Upgrading to WSL2

WSL2 comes with a performance and feature perks over the old system, including choice of Linux flavor and a different virtualization strategy. If for no other reason, though, it was simply time for an upgrade. Here's the shortnotes:

Get WSL2 Installed

Wasn't as straightforward as the MSDocs made it. I had to opt into the insiders program, with my computer having been out of date for almost a year -- the slow ring was enough to get the right version. A few restarts later and I had a latest enough build: 19041. Then it was a matter of:

• Enable Virtual Machine Platform ('Turn Windows Features on or off' > 'Virtual Machine Platform' & 'Windows Subsystem for Linux').
• Reboot, and while you're at the BIOS - turn on Intel Virtualization (VT-x). VT-d, if supported on your system, is also a good call - as it allows direct IO by the virtual machines. I had an issue where this was switched off and WSL2 threw a Virtualization error during installation. You might need to comb over some of the 'Advanced' sections of your BIOS to find it.

Then the system was ready to start installing WSL2.

Distro Picking

From the MS Store pick out a distro. I stuck with Ubuntu. I had an issue getting the latest Ubuntu to download -- I had apparently tried to install Ubuntu 18.04 before (which is a separate download from Ubuntu latest - simply known as 'Ubuntu' in the store). Uninstalling that version worked fine.

Before booting the new Ubuntu I decided to copy any files I wanted to keep onto a separate drive -- thinks like dotfiles or projects I didn't want to re-clone. Doing this now made it easier later to just flip the switch, so take a moment if you haven't already.

Once ready, launch the new 'Ubuntu' app you downloaded and follow the prompt to setup your user. In my quick searches I couldn't find a way to migrate my existing user over easily, so I found it better to just go with the clean install approach. Once done, boot a Powershell and run wsl --set-default-version 2 followed by wsl --set-version <Distro> 2. If the commands succeeded your almost there. If they failed (like they did for me), you'll want to circle back to checking your System Updates.

Retire the Old System

wsl -l -v will list all your installed distros and their versions. For me this was Ubuntu on WSL 2 and Ubuntu (Legacy). WSL V1 might be what you'll find if you came to the party after Legacy. If you'd like to rid yourself of this, you're looking for the unregister command: wsl --unregister <distroName>. Verify with a wsl -l -v again to confirm it's removal.

System Prep - Terminal

With the new system ready, I like to get my pieces back in place. First was a terminal emulator. I used to use Cmder, but grew tired of that setup pretty quick. I moved onto Hyper but it too felt clunky after a lot of day-to-day use (little things like copy paste or resizing the window just got a bit too annoying). Recently on my Linux dual-boot I've been using Kitty which I've enjoyed, but Windows has no such option.

I opted for the new 'Windows Terminal':

• Download from the MS Store

• Launch it, Open the Settings

• Remove any profiles from the list you don't care for and add a new one with the settings you'd like:

  {
    "hidden": false,
    "name": "Ubuntu",
    "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
    "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu\\home\\"
  }
  

• If there are some defaults you want to apply to all windows, you can tweak those as well in the "defaults" key. Here's mine:

  {
    "colorScheme": "Solarized Light",
    "startingDirectory": "~",
    "cursorColor": "#002b36",
    "fontFace": "Fira Code",
    "fontSize": 11
  }
  

• And to wrap up that Solarized scheme, you might want to install the Solarized Dir Colors:

  • Download the file you'd like to ~/.dir_colors.
  • In your bash/zshrc add eval dircolors ~/.dir_colors

• If you're interested in a non-emoji version of Fira Code (which instead uses special patched symbols are requires a compatible prompt), you can download one from NerdFonts

• Speaking of prompts, I used to use Spaceship, but decided to give a pure-Rust version (inspired by Spaceship) a shot - Starship.

System Prep - Environment

I won't cover everything, but here's a few that you might want:

• Basic system tools: build-essentials, exa (an ls replacement), and bat (a cat replacement).
• Rust, if that's your poison: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
• Go, if you also dabble there: Download the Linux Tar, tar -C /usr/local -xzf <downloaded>, and add to PATH: export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin

Otherwise that's about it. If you're interested in ZSH, check out my notes on Setting up ZSH

---

Annoyance: Can't Copy from Vim

Problem: I want to yank some code from Vim and paste it in anything that's not vim. In Hyper I could simply highlight + right click, in Windows Terminal I can't.

Fix: Add the following snippet to your ~/.vimrc:

  " WSL yank support
  let s:clip = '/mnt/c/Windows/System32/clip.exe'  " default location
  if executable(s:clip)
      augroup WSLYank
          autocmd!
          autocmd TextYankPost * call system('echo '.shellescape(join(v:event.regcontents, "\<CR>")).' | '.s:clip)
      augroup END
  end