft released WSL2 to the general public, which offers better performance with a few caveats, if you want to enable that one, you need to also run: dism.exe /online / enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestartĪfter installing Ubuntu, you have to open PowerShell again as admin and run: wsl -set-default-version 2 Open Powershell and run the following command dism.exe /online / enable-feature /featurename: Microsoft-Windows - Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux, where Linux operation system calls are translated into Windows system calls, resulting in a better Linux experience. Install and set up Command Syntax Highlight.Install and set up Fishhook-like Autocompletion.Setting up Visual Studio Code to start from within WSL.Installation and setup of ColorLS (LS with Icons).

Installation and setup of Z (Smart Directory Jump).Installation and setup of FZF (Fuzzy Search).Installation and setup of Powerlevel10K (Widgets alongside shell prompt).Installation and setup of zsh and Oh-my-zsh.Installation and customization of Windows Terminal.Here’s a short breakdown of the contents: Where you should consider usefulness vs speed. The list of plugins covered is a pick and choose approach. This guide is meant for absolute beginners for setting up a Linux shell environment on Windows 10. If you follow this guide the end result should look like the GIF I’ve captured below: Microsoft have come a long way in the past few years with Azure and embracing Linux as the developers’ choice. The main one being that I finally built myself a desktop PC and switched away from my trustworthy 7 year-old Macbook Air. I’ve also switched to Windows as my primary development environment due to variety of reasons. Since writing Setting up Oh-my-Zsh, I’ve levelled up in terms of shell usage and customization.

Ubuntu windows terminal