How to Setup Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

To enable WSL

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

Auto restart LxssManager after system restart: sc config LxssManager start=auto

  • To view the distributions currently on the system: wsl --list or wsl -l
  • To view the available distributions online: wsl --list --oneline or wsl -l -o
  • To install a distribution: wsl --install -d <DistributionName>, for Distribution, use the name from wsl -l -o
  • To see the status of all the distributions and also the running state: wsl --list --verbose or wsl -l -v
  • To terminate the specified distribution, or stop it from running: wsl --terminate <DistributionName> or wsl -t <DistributionName>
  • To unregister and uninstall a distribution: wsl --unregister <DistributionName>
  • To immediately terminate all running distribution: wsl --shutdown

How to setup Zsh & Oh My Zsh

Zsh is a shell designed for interactive use, although it is also a powerful scripting language. Many of the useful features of bash, ksh, and tcsh were incorporated into zsh; many original features were added.

Oh My Zsh is a community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration.

sudo apt install wget
sudo apt install git
sudo apt install zsh
  • To install and set zsh as default shell: sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

To install “powerlevel10k” theme

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
  • To update the theme in ~/.zshrc file:
    • Open the zsh config file in nano or editor of your choice: nano ~/.zshrc and then
    • Set ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k" instead of ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"

Restart the terminal or exec zsh, to do the first time setup for the look and feel of the theme. If configuration wizard doesn’t show up run p10k configure.

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