Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in Windows 10

Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in Windows 10

As always, this general-purpose tutorial is posted for two key reasons:
a. So that others benefit from all efforts, and,
b. So that others can _improve_ upon what is currently documented;
c. That way, even more people benefit from the end result.

Advantage of this 3-step command-line method:
a. It's essentially three cut-and-paste commands, click, click, & click.
b. No privacy leaks (i.e., no login, no Microsoft Store!)
c. You should be up and running in a few minutes.

Disadvantages of this method:
A. This tutorial doesn't cover adding Ubuntu 20.04 yet (I don't know how).
B. This tutorial doesn't cover enabling graphical applications yet.
C. This tutorial doesn't cover enabling sound (pulse audio) yet.

Thanks to Mike Easter for pointing to the fundamental documentation.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WSL

Given that documentation, here are the 3 cut-and-paste command-line steps:
1. Download the Ubuntu APPX
2. Add the Ubuntu APPX
3. Run the Ubuntu EXE

1. *Download the Ubuntu APPX*
https://wsldownload.azureedge.net/CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu18.04onWindows_1804.20 18.817.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgsc.Appx
Name: CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu18.04onWindows_1804.20 18.817.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgsc.Appx
Size: 224629284 bytes (214 MiB)
SHA256: 96E4E3E336F08DDE1DF81FA9C266C5C7750BA92729857E92BD E36BF84A1DB002

Note: If you can find the Ubuntu 20.04 appx, please advise of the URL.

2. *Add the Ubuntu APPX*
Win+R powershell
PS Start-Process powershell -verb runAs
PS Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
PS Add-AppxPackage -Path "C:\software\iso\ubuntu\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubun tu18.04onWindows_1804.2018.817.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgs c.Appx"

3. *Run the Ubuntu EXE*
Win+R cmd{control+shift+enter}
C:\ wsl
Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Microsoft Sto
https://aka.ms/wslstore

C:\ ubuntu1804.exe
Installing, this may take a few minutes...
Please create a default UNIX user account.
The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: {enter any desired uname}
Enter new UNIX password: {enter any desired passwd}
Retype new UNIX password: {re-enter that same passwd}
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo command".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

Voila!

To test, run "linux" commands at the "uname@pcname:~$" prompt:
$ whoami
uname
$ pwd
/home/uname
$ mkdir foo
$ touch foo/bar.txt
$ cd foo
$ ls
$ vim bar.txt
$ vipw
vipw: Permission denied.
vipw: Couldn't lock file: Permission denied
vipw: /etc/passwd is unchanged
$ sudo vipw
[sudo] password for x: {enter password for uname}
Select an editor. To change later, run 'select-editor'.
1. /bin/nano ---- easiest
2. /usr/bin/vim.basic
3. /usr/bin/vim.tiny
4. /bin/ed
2
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin
etc.
$ sudo apt update
2 sudo apt upgrade -y
$ exit

Test it out to see if you can get it back!
Win+R cmd
C:\ wsl
uname@pcname:/mnt/c/Users/uname$

As always, please improve so that all benefit from every action.
--
The great benefit of the public Usenet potluck is we learn from each other.

On 16/05/2020 10.19, Arlen Holder wrote:
Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in
Windows 10

I would say this is out of topic in the Linux groups and the issue is
that you still have the vulnerable shell around. According to some
leaked numbers, this has been one of microsoft latest failures as people
don't seem to utilize it, those who use Linux tend to run Linux and do
not need microsoft product and those who use microsoft products tend to
not use Linux.

In article ,
J.O. Aho wrote:
On 16/05/2020 10.19, Arlen Holder wrote:
Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in
Windows 10

I would say this is out of topic in the Linux groups and the issue is
that you still have the vulnerable shell around.

What does this mean? What is "vulnerable" ?

According to some leaked numbers, this has been one of microsoft latest
failures as people don't seem to utilize it, those who use Linux tend to
run Linux and do not need microsoft product and those who use microsoft
products tend to not use Linux.

I tend to agree. My first reaction on seeing this thread was: Why?

Who is the target audience? What is MS actually trying to do? (Usually,
you find out that some big corporate client needed this, so they put it in
for everyone - but most people end up scratching their heads and wondering
why).

Another theory is that MS's OS division is pretty much at EOL and they're
just casting around for something to do. The CW is that MS doesn't make
much money anymore on either OS or, for that matter, office software. All
the money is in the cloud services stuff.

--
Treating the stock market indexes as general measures of the well-being of a
society is like treating your blood pressure as an indicator of health. The
higher, the better, right? In fact, a high stock market is good for the investor
class, but it means the rest of us are getting screwed better than ever.

In response to what Kenny McCormack wrote :

Who is the target audience? What is MS actually trying to do? (Usually,
you find out that some big corporate client needed this, so they put it in
for everyone - but most people end up scratching their heads and wondering
why).

Can anyone spell "interoperability"...
o Can anyone "use the tool that works best at any given moment?"



I think people need to keep their minds wide open to new solutions...
o One of those new ideas is for Windows & Linux to work well together.

Fancy that concept.

There are _huge_ advantages to using the tools that work best for the
tasks, where, for example, the good Lord knows, I've espoused using both
Linux and Windows in a dual boot configuration for years on my desktop
computers, along with iOS & Android, as these sample threads attest to:

o *How do we most easily set up a freeware network of Windows + Linux*
*+ iOS + Android file systems*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/tKhwlZyOhf0/oc2gJAq7CAAJ

o *Why doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 ask to install next to Windows 10 Pro single HDD as a dual boot?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/D7E7FQ1NLNk/vKYj6PF0BwAJ

o *Proactive setup instructions for dual boot with Windows & Ubuntu via Grub using legacy keyboards*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/WltumTFjzU8/98HTzaNuCAAJ

o *Have you ever seen a Grub that wouldn't respond to the keyboard?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/yQmtemiHcVk/glo2kUA2CAAJ

o *Quick question asked of how to install Ubuntu on top of Ubuntu?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/5Xl7DPopNnE/fBpSed9gAwAJ

o *How to reset dual boot Linux:Win GRUB after "inaccessible boot device"*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/DWccp5p47Vo/utt55yGLBgAJ
etc.

o *Easiest way to transfer large (video) from Linux to Windows over WiFi?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/qZyr5Nk0EuY/9aQqf8VUCwAJ

o *Quick question about Ubuntu/MacOS dual boot basics*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/0kdhyqga5FQ/805GB7sGCQAJ

o *A note from the cross platform groups ... that may interest linux users too*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/LMQRVNx92-I/W22rN7b8CAAJ
etc.

While I used SunOS & Solaris for years before "Linux" became the norm, I
have _always_ integrated Windows, Mac, and Linux as seamlessly as they can
be made (e.g., Samba & CAP enabled the three platforms to edit the same
files, albeit the Apple resource and data forks might drive you nuts).

In keeping with interoperability, I run Linux commands on Android even:
o *Do you already know how to run a Linux command (like ls) on the Android*
*filesystem plugged into USB?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/oOfdMLmJ-oQ/Y_ezHs2sBgAJ

And, in keeping with interoperability, I run Windows commands on Android:
o *From Windows, how can we open a command line on the Android filesystem?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/vmWWLzPHKt0/bG6EHd8GBQAJ

Also in keeping with interoperability, with all my dual boot desktops, I've
turned off hibernation & faststart so that I can _simultaneously_ access
all platforms at the same time, whether that be Windows, Linux, iOS,
Android, or NAS...
o *Simultaneously slide Windows Linux iOS Android files back and forth*
*over USB at 7GB per minute speeds using 100% native devices*
*(no proprietary software needed)*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/WqIDiVbawRs/pwxzu7LMCAAJ

It turns out that Linux has huge advantages over Windows with some devices:
o *Do these USB transfer times on Ubuntu 18.04 to mobile devices make sense to you?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/OxKbsbzWtQw/Et_sk1-VCQAJ

In summary, just like with installing Linux flavors inside of VirtualBox,
or using Docker, there are things linux does well that Windows doesn't do
all that well, and now, with the WSL, I can do "those things" without
having to resort to booting the system.

My main goal is two things, by the way, one of which I instantly have,
which is native "awk" "sed" "grep" "tr", etc., but the other is that I want
to plug my iPads into this Linux so that I can access the entire iOS
visible filesystem read/write for copying movies over, which Linux does so
much better than does Windows, as explained in this dual-boot tutorial:
o *How to read/write access iOS file systems on Ubuntu/Windows over USB cable*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/z_KXY4IHLe0/OaFqueaaCAAJ

I also want to set up servers that work "inside" of Windows, which is
something that Linux excels at (if for no other reason, than there are more
freeware server utilities on Linux than on Windows).
o *Can we come up with a free, ad free, cloud-free calendaring system*
*that works with Windows and Linux and mobile devices?*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.os.linux/ydQ9sG-8Y08/pBRXk7UEEgAJ
--
The reason for mixing Windows & Linux is you get the best of both worlds.

Kenny McCormack wrote:
In article ,
J.O. Aho wrote:
On 16/05/2020 10.19, Arlen Holder wrote:
Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in Windows 10

Who is the target audience?

They claimed it was the Azure customers who would use this.

I had a lot of trouble believing in this "mythical creature".
I could see no evidence of such animals in the wild.

But they haven't stopped working on this WSL concept,
adding some sort of "kernel" to the picture. To
impress us ? Dunno.

It had all the appearances of a bar bet, or a running gag.

It was a lot of fun for about the first three days,
when some people got an X server running on Windows
and got Firefox running from WSL, on the Windows desktop.
But other than that, it's been pretty quiet as subsystems go.

If you'd previously needed this stuff, the ten years old
GNUWIN32 items on Sourceforge, handle most of this. Or you
could use Cygwin. A third platform ? Hmmm.

Paul

In article , Paul wrote:
....
Who is the target audience?

They claimed it was the Azure customers who would use this.
....
It had all the appearances of a bar bet, or a running gag.

Quite so. Well put.

It was a lot of fun for about the first three days,
when some people got an X server running on Windows
and got Firefox running from WSL, on the Windows desktop.
But other than that, it's been pretty quiet as subsystems go.

If you'd previously needed this stuff, the ten years old
GNUWIN32 items on Sourceforge, handle most of this. Or you
could use Cygwin. A third platform ? Hmmm.

First of all, I have no problem with the idea of using Unix-ish tools under
Windows. That speaks to your mention of "GNUWIN32".

But as to actually running a Linux environment directly under Windows, the
things that pop into mind when considering this WSL a

1) I've used Cygwin a lot (*), and it is quite good. In particular, I
used the X server from Cygwin as my X-server-running-on-Windows for
quite a long time.
2) A long time ago, there was a thing quite similar to WSL called
"Co-Linux" - that allowed you to run a Linux environment right
alongside of Windows. It was quite cute, though entirely a
curiosity sort of thing. I never really saw any real, long term
utility in it (which is the same feeling I have about this WSL
thing). The funny thing is that the machine that I had running
Co-Linux had a hard drive crash shortly after I started running
Co-Linux on it, which I concluded was likely the fault of Co-Linux,
so I've never gone back to it.

Anyway, if I wanted to do this, I'd just run one or the other OS as a VM.
Tools now exist for sharing data between host and guest in VM softwares, so
no big issue there.

(*) I don't use Windows much at all anymore, so no real use for Cygwin anymore.

--
Trump has normalized hate.

The media has normalized Trump.

In response to what Paul wrote :

If you'd previously needed this stuff, the ten years old
GNUWIN32 items on Sourceforge, handle most of this. Or you
could use Cygwin. A third platform ? Hmmm.

Interoperability...

But...but...buu... Wouldn't it be nice to have one machine, two displays...
a. One display is Linux (via WSL for example)
b. The other display is Windows
c. All on the same machine (so the data being munged is the same)

We all used kludges like cygwin & then VMs, and then, more recently,
"docker" since, oh, I don't know, starting from way back in Win95 days,
where, personally, I gave up on Cygwin first and then, years later, I gave
up on virtual machines by simply resorting to dual boot via Grub whenever I
needed the plethora of piped commands, mostly for text-munging, such as
"grep" "awk" "sed" & "tr"

Luckily, on native Windows, "vim" works fine for a lot of my text-munging
needs (e.g., when I munge the cut-and-paste from DXOMark mobile reviews):
o *DXOMark Mobile Phone Camera Quality of Results*
*(the best known smarphone camera output QOR known to date)*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.photo.digital/cKnf0gm-lmI/An1EZgIMAQAJ

You'll notice there are about a hundred lines which need to be munged,
which often happens because I document things that are cut and pasted from
web sites, which makes a mess of them, initially; so they need cleaning up
and nobody is gonna manually clean up even a hundred lines of text if they
cut their teeth on UNIX before Linux was even born.

IMHO, for text munging, there never was a Windows-native substitute for,
oh, say, "!fmt" within vim, except for Cygwin, which, on Linux, if you
haven't used !fmt, you're missing out on a simple yet magical command
indeed.

Another place Linux works magically is when connecting to iOS, where if
you've never done it, then you are missing out on a Nirvana of instant joy,
if cross-platform interoperability is your shtick (as it is mine).

Notice what I _love_ about the "promise" of Linux inside of Windows is
simply what I love about all freeware, which is the ability to switch
instantly between them to perform the tasks I need most done.

Example of instantly using the best tool for the job:
a. I snap screenshots all day, every day
b. I crop and resize and rename, etc., using Irfanview freeware
c. But I annotate (curved arrows, circles & boxes, text) with Paint.NET

Yet this is what I _used_ to do when I needed Linux:
a. I do what I can in Windows & then shut everything down
b. I dual boot to Linux and continue where I left off
c. Then I go back to Windows to complete the task

What this "promises" (if it works) is that I can skip two boots!
a. I can do what I need to in Windows
b. I can continue where I left off in Linux inside of Windows
c. I can then go back to Windows to complete the task.

That's the good news.
o The bad news is my _first_ simple example I tried to show you was
simply running "!fmt" which is a way to instantly format text.

Unfortunately, it failed in the WSL for an unknown-to-me reason.
o https://i.postimg.cc/3r2DZHJM/wsl02.jpg

Sigh. Let's hope the other "magical" Linux command works better in WSL:
o "locate" & then "find" (and then pipe to grep to your heart's content)

Note: I realize Cygwin would likely have worked but this is only one of
many situations that I'd like Windows & Linux to work together on.

Sigh. Maybe there is no progress to be had in Win/Linux compatibility.
--
The holy grail is for all my freeware to work beautifully together.

On 16/05/2020 09:36, J.O. Aho wrote:
Â*those who use microsoft products tend to not use Linux.

This is amazing that a Linux junky knew this.Â* It is spot on and I was
wondering why do linux junkies waste their time on a Winows newsgroup.Â*
We have Windows 10 and we don't need that crap called Linux yet people
keep telling us about it.Â* I have never used a Linux junk and I doubt if
I ever will.Â* I need to get work done so I can have any operating system
as long as it is Windows.

Path: aioe.org!news.mixmin.net!news.unit0.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail
From: "J.O. Aho"
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.freeware
Subject: Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux
WSL in Windows 10
Followup-To: alt.comp.os.windows-10
Date: Sat, 16 May 2020 10:36:21 +0200
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--
With over 1.2 billion devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

Arlen Holder wrote:
Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in
Windows 10


b. No privacy leaks (i.e., no login, no Microsoft Store!)

There is a MS store step in this/ your guide.

Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Microsoft Sto
https://aka.ms/wslstore

A. This tutorial doesn't cover adding Ubuntu 20.04 yet (I don't know how).

I think it can be done w/o MS store following an alternate path.

Thanks to Mike Easter for pointing to the fundamental documentation.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WSL

That link shows 3 alternative routes.

abovelink:
Installing Ubuntu on WSL via the Microsoft Store (Recommended)
Installing Ubuntu on WSL via rootfs
Installing Ubuntu on WSL by sideloading the .appx

Your method uses the .appx. If you are going to use the MS store
'anyway', then you can use the route recommended above. If you use that
route, then there is a 20.04 available. The MS store login is not very
privacy invasive as it can be used w/ any working email address of which
there are numerous strategies for throwaway.

There is also a 20.04 available via the rootfs route. Only the/your
..appx route currently lacks the 20.04.


--
Mike Easter

On Sat, 16 May 2020 10:36:21 +0200, "J.O. Aho" wrote:

I would say this is out of topic in the Linux groups and the issue is
that you still have the vulnerable shell around.

Larf.

Sent from my iFurryUnderbelly.

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I mark any message from »Q« the troll as stinky

Kenny McCormack wrote:
In article ,
J.O. Aho wrote:
On 16/05/2020 10.19, Arlen Holder wrote:
Tutorial for setting up Ubuntu as a Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL in
Windows 10

I would say this is out of topic in the Linux groups and the issue is
that you still have the vulnerable shell around.

What does this mean? What is "vulnerable" ?

According to some leaked numbers, this has been one of microsoft latest
failures as people don't seem to utilize it, those who use Linux tend to
run Linux and do not need microsoft product and those who use microsoft
products tend to not use Linux.

I tend to agree. My first reaction on seeing this thread was: Why?

Who is the target audience? What is MS actually trying to do? (Usually,
you find out that some big corporate client needed this, so they put it in
for everyone - but most people end up scratching their heads and wondering
why).

Another theory is that MS's OS division is pretty much at EOL and they're
just casting around for something to do. The CW is that MS doesn't make
much money anymore on either OS or, for that matter, office software. All
the money is in the cloud services stuff.


My dream would be that Windows simply becomes a WM on top of a Linux
kernel.

On Sat, 16 May 2020 13:11:44 -0000 (UTC)
(Kenny McCormack) wrote:

In article , Paul
wrote: ...
Who is the target audience?

They claimed it was the Azure customers who would use this.
...
It had all the appearances of a bar bet, or a running gag.

Quite so. Well put.

Indeed, although it would allow dyed-in-the-wool Win devotees to
actually learn some useful tools from the GNU and Linux toolbox without
actually going over to the, "dark side," and really installing a Linux
distro.

It was a lot of fun for about the first three days,
when some people got an X server running on Windows
and got Firefox running from WSL, on the Windows desktop.
But other than that, it's been pretty quiet as subsystems go.

If you'd previously needed this stuff, the ten years old
GNUWIN32 items on Sourceforge, handle most of this. Or you
could use Cygwin. A third platform ? Hmmm.

First of all, I have no problem with the idea of using Unix-ish tools
under Windows. That speaks to your mention of "GNUWIN32".

Certainly that would make more sense than the other way 'round.

But as to actually running a Linux environment directly under
Windows, the things that pop into mind when considering this WSL a

*1^) It is exactly the backward way around to actually run both that
way, especially togeether. Linux running Win is /SO/ much better. With
Win as the host you have the vulnerabilities of Win systems.
Vice-versa. Win for Linux, not Linux for Win. (Double entendre there,
as using Linux for running Win is really a big win for Linux (not to
mention so much more secure))

....and now that I see it, it is also Linux for (the )win! Is that a
double double or a triple? ...asking for a friend.

1) I've used Cygwin a lot (*), and it is quite good. In
particular, I used the X server from Cygwin as my
X-server-running-on-Windows for quite a long time.

"Way Back When" VMWare was new they shipped a stealth trial version with
some Linux distro (maybe Mandrake? Whatever, it was not my first which
was RedHat 5.1 (not Enterprise)) I had installed (just learning then;
still had a main Winstallation). It allowed me to run my /INSTALLED/
Windows 95 in a window on my Linux desktop, copy/paste between. They
soon stopped doing that as it was just too danged useful, I guess.

["Co-Linux"]

Don't know it.

Anyway, if I wanted to do this, I'd just run one or the other OS as a
VM. Tools now exist for sharing data between host and guest in VM
softwares, so no big issue there.

I've heard that newer Wins are more robust. I don't trust 'em from
long experience.

What is old is new once again, again, it seems.

sigh for youth, and TO youth! May we all grow old and yet still
appreciate youth. Forward humankind!

(*) I don't use Windows much at all anymore, so no real use for
Cygwin anymore.

Me either, since 1998.

--
Cybe R. Wizard

My other computer is a HOLMES IV with the Mycroft OS
My other car is a Chandler MetalSmith Mark III
Cybe R. Wizard

On Sat, 16 May 2020 11:27:33 -0700, Mike Easter wrote:

There is a MS store step in this/ your guide.

Hi Mike,

I'm gonna focus on improving the tutorial so everyone benefits.
o The goal is the cut-&-paste commands to install 20.04 WSL.

To that end, thanks for being purposefully helpful as the _only_ person
(other than me) who is trying to create/improve the tutorial so that others
benefit.

The tutorial provides three simple cut-&-paste steps:
(1) C:\ wget https://wsldownload.azureedge.net/...Ubuntu18.04onWindows...Appx
(2) PS Add-AppxPackage -Path "C:\...Ubuntu18.04onWindows...Appx"
(3) ubuntu1804.exe

All we need is to change the (1) above, to obtain Ubuntu 20.04.

This question I admit I do NOT know the answer to.
o Does anyone?

Q: *What is the command that downloads Ubuntu 20.04 for this WSL?*

To your point, I agree, that the M$ store is "involved"; so I clarify that
no "login" is required (e.g., I'm not gonna set one up)... but that's a red
herring since all we need is the command to download Ubuntu 20.04 & we're
done.

I clarify that I'd _love_ to have help so that we can _remove_ the need for
the M$ store link, & still obtain the latest LTS for Ubuntu (i.e., 20.04).

I think it can be done w/o MS store following an alternate path.

I "think" you're right, and it would be _wonderful_ to figure out how!
o That was the second of two main reasons for _posting_ the tutorial!

That link shows 3 alternative routes.

I didn't explain in the tutorial, but I tried _everything_ in the tutorial
you pointed me to work from, where everything else failed that I tried.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WSL

For example, the tutorial claims I can get Ubuntu 20.04 here...
https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/focal/current/

But, as noted in this prior thread, I can't (yet) figure out how and the
tutorial doesn't say (and nobody else has claimed to know yet either):
o *Tutorial: How to enable the Telnet Client in Windows 10*
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.comp.freeware/pEhuvzzFBTU/zpKTILzlAQAJ

Your method uses the .appx.

There is a key missing answer in the tutorial:
Q: *What is the command to paste to obtain Ubuntu 20.04 for WSL?*

To be clear, the "appx" was the _only_ method in this tutorial that worked:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WSL
Note: I have never even once used the M$ Windows Store on this desktop PC.

If you are going to use the MS store
'anyway', then you can use the route recommended above. If you use that
route, then there is a 20.04 available.

Yes. But how?
o Every method I tried to get 20.04 without "logging in", failed.

The MS store login is not very
privacy invasive as it can be used w/ any working email address of which
there are numerous strategies for throwaway.

The missing link in the tutorial, IMHO, is simply:
o We're missing "Step 1" for Ubuntu 20.04 in the tutorial.

We already have the cut-&-paste commands to install Ubuntu 18.04:
o Step 1: Paste the line to obtain the appx file for Ubuntu
o Step 2: Paste the line to enable WSL
o Step 3: Paste the line to enable Ubuntu

All that we're missing is "Step 1" for Ubuntu 20.04.
o The key question is whether anyone on this ng knows that command?

Q: *What is the command to paste to obtain Ubuntu 20.04 for WSL?*

There is also a 20.04 available via the rootfs route.
Only the/your .appx route currently lacks the 20.04.

I don't disagree with your words, but they're not actionable.
o What the tutorial needs is the actual command.

This question I admit I do NOT know the answer to.
o Does anyone?

Q: *What is the command that downloads Ubuntu 20.04 for this WSL?*
--
Solving problems often takes a group where each person adds value.

On Sat, 16 May 2020 21:58:26 -0400, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

Indeed, although it would allow dyed-in-the-wool Win devotees to
actually learn some useful tools from the GNU and Linux toolbox without
actually going over to the, "dark side," and really installing a Linux
distro.

My very first linux usage was with asplinux, which allowed running under windows.
Once I was comfortable with linux/bash commands and scripting, I then went dual
boot, and now linux only.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change to for
email replies.

2. *Add the Ubuntu APPX*
Win+R powershell
PS Start-Process powershell -verb runAs
PS Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
PS Add-AppxPackage -Path "C:\software\iso\ubuntu\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubun tu18.04onWindows_1804.2018.817.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgs c.Appx"

The tutorial was posted for two reasons:
a. To give people the 3 cut-and-paste commands, and,
b. To get _improvements_ on the tutorial's cut-and-paste commands,
c. So that everyone benefits in the end from the result.

In the tutorial, essentially, were three cut-&-paste commands:
1. Download the linux image
For example:
PS Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604 -OutFile Ubuntu.appx -UseBasicParsing
C: curl.exe -L -o ubuntu-1604.appx https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604
C: wget.exe https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604
2. Enable WSL
For example:
PS dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
PS Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
3. Install the linux image
For example:
PS Add-AppxPackage .\app_name.appx
C: ubuntu1604.exe

One place in step 1 that's definitely needed to improve is the answer to
this question, which nobody, to date, has provided (maybe nobody knows?):
Q: *What is the command to download the Ubuntu 20.04 WSL file?*
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual

For example, this worked to download the _older_ version of Ubuntu:
c:\ curl.exe -L -o ubuntu-1604.appx https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604
And yet, this failed:
c: curl.exe -L -o ubuntu-20-04.appx https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-2004

Likewise, this worked to also download the older version of Ubuntu:
PS Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604 -OutFile Ubuntu.appx -UseBasicParsing
And yet, this failed:
PS Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1604 -OutFile Ubuntu.appx -UseBasicParsing

In summary, at this stage of the tutorial, only 1 key question remains:
Q: *What is the command to download the Ubuntu 20.04 WSL file?*
--
Sometimes it takes a bit of information from someone out there to solve it.