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Last active July 20, 2024 07:45
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Using full desktop shell in WSL2

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

@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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