Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
Robin Candau recently announced that Arch Linux is now available to use within Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Until recently, the only distributions available to WSL included Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora Remix, openSUSE, Kali Linux, and Pengwin, so Arch Linux will be a welcome addition to many who've been hoping to either try the rolling release distro or develop for it.
Candau, the official maintainer of the Arch WSL image, is building and releasing new versions monthly via GitLab CI/CD. The goal is to provide a complete system that offers the usual Arch Linux experience.
For those who are looking to run a full-blown desktop environment with Arch Linux, you'll need WSL 2 installed (as the original WSL doesn't support GUI apps). Candau also warns that as soon as Arch Linux is booted into WLS, it's important to upgrade with the pacman -Syu command to ensure you have the most recent build and packages.
You can find more information on the official GitLab page for the Arch Linux WSL image (as well as the code). There, you'll see the necessary command for installing Arch via the automated process (wsl --install archlinux will do just fine) and even instructions on how to install the image manually.
This project started back in Februrary 2025 and is only now enjoying its first official release.
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