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A complete walkthrough running several separate Linux distros side by side under WSL — installing additional distros, switching between them, and setting a specific one as your default.
A complete walkthrough getting WSL2 and a Linux distro running from a clean Windows installation — the single-command path, and what to check if it doesn't work cleanly the first time.
WSL dropped its 'Preview' label in the Microsoft Store on November 22, 2022, decoupling its update cycle from Windows itself entirely — meaning WSL improvements could ship on their own schedule going forward.
For years, setting up WSL meant enabling Windows features manually, downloading a kernel update package separately, and installing a distro as separate steps. The wsl --install command collapsed all of it into one line.
Eighteen months after its first public reveal, WSL stopped being an experimental preview feature — gaining full Microsoft support, multi-distro installs via the Microsoft Store, and Windows Server compatibility.
Before WSL let Windows run real Linux binaries, Microsoft tried and abandoned a different compatibility project entirely. Here's the actual path from that cancellation to today's tightly-integrated WSL2.