Using Linux terminal on Windows System

Have you been through the pain of using linux on your windows system via either Virtual Machine or dual reboot? Now, this can be done directly while staying on the windows OS and using linux as if you are using dedicated linux environment. Using, WSL which is Windows Subsystem Linux. Let’s see how we can have Linux terminal on a windows system.

1. How to enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux?

Open the PowerShell as Administrator and run the following command:

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

2. How to enable Virtual machine feature?

So, here comes the twist. Windows provides a built-in feature to support virtual machine. To enable this feature, open PowerShell as Administrator and run the following command:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

3. Download and install the linux kernel package

You can download the package from here for x64 machine.

4. Install linux distribution of your choice from Microsoft Store

After installation, when you’ll open it, you need to provide username and password for the first time only.

And Voila!!! You have Linux terminal available in your windows system without any hassle of VMs or dual reboot.

Hope it helped.