My main computer is Mac system and my home computer is Windows. I hope I can have the same development experience in the two systems. The WSL-Windows Subsystem for Linux can run Linux on Windows without the need for a traditional VIRTUAL machine. Here is a record of my environment setup process, including installing Linux environment, installing OH-my-Zsh, setting up powerLevel10K theme, configuring VS Code, etc. Let’s cut to the chase and get right to the end.

Recommended software

  • Windows Terminal
  • Visual Studio Code

Install the WSL

The official documentation Install WSL | Microsoft Docs

1.1 Automatic Installation (Administrator Running PowerShell)

You must be running Windows 10 Version 2004 and later (Internal version 19041 and later) or Windows 11.

wsl --install
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1.2 Manual Installation (Administrator Runs PowerShell)

If an earlier version or the automatic installation fails (for example, the Ubuntu download fails), you can install it manually.

1.2.1 enable WSL

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
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1.2.2 Checking operating requirements

  • For x64 systems: Version 1903 or higher, with Build 18362 or higher.
  • For ARM64 systems: Version 2004 or higher, with Build 19041 or higher.
  • Builds lower than 18362 do not support WSL 2. Use the Windows Update Assistant to update your version of Windows

1.2.3 Enabling THE VM Function

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
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1.2.4 Downloading the Linux Kernel Update Package

  • WSL2 Linux kernel update package for x64 machines
  • Double-click on the run

1.2.5 Setting WSL 2 as the Default (Win 10)

wsl --set-default-version 2
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1.2.6 Installing the Linux Distribution

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS can be installed in the Microsoft Store

1.2.7 Viewing the Version

wsl -l -v
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1.2.8 Restarting the PC

WSL environment configuration

2.1 Initializing the User name and password

Enter Ubuntu from the Start menu, wait a minute or two, and enter your username and password

  • This username and password is specific to each individual Linux distribution installed, regardless of the Windows username.
  • Once a username and password are created, this account will be the default user for the distribution and will be automatically logged in at startup.
  • This account will be treated as a Linux administrator and will runsudo(Super User Do) Management command.

2.2 Update and Upgrade packages

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
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2.3 Configuring Windows Terminal

  • Set Ubuntu to boot by default in Settings
  • Set the startup folder

Open the command line by default/mnt/c/user/<name>folder

    cd && explorer.exe .
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Go to the current user folder and open file Manager, copy the current folder in file Manager, and then set the boot directory in Windows Terminal.

Note:

  • Win10 and Win11 start directory is different, the best throughexplorer.exe .Copy path after opening file management
  • Do not access files across operating systems, which can significantly degrade performance. Windows command lines (PowerShell, command prompt) access files in Windows file system, Linux command lines (Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, etc.) access files in WSL.

2.3.1 installation ZSH

 # installation
 sudo apt install zsh -y
 
 # see shells
 cat /etc/shells
 
 Set the default shell
 chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh
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When setting the default shell, you are required to enter the password. Re-open a window, ZSH will ask the user for configuration problems, select 2 Recommended Configuration, if you need to modify ~/.zshrc.

2.3.2 Modifying hosts to Access Github (Github is inaccessible; otherwise, skip this step)

  • Create the/etc/WSL. Conf 
    sudo touch /etc/wsl.conf

# Enter the following to prevent automatic generation of hosts files
[network]
generateHosts = false
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  • Access the latest hosts on GitHub
  • Append github hosts to /etc/hosts 
    sudo vim /etc/hosts
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  • ping 
    ping github.com
ping raw.githubusercontent.com
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Oh – my – ZSH 2.3.3 installation

 sh -c "$(wget -O- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
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2.3.4 configurationpowerlevel10kThe theme

Install the fonts

Set the Windows Terminal font
            "font": {
                "face": "MesloLGS NF",
                "size": 14
            }
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Download the theme
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
echo 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>~/.zshrc
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Configure the topic

When a new window is opened and there is no configuration, the user will be asked some questions to configure the window. Select the configuration you like and run the p10k configure command to reconfigure the window.

downloadzsh-syntax-highlighting 和 zsh-autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
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git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
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Edit the ~ /. ZSHRC

plugins=(zsh-syntax-highlighting zsh-autosuggestions)
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source .zshrc
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Enter commands to see highlights and suggestions

Configuration VS Code

Install the remote-WSL plug-in

In Ubuntu, use code. To open the folder

Set the fontMesloLGS NF

 "editor.fontFamily": "'MesloLGS NF', Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace"
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Download the Node

Ubuntu apt-get installs Node version 10.x which is too old and NPM is reporting an error

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
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reference

  • Suitable for Linux document Windows subsystem | Microsoft Docs
  • Hosts: indicates the latest hosts on GitHub
  • GitHub – ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh
  • GitHub – romkatv/powerlevel10k: A Zsh theme
  • GitHub – zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions: Fish-like autosuggestions for zsh
  • GitHub – zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting: Fish shell like syntax highlighting for Zsh.
  • GitHub – nodesource/distributions: NodeSource Node.js Binary Distributions