Steps for setting up Arch Linux on WSL2

ArchLinuxWSL2.md

Migrating from Ubuntu on WSL to ArchLinux on WSL2

Upgrading to WSL 2

• Download WSL2 Kernel
• run wsl --set-default-version 2 in windows command line, so that all future WSL machine will use WSL2.

Installing Arch Linux

Basic installation

• Download ArchWSL installer zip, pick a folder (for example, c:\archlinux) for Arch Linux and run installer .exe in that folder.

Initialize package manager

• Add custom pacman repository with additional packages: nano /etc/pacman.conf Then add following to the bottom:

[archlinuxfr]
SigLevel = Never
Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/$arch

• Refresh Pacman GPG keys:

pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate
pacman-key --refresh-keys
pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring

• Run pacman -Syyu to update all packages to the latest versions

Install zsh, optional

• Install zsh: pacman -S zsh

Create a user

• Add a sudo group: groupadd sudo
• Enable sudoers: nano /etc/sudoers and uncomment lines %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL and %sudo ALL=(ALL) ALL
• Add new admin user: useradd -m -G wheel,sudo -s /bin/zsh <username>, use -s /bin/bash if you want bash instead of zsh.
• Set password for the new user: passwd <username>
• Run Windows command shell, go to the directory with Arch Linux, run Arch.exe config --default-user <username>. Now you have basic ArchLinux with user.

Install AUR helper

• Just follow How to Install Yay AUR Helper in Arch Linux and Manjaro guide:
• sudo pacman -S git openssh
• sudo pacman -S base-devel - when asked question on fakeroot and fakeroot-tcp choose to leave fakeroot-tcp and not install fakeroot
• git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git
• cd yay-git
• makepkg -si
• Run yay -Syu to update all AUR packages and reinstall fakeroot-tcp (will install the latest version)
• Remove the leftovers: rm -rf ~/yay-git

Goodies

• Install useful console tools: sudo pacman -S mc wget htop pv ccze

Preserving config files from previous WSL installation

Copy .ssh, .kube, .aws from original installation home directory to the Arch WSL2 one.

Fix file permissions for SSH keys, run from the home directory:

chmod 0644 .ssh/id_rsa.pub
chmod 0600 .ssh/id_rsa

Installing additional software

Install Kubernetes

sudo pacman -S kubectl kubectx

Install Docker

Uninstall Windows docker to prevent potential naming conflicts.

sudo pacman -S docker docker-compose

Use https://github.com/imjonos/wsl2-docker-start scripts to run docker exposed to Windows:

git clone git@github.com:imjonos/wsl2-docker-start.git
cd wsl2-docker-start
chmod +x docker-start prepare-hosts
sudo cp docker-start prepare-hosts /usr/local/bin

In Windows you should make sure C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file has write access for your user. Always run docker in a dedicated terminal tab using docker-start

ld100 dotfiles & zsh config

git clone https://github.com/ld100/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
zsh ~/.dotfiles/install.sh

Install programming languages

sudo pacman -S ruby nodejs python go crystal php jre-openjdk-headless

Installing protocol buffers

Main binaries/libraries: sudo pacman -S protobuf protobuf grpc grpc-cli

gRPC for Python and PHP: sudo pacman -S python-grpcio php-grpc

gRPC & Protobuf for Go: yay -S protobuf-go protoc-gen-go-grpc

gRPC & Protobuf for Ruby: gem install google-protobuf grpc grpc-tools

Setting ArchLinux as default WSL

Just run wsl --set-default Arch in windows command shell.

Accessing WSL from Windows

All WSL machines are available in Windows Explorer on \\wsl$\ URL, Arch linux is: \\wsl$\Arch. For additional convenience you could map \\wsl$\Arch to a 1-Leter Windows disk share, for example having Z:\ pointing to \\wsl$\Arch