Windows Subsystem for Linux - Debian 10.3

Osiris, Hera, Vulcan, Heracles, Poseidon, Iapetus

This guide has been tested under Windows 10 / Debian 10 and Windows 11 / Debian 13.

Installation

Enable “Developer mode” in Settings –> System –> Advanced (Win 11) or Settings –> Update & Security –> For developers (Win 10)
Press Windows key + R and run optionalfeatures.exe. Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux. Restart the computer.

Open Windows Power Shell as Administrator, then run the following line and reboot:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

If you want to use WSL on Windows 11 Home you need to first install Hyper-V (see How to Install and Enable Hyper V in Windows 11 Home). Create the following Windows batch file and run it as administrator:

pushd "%~dp0"
dir /b %SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\*Hyper-V*.mum >hyper-v.txt
for /f %%i in ('findstr /i . hyper-v.txt 2^>nul') do dism /online /norestart /add-package:"%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\%%i"
del hyper-v.txt
Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V -All /LimitAccess /ALL
pause

Restart your computer
Open the Microsoft Store and search for “Linux”. Choose and get Debian, as per 2020-03-10: Debian 10 Buster, 2025-11-7: Debian 13.0 Trixie.
Open Debian from the start menu and complete installation.
Upgrade all packages:
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
```

Install packages:

sudo apt install vim
sudo apt install wget
sudo apt install zip
sudo apt install rsync

Create /run/sshd folder:
```
sudo mkdir /run/sshd
```

Create a shortcut to the executable on your desktop:

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe

The root file system can be found at a path similar to:

C:\Users\bco\AppData\Local\Packages\TheDebianProject.DebianGNULinux_76v4gfsz19hv4\LocalState\rootfs

Add and icons to the shortcuts

Files

WSL2 image file is located at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\<distribution>\LocalState\ext4.vhdx (replace 'ext4' with the filesystem of your distribution)
You can copy file ext4.vhdx to another location and open it with 7zip.
To read files from an ext4.vhdx file, which is commonly used by Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2, you can utilize the wsl –mount command. This process involves mounting the VHDX file within Windows and then accessing its contents from within your WSL environment. See following steps to read files from ext4.vhdx using WSL.
Terminate WSL Instances: Ensure all running WSL instances are shut down to prevent conflicts with the VHDX file.
```
wsl.exe --shutdown
```
Mount the VHDX in Windows (with Administrator privileges): Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as an administrator and use Mount-VHD to make the VHDX file accessible to Windows. Replace <pathToVHD> with the actual path to your ext4.vhdx file.
```
Mount-VHD -Path "<pathToVHD>"
```

Alternatively, you can use diskpart to mount the VHDX:

diskpart
    select vdisk file="<pathToVHD>"
    attach vdisk

Identify the Disk Path in Windows: After mounting, you need to find the disk path assigned by Windows. You can use Get-Disk in PowerShell or list disk in diskpart to identify the newly mounted disk.
Mount the Disk in WSL: Open your WSL distribution (e.g., Ubuntu) and mount the disk path identified in the previous step. Replace <diskPath> with the actual disk path (e.g., /dev/sdb) and <mountPoint> with your desired mount point within WSL (e.g., /mnt/ext4).
```
sudo wsl --mount <diskPath> --bare
sudo mkdir -p <mountPoint>
sudo mount <diskPath> <mountPoint>
```
Access Files within WSL: Once mounted, you can navigate to the <mountPoint> within your WSL environment and access the files stored on the ext4.vhdx.
```
cd <mountPoint>
ls -l
```
Unmount and Detach (after use): When you are finished, unmount the disk within WSL and detach the VHDX from Windows.
```
sudo umount <mountPoint>
wsl --unmount <diskPath>
```
If you used Mount-VHD:
```
Dismount-VHD -Path "<pathToVHD>"
```

If you used diskpart:

diskpart
select vdisk file="<pathToVHD>"
detach vdisk

Alternative Method (for viewing only): For simply viewing the contents of an ext4.vhdx file without mounting, you can use tools like 7-Zip. 7-Zip can open and browse the contents of various disk image formats, including ext4.vhdx, allowing you to extract files without needing to mount the entire disk.

SSH Server

Install packages:
```
sudo apt install openssh-server
```
Follow the SSH Client and Server guide. SSH into your host and open port 22 in the Windows Firewall.

Start SSH Server at Windows boot time

Open a bash command shell and allow <user> to run ssh as root, add the following line after %sudo:
```
sudo visudo
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
<user> ALL=(root:root) NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/ssh
```
Open Windows Task Scheduler and click Create Basic Task…
1. General
  - Name : Start Bash SSH Server
  - Description: Start the WSL SSH Server via a bash command
  - Run only when user is logged on
  - Run with highest privileges
2. Trigger
  - Begin the task: At log on [OR] On an event
  - (if you mount VeraCrypt volumes during boot it's better to use On an event and begin the task when the volumes are mounted)
  - Specific user: <user>
  - Enabled
3. Actions
  - Action: Start a program
  - Program/script: C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe
  - Add arguments (optional): -c “/usr/bin/sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start”
4. Conditions
  - Start the task only if the computer is on AC power
5. Settings
  - Uncheck Stop the task if it runs longer than:
6. Alternative Action when starting a non elevated script “startup”
  - Action: Start a program
  - Program/script: C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe
  - Add arguments (optional): -c “/home/user/startup”
  - Script “startup”:
```
#!/bin/bash
sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start
```

LAMP

Mounting encrypted drives

WSL can mount encrypted drives, but they must be mounted at the time wsl or bash runs the first time after boot.
If you do not execute any tasks when the host boots up, then just make sure your encrypted drives are mounted when you run wsl or bash.

If you do execute WSL tasks when the host boots up, replace the Task Scheduler entry for the trigger and make it rund after the Mount script has executed:

<QueryList>
  <Query Id="0" Path="Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational">
    <Select Path="Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational">*[EventData[@Name='TaskSuccessEvent'][Data[@Name='TaskName']='\Mount']]</Select>
  </Query>
</QueryList>

Remember to “Enable All Task History” under Actions tab. You might need to do this again after a Windows 10 major version upgrade.

Mounting external drives

mkdir /mnt/f
mount -t drvfs f: /mnt/f

Table of Contents