[Debian sid with systemd on WSL2] Instructions for running Debian sid with systemd on WSL2 #windows #wsl2 #debian #sid #linux

debian-sid-with-systemd-on-wsl2.md

Debian sid with systemd on WSL2

Instructions for running Debian sid with systemd on WSL2

⚠️ Note: WSL now supports systemd

Instructions

1. Make sure you're running Windows 10 Build 19041+ (run ver)

2. Enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux (reboot if needed):

    # In an elevated PowerShell session
    Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
   

3. Follow the instructions on this page or install a Linux distro from the Microsoft Store (this is required for preparing a Debian sid WSL distro)

4. Download the latest Debian sid cloud image. Make sure to download the latest .tar.xz file for your processor architecture (ex. debian-sid-generic-amd64-daily-20200710-323.tar.xz)

5. Create a rootfs archive from the downloaded sid image:

    # In WSL (assuming you're running Debian Linux)
    
    
    # Extract the disk image from the archive
    # Make sure tar and xz-tools are installed (ie. apt install tar xz-utils)
    
    tar xf debian-sid-generic-*.tar.xz
    
    
    # mount the Linux filesystem
    # make sure fdisk, grep, and gawk are installed (ie. apt install fdisk grep gawk)
    
    sector_size=$(/sbin/fdisk -l disk.raw | grep 'Sector size' | grep -Po '\K([0-9]+)(?= bytes$)')
    start=$(/sbin/fdisk -l disk.raw | grep 'Linux filesystem' | awk '{ print $2 }')
    offset=$(($start * $sector_size))
    
    sudo mkdir -p /mnt/sid
    sudo mount -o loop,offset=$offset disk.raw /mnt/sid
    
    
    # Create a rootfs `tar.gz` archive
    
    sudo tar -C /mnt/sid -cpzf debian-sid.tar.gz .
    sudo chown $(id -un):$(id -gn) debian-sid.tar.gz
   

6. Open File Explorer, navigate to \\wsl$\name-of-the-distro, and move the rootfs archive file to a directory accessible to Windows

7. Open a PowerShell prompt in the directory containing the rootfs archive and import it:

    wsl --import debian-sid \path\to\the\directory\you\want\to\install\debian-sid\into debian-sid.tar.gz --version 2
   

8. Start a shell in Debian sid and run the following commands:

    # Update the OS
    apt update
    apt full-upgrade -y
    
    # Make sure sudo is installed
    apt install sudo
   

9. Edit /etc/adduser.conf and set ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS to 1

10. Create a non-root (ie. adduser YOUR_USERNAME)

11. Edit /etc/wsl.conf and make sure the following lines exist in the file:

    [user]
    default = YOUR_USERNAME
    

12. Restart WSL:

    # In PowerShell
    wsl --shutdown
    wsl -d debian-sid
    

13. Remove unnecessary packages/files:

    apt remove --purge 'grub-*' 'linux-image-*'
    rm -rf /boot/*
    rm -rf /lost+found
    

14. TODO: Adapt this

15. Create a file in /etc/profile.d/wsl.sh with the following contents:

    # Start or enter a PID namespace in WSL2
    source /usr/sbin/start-systemd-namespace
    
    # TODO: move the following lines into a script and allow running it script without a password (ie. /etc/sudoers.d/...)
    sudo systemctl default
    sudo systemctl reset-failed
    

16. Mask the services with not-found state:

    TODO: do something with the output of the following command (possibly pipe to xargs systemctl mask)
    systemctl --plain --no-legend --no-pager --state=not-found --all | awk '{ print $1 }'
    

Hi, I used the procedure above, which thanks a lot, when doing wsl -d debian12(which I'm trying to import), I got this error(part of it):

<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\xxx
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\JetBrains\Toolbox\scripts
Processing fstab with mount -a failed.
Failed to mount C:\, see dmesg for more details.
Failed to mount D:\, see dmesg for more details.
Failed to mount E:\, see dmesg for more details.

<3>WSL (12) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:502: execvpe /bin/bash failed 8
<3>WSL (12) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:505: Create process not expected to return

And the execution failed, mount seems to be the key. Any ideas?

Hi @zhengliuer. Thanks for your comment but as I mentioned in the gist, WSL now supports systemd officially. This procedure is no longer needed. You want to install a fresh copy of Debian, and create a file in /etc/wsl.conf with the following contents:

[boot]
systemd=true

Please see this link for more information.