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Using full desktop shell in WSL2
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WSL2GUIWSLg-en.md

Full desktop shell in WSL2 using WSLg

Warning

This is a work in progress tutorial. Things done here may break existing functionality, so be careful!

In this tutorial, we will install and use a full GNOME Desktop environment in WSL2, without any external software. The only requirement is a working WSLg installation. At the moment, the instructions are only for Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 and 24.04) distros and GNOME, but you can request me to test other distros and desktop environments.

Ubuntu

GNOME

Installing the required packages

  1. Open a Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 or 24.04) terminal. First of all, we need to make sure everything is up to date.

    sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

  2. WSL doesn't install the app store by default, so we can install it manually (or you can skip this step if you don't need it).

    sudo snap install snap-store

  3. Now we can install the required packages. This may take a long time, so be patient.

    For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04
    sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop acpi-support-
    For Ubuntu 24.04
    sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop

Important

Note the minus sign (-) after the package acpi-support. This is necessary because it will be installed by default and installing it will render your distro almost unusable (see microsoft/WSL#10059), so we will tell apt to not install it.

Configuring the environment

  1. Now we have everything installed, we must configure some things before using the GNOME Shell. First, we need to deactivate the GDM service, because unfortunately it doesn't work with WSLg yet (at least I didn't figure it out how to make it work).

    sudo systemctl mask gdm.service

  2. Now we need to fix the directory /tmp/.X11-unix/, because it's mounted as read-only by default. We will create a new systemd unit.

    sudo systemctl edit --full --force wslg-fix.service

  3. Paste the code below in the editor.

    For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04
    [Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/umount /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mkdir /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 1777 /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ln -s /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
    For Ubuntu 24.04
    [Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/umount /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mkdir /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 1777 /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ln -s /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 0777 /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 0666 /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0.lock

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

  4. Save the file and close the editor. Now we have to enable this service.

    sudo systemctl enable wslg-fix.service

  5. The last step is to configure the GNOME Shell to start in nested mode.

    For Ubuntu 20.04
    sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/user/gnome-shell-wayland.service.d/
sudo nano /etc/systemd/user/gnome-shell-wayland.service.d/override.conf
    For Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04
    sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/user/org.gnome.Shell@wayland.service.d/
sudo nano /etc/systemd/user/org.gnome.Shell@wayland.service.d/override.conf

  6. Paste the code below in the editor.

    [Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/gnome-shell --nested

  7. Save the file and close the editor. Then close the distro terminal window.

  8. Finally we will shutdown WSL.

    wsl.exe --shutdown

    The configuration is complete.

Starting the GNOME Shell

  1. Now open again your distro terminal, then paste the command below.

    DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu \
GDMSESSION=ubuntu \
GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu \
GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge \
IM_CONFIG_CHECK_ENV=1 \
IM_CONFIG_PHASE=1 \
QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1 \
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus \
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME \
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/ubuntu:$XDG_DATA_DIRS \
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland \
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus \
MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1366x768 \
gnome-session

  2. A GNOME Shell window will appear.

    Ubuntu 20.04

    GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 20.04

    Ubuntu 22.04

    GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 22.04

    Ubuntu 24.04

    GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 24.04

@tdcosta100
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When I run the final command to get the desktop I get this error [1] 891 trace trap DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu GDMSESSION=ubuntu GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu = =1 this is on a fresh install of 24.04 when I installed it on 22.04 it worked so I don't really know why it wont work on 24.04

Hi, @CarterPillow. Can you provide a screenshot showing your command and this error?

@CarterPillow
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When I run the final command to get the desktop I get this error [1] 891 trace trap DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu GDMSESSION=ubuntu GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu = =1 this is on a fresh install of 24.04 when I installed it on 22.04 it worked so I don't really know why it wont work on 24.04

Hi, @CarterPillow. Can you provide a screenshot showing your command and this error?

Well not long after I made that comment I uninstalled all my WSL instances to re make them all and so I just went to re do all the commands and now it works I don't have any idea what changed but the problem is gone now but ill return with more details if it comes back @tdcosta100

@tdcosta100
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Nice! I'm glad it worked now, @CarterPillow. If something goes wrong, let me know.

@cyborgdennett
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It works, but I cannot get the screen to go full screen or change its dimensions. lmk if there is a config for that
image

@phil9309
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phil9309 commented Jul 17, 2024 •
edited
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It works, but I cannot get the screen to go full screen or change its dimensions. lmk if there is a config for that

Bro it's literally in the last command you enter.

MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1366x768

Change the resolution to 1920x1080 for example

@cyborgdennett
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Just found that if you do gnome-session DISPLAY 0 you will get a full screen thing, but then when I add the other parts that make it work in the front, it will stop working
image

@edo-jan
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edo-jan commented Jul 18, 2024 •
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Thanks for this guide! Everything installed ok. I only observe some mouse cursor ghosting. Is this normal or there is a way to get rid of it? And second, is it possible to launch gnome without having to copy / paste a bunch of parameters during the launch command? Maybe there is a way to use some kind of batch file to launch?

DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu
GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge
IM_CONFIG_CHECK_ENV=1
IM_CONFIG_PHASE=1
QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/ubuntu:$XDG_DATA_DIRS
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1366x768
gnome-session

@edo-jan
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edo-jan commented Jul 18, 2024

The "Oh no! Something has gone wrong" is now displayed when attempting to open gnome after I installed an app from CLI. The app works. But no longer gnome-session does....

@tdcosta100
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tdcosta100 commented Jul 18, 2024 •
edited
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You can use Xwayland instead of Wayland directly. I will make a new tutorial showing how to do it, it's similar to the Xvnc tutorial.

For now, I don't know how to get rid of the double cursor, and how to make it work fullscreen.

@phil9309
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So this has been working great so far, and again, I thank you for the effort you put into this tutorial.

Since budgie seems to be making problems, what about pop os? I saw a video of someone rocking it in wsl: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYooHm8bzJU

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