WSL Cheat-Sheet¶

Backup and Restore WSL¶

Listing Running Distros¶

wsl --list --verbose

Starting/Restarting a Distro¶

wsl --distribution DISTRO-NAME

Terminate a Running Distro¶

wsl --t DISTRO-NAME

Terminate All Running Distros and WSL process¶

wsl --shutdown

Backup a WSL Distro¶

wsl --export (distribution) (filename.tar)

Restore a WSL Distro from Backup¶

wsl --import (distribution) (install location) (file location and filename)

Symbolic Links¶

Link .ssh folder¶

sudo ln -s /mnt/c/Users/lempa/.ssh ~/.ssh

Link .kube folder¶

sudo ln -s /mnt/c/Users/lempa/.ssh ~/.ssh

File Permissions¶

Advanced settings configuration in WSL: WSL Config Parameters

Example wsl.conf

[automount]
enabled = true
options = "metadata,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=077,fmask=11,case=off"
mountFsTab = true

[interop]
enabled = false
appendWindowsPath = false

Networking¶

Port Forwarding¶

Find IP Address

bash.exe -c "ifconfig eth0 | grep 'inet '"

Add PortForwarding

$port = 8080
$remoteaddr = 0.0.0.0

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=$port connectport=$port connectaddress=$remoteaddr

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=$port dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=$port

Delete PortForwarding

$port = 8080

netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=$port
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=$port

Show PortForwardings

netsh interface portproxy show v4tov4

Linux desktop in WSL2¶

With WSL2 it's possible to install and run a Linux desktop environment (XFCE). A tutorial on how to implement that, can be found here.