The Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2), which made its debut on Windows 10 with the May 2020 Update is now available on previous versions of the OS. If you’re still running the November 2019 Update (version 1909) or the May 2019 Update (version 1903) on your PC, you can now access WSL2 by installing the freshly-released builds 18362.1049 or 18363.1049 on your PC.
“We heard how much you liked WSL 2 and wanted to expand its accessibility, and over the last few months we worked on bringing it back to 1903 and 1909,” Microsoft explained yesterday. WSL 2, which virtualizes the Linux Kernel inside a very optimized VM utilizing Hyper-V, offers significant performance improvements compared to WSL 1.
Keep in mind that WSL 2 still requires a 64-bit version of Windows 10. Once you have the correct build installed, you’ll also need to enable the “Virtual Machine Platform” optional feature to get WSL 2 running on your PC. You can get more information about how to install WSL 2 on your PC on this page.
