WSL2 on a fresh new PC

Walkthrough this installation
wsl
wsl_latest
Published

December 14, 2022

As an example from T15Gen2, corporate mastered.

This procedure needs admin rights on 2 steps (install nvidia drivers, activate wsl)

And if based on WSL from Windows store (wsl --version>=1.0), lots of new features such as systemd, snap, integrated display, etc. Detailed in WSL2 from Windows Store

Preparation

install Windows Terminal

Just install Windows Terminal from Windows Store at https://aka.ms/terminal

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download Nvidia driver

To get drivers in link to cuda versions:

https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit-archive

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(Jan-18 23: cuda 11.7.1 using cuda_11.7.1_516.94_windows.exe)

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 515.65.01    Driver Version: 516.94       CUDA Version: 11.7     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                               |                      |               MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce ...  On   | 00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
| N/A   54C    P8    18W /  N/A |    274MiB / 16384MiB |      1%      Default |
|                               |                      |                  N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

download Ubuntu LTS image

Download from https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/daily/server/wsl/

This address may change (search for « cloud wsl ubuntu images »)

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(Dec-22: this file ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-wsl.rootfs.tar.gz)

Installation

install Nvidia driver

as admin, install the driver

install Ubuntu in WSL

activate WSL

as admin, open windows terminal, and run

wsl --install
wsl --set-default-version 2

update WSL, upgrade WSL

I am closely following new updates from WSL and WSLg at https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases

To know which version we use, run wsl --version in Powershell.

And to upgrade to the latest version, run wsl --update --pre-release

install Ubuntu LTS

following instructions from install ubuntu 22.04 on WSL # Automatic setup.

And here are the steps

Create 2 folders: C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04\download, C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04\instance

Move ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-wsl.rootfs.tar.gz in C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04\download

Copy scripts setup_wsl_root.sh and setup_wsl_user.sh to C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04\download

install wsl-vpnkit

Copy wsl-vpnkit to C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04\download (see https://dev.michelin.com/wsl2/fundamentals for more details)

Install wsl-vpnkit from Windows Terminal:

wsl --import wsl-vpnkit $env:USERPROFILE\wsl-vpnkit C:\wsl\ubuntu-22.04\download\wsl-vpnkit.tar.gz
wsl -d wsl-vpnkit
wsl -d wsl-vpnkit service wsl-vpnkit start

If wsl-vpnkit stopped unexpectedly, check logs with wsl.exe -d wsl-vpnkit --cd /app tail -f /var/log/wsl-vpnkit.log. If “cannot connect to host: fork/exec ./wsl-vpnkit/wsl-gvproxy.exe: exec format error” appears, apply this solution:

sudo sh -c 'echo :WSLInterop:M::MZ::/init:PF > /usr/lib/binfmt.d/WSLInterop.conf'
sudo systemctl unmask systemd-binfmt.service
sudo systemctl restart systemd-binfmt
sudo systemctl mask systemd-binfmt.service

More details at logbook Aug 23

install ubuntu and setup root

Install ubuntu-lts from Windows Terminal:

wsl --import ubuntu-22.04 C:\wsl\ubuntu-22.04\instance C:\wsl\ubuntu-22.04\download\ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-wsl.rootfs.tar.gz
# close windows terminal / launch it (ubuntu-22.04 entry should be added within it)
wsl -d ubuntu-22.04 # or launch from Windows Terminal menu
cd
cp /mnt/c/wsl/Ubuntu-22.04/download/setup_wsl_* ~/
chmod +x setup_wsl_root.sh
./setup_wsl_root.sh

Provide username, password and quit session with Ctrl-D

From Windows Terminal, stop wsl with wsl -t ubuntu-22.04, a new profile for ubuntu-22.04 should have been automatically created in Windows Terminal

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setup user

Start ubuntu-22.04 by clicking the profile in Windows Terminal

Should start with something like

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Step 2: accept default entries (type enter). Add the generated key to gitlab > preferences > SSH keys. And then resume.

At that stage this is a fully operating image of ubuntu (internet, apt)

activate systemd

If running wsl version > 1.0, you can activate systemd

Modify /etc/wsl.conf with

[boot]
systemd=true

And restart wsl image (wsl -t ubuntu-22.04)

Test that it works by running

systemctl list-unit-files --type=service

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Configure Ubuntu LTS for Python/AI development

keep config files in git

I have explained how and why to do this step at keep dotfiles in git

wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_00_config_files_in_git.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc

TODO: take branch name as a parameter. Meanwhile download the script and update branch name to something new

git credential manager to push on github

This is explained at git-credential-manager repo

wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_06_git_credential_manager.sh | bash

You need to create a personal access token in github.

And when pushing to a github repo, use this token as the password

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(optional) automount secured vbox

Because I keep secured data within my secured disks mounted in windows (Z:, Y:, …)

wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_01_automount_secured_vbox.sh | bash

Modify /etc/vbox.autofs to match your actual mounted disks. sudo service autofs start to start the service.

if it fails, check that kernel is at least v5. uname -a. If not maybe in WSL 1 insted of WSL 2? (sudo automount -f -v should provide more information)

#my vbox.autofs file
!cat /etc/vbox.autofs
janus   -fstype=drvfs,uid=1000,gid=1000 :Z:

if systemd is activated, we can manage services with journalctl

#restart autofs
sudo systemctl restart autofs.service

#read logs for autofs (-r: display last entries first)
#to use it as user, add your user to adm group
#sudo usermod -a -G adm <your_username>
journalctl -r -u autofs

#print warning
journalctl -r -p warning

other examples with journalctl:

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/journalctl-command-in-linux-with-examples/

python with conda and configure base environment (jupyterlab, mamba)

Give a look to script sources

# install miniconda
wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_02_install_python_conda_part1.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
# install mamba
wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_02_install_python_conda_part2.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
# install certificates for Python
wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_02_install_python_conda_part3.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
# create base_jupyter environment
wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_02_install_python_conda_part4.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc

python with pip

Give a look to script sources

wget --no-check-certificate --content-disposition -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/castorfou/blog/master/files/setup_wsl_08_pip.sh | bash

jupyter lab

In order to preserve base environment, I won’t install anything in it.

I will create a base_jupyter_v4 env with what is needed for running jupyter lab. And create a jupyterlab service to automatically start jupyter lab with my distro (and stop/restart it)

base_jupyter_v4

!cat /home/guillaume/_conda_env/base_jupyter_v4.txt
mamba remove --name base_jupyter_v4 --all

mamba create -n base_jupyter_v4 --override-channels --strict-channel-priority -c conda-forge -c nodefaults jupyterlab ipywidgets tqdm nb_conda_kernels python==3.11 --yes
mamba activate base_jupyter_v4

clean directories: .jupyter and .local/share/jupyter
and launch with jupyter lab

mamba install -y -c conda-forge -c plotly jupyter-dash
mamba install -y -c conda-forge jupyterlab_execute_time pyviz_comms

# for nbdev
pip install jupyterlab-quarto

#in case of jupyterlab new version
mamba update --strict-channel-priority -c conda-forge -c nodefaults  jupyterlab

password instead of token

From security in jupyter server

If a generated token doesn’t work well for you, you can set a password for your notebook. jupyter notebook password will prompt you for a password, and store the hashed password in your jupyter_notebook_config.json.

jupyterlab as a service

I now use service as user (you may have to activate it by calling loginctl enable-linger guillaume)

Service files are in ~/.config/systemd/user

And here is jupyter.service

[Unit]
Description=Jupyter Notebook
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
PIDFile=/run/jupyter.pid
1Environment="LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/wsl/lib"
ExecStart=/home/guillaume/bin/jupyterlab
#User=guillaume
#Group=guillaume
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
1
This is to allow execution of GPU instructions within jupyter lab 
!cat /home/guillaume/bin/jupyterlab
#!/bin/bash
cd ~
source ~/miniconda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
conda activate base_jupyter_v4
export BROWSER=chrome.exe
jupyter lab

Then enable this service

chmod +x /home/guillaume/bin/jupyterlab
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable jupyter.service
systemctl --user start jupyter.service

and to monitor logs of this service

journalctl --user -xefu jupyter

Just pointing to http://localhost:8888/lab

password instead of tokens

If a generated token doesn’t work well for you, you can set a password for your server.

jupyter server password will prompt you for a password, and store the hashed password in your jupyter_server_config.json.

upgrade jupyter lab version

In case of update detected in jupyter lab version.

Here is my procedure.

mamba activate base_jupyter_v4
systemctl --user stop jupyter
mamba update --strict-channel-priority -c conda-forge -c nodefaults  jupyterlab
systemctl --user start jupyter

(optional) zsh oh-my-zsh powerlevel10k

following https://medium.com/@satriajanaka09/setup-zsh-oh-my-zsh-powerlevel10k-on-ubuntu-20-04-c4a4052508fd

Install zsh

sudo apt install zsh
zsh --version
#set as default shell for current user
chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh

Some settings to be set to start wsl-vpnkit with my user with zsh.

tee ~/.zprofile << EOF
emulate sh
. ~/.profile
emulate zsh
EOF

Here I have to restart ubuntu and wsl-vpnkit. (from powershell wsl --shutdown) and check network is fine (e.g. wget https://wwww.google.com)

Install oh-my-zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Switch to other theme - agnoster Change ZSH_THEME=“agnoster” And apply change exec zsh

Install fonts

sudo apt-get install fonts-powerline

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Load bash aliases

tee -a ~/.zshrc << EOF
source $HOME/.bash_aliases
EOF

Update PATH and other variables

tee -a ~/.zshrc << EOF
export OPENSSL_CONF=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
sudo /usr/sbin/service autofs start
export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
export SSL_CERT_FILE=/home/guillaume/miniconda/lib/python3.9/site-packages/certifi/cacert.pem
export BROWSER='chrome.exe'
export PATH=$PATH:"/mnt/c/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application:/home/guillaume/miniconda/condabin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/wsl/lib:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/Java/jre8/bin:/mnt/c/ProgramData/Oracle/Java/javapath:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32:/mnt/c/WINDOWS:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH:/mnt/c/Program Files/SafeNet/Authentication/SAC/x64:/mnt/c/Program Files/SafeNet/Authentication/SAC/x32:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/mnt/c/Users/f279814/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/snap/bin:/home/guillaume/bin"
export PATH=$PATH:"/mnt/c/Users/f279814/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin"

export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
export DISPLAY=:0

# Could not load library libcudnn_cnn_infer.so.8. Error: libcuda.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/wsl/lib

EOF

Double check PATH env

Install power10klevel

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

and update in .zshrc ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

Install fonts for power10klevel https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k#manual-font-installation

Could need installation of font-manager sudo apt install font-manager And install them in windows as well to have it properly rendered in Windows Terminal https://sicse.dev/blog/wsl-2-prompt-powerlevel10k-theme

Manually configure or get a version from dotfiles

Install plugins

#zsh autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

#zsh syntax highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

and in .zshrc
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting python history)

Configure Ubuntu LTS as desktop - run standalone applications

based on wsl version >= 1.0.

See WSL2 from Windows Store

snapd

Upgrade snap

sudo apt-get -y upgrade snapd

Check it is running

$ snap list
Name    Version        Rev    Tracking       Publisher   Notes
core20  20220318       1405   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
lxd     5.0.0-b0287c1  22923  5.0/stable/…   canonical✓  -
snapd   2.55.3         15534  latest/stable  canonical✓  snapd

firefox

And install firefox

sudo snap install firefox
# due to a bug when opening settings
# https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/701403https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/701403
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

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To allow external websites, import this certificate /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/cert_M_X5C_sase-mob-sslfwd-trust-ca.crt in the certificate manager

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nautilus

And install nautilus

sudo apt install nautilus nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal

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sublime text

I like this text editor even if it is not exactly opensource.

I may even buy a license later.

Anyway I will use the snap version

sudo snap install sublime-text --classic

and because of this issue from WSLg WSL some icons in taskbar for linux applications are defaulting to Tux, I add this

cd /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications
sudo ln -s sublime-text_subl.desktop  sublime_text.desktop
cd ~/bin
touch sublime_text
chmod +x sublime_text
tee sublime_text << EOF
#!/bin/bash
env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/sublime-text_subl.desktop /snap/bin/sublime-text.subl --launch-or-new-window
EOF

Launching sublime_text in command line should open sublime_text with matching icon in taskbar. The same when right clicking a text file in nautilus and editing with sublime text.

gnome-tweaks and yaru theme

sudo add-apt-repository univ
sudo apt-get -y install gnome-tweaks
sudo apt-get -y install yaru-theme-gtk
sudo apt-get -y install yaru-theme-icon

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And impact on nautilus is directly visible

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tilix

tilix is a terminal with split windows integrated (as with tmux or screen or vi)

sudo apt install tilix

use zsh / powerlevel10k fonts sandwich > Preferences > Profiles / Default > Text Appearance / Custom Font > MesloLGS NF Regular

update Copy/Paste shortcuts sandwich > Preferences > Shortcuts > Copy (Ctrl-C) and Paste (Ctrl-V) as for other terminals, interrupt is now Shift-Ctrl-C

vte config as explained in https://gnunn1.github.io/tilix-web/manual/vteconfig/ add this in .zshrc

if [ $TILIX_ID ] || [ $VTE_VERSION ]; then
        source /etc/profile.d/vte.sh
fi

and create this symlink

ln -s /etc/profile.d/vte-2.91.sh /etc/profile.d/vte.sh

gimp

And install gimp

sudo apt install gimp

zotero

snap find zotero
Name         Version  Publisher   Notes  Summary
zotero-snap  6.0.18   extraymond  -      Zotero helps you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
qnotero      2.3.1    ealbiter    -      Standalone sidekick to Zotero reference manager.
zotviewer    1.5.0    fvalle      -      Zotero Visualizer

sudo snap install zotero-snap
zotero-snap 6.0.18 from extraymond installed

and there is something to do to activate sync: https://github.com/extraymond/zotero-snap/issues/29

FIREFOX_PROFILE=`find ~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/ -name *.default`
ZOTERO_PROFILE=`find ~/snap/zotero-snap/common/.zotero/ -name *.default`
cp $FIREFOX_PROFILE/cert9.db $ZOTERO_PROFILE
cp $FIREFOX_PROFILE/key4.db $ZOTERO_PROFILE
cp $FIREFOX_PROFILE/pkcs11.txt $ZOTERO_PROFILE

pdf support

#acrobat reader (which uses wine)
sudo snap install acrordrdc

#evince universal documen reader for ubuntu
sudo apt install evince

Run gnome-session in Ubuntu LTS

for the moment I don’t recommend to do it in the main distro.

It is just as a test. Lots of stuffs don’t work as expected.

install test distro from scratch

from powershell

wsl --import ubuntu-x11 C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04_X11\instance C:\wsl\Ubuntu-22.04_X11\download\ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-wsl.rootfs.tar.gz
wsl -d ubuntu-x11
cd
cp /mnt/c/wsl/Ubuntu-22.04_X11/download/setup_wsl_* ~/
chmod +x setup_wsl_root.sh
./setup_wsl_root.sh

from powershell

wsl -t ubuntu-x11

start ubuntu-x11 from windows terminal menu

and enter informations requested (ssh keys (paste to gitlab), update certificates (enter password)). Other steps are automatic.

Other steps: - activate systemd (by modifying /etc/wsl.conf) - restart

activate gnome-session and launch gnome-shell

Here we have a fully working distro. And we will test what is suggested at : https://askubuntu.com/a/1445415

  • Create the file /etc/pam.d/system/systemd-user
  • Restart distro
  • sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop acpi-support-
  • prevent gdm service to start
    • sudo systemctl stop gdm.service
    • sudo systemctl disable gdm.service
  • activate x11 config at boot
sudo systemctl is-enabled rc-local.service
(if static it means it has be activated)
sudo systemctl enable rc-local.service
#create rc.local file
sudo vi /etc/rc.local

#!/bin/sh -e
mount -o rw,remount /tmp/.X11-unix/
chmod +t /tmp/.X11-unix
chmod o+rw /dev/dri/renderD128
/usr/libexec/at-spi-bus-launcher --launch-immediately &
exit 0

#save & exit
sudo chmod 700 /etc/rc.local
  • sudo usermod -a -G adm guillaume
  • Restart distro
  • launch XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11 gnome-session --disable-acceleration-check --session=ubuntu --systemd-service > /dev/null 2>&1 (this can be added to .bashrc or as a service)

and then

  • MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1920x1080 gnome-shell --nested --no-x11 2> /dev/null &

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Then we can start it by running gnomeshell.sh

cat bin/gnomeshell.sh
#!/bin/bash
MUTTER_DEBUG_DUMMY_MODE_SPECS=1920x1080 gnome-shell --nested --no-x11 2> /dev/null &