You are a hidden gem. Thank you so much for this amazing guide. Not only did I manage to run Arch on wsl2 on one machine I transferred it to another machine vhdx and it was good to go.
One major issue: Docker only works through WSL 2. For my current situation, I have Windows 10 Pro with the following Windows Features installed: Containers, Limited Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Platform, Windows Hypervisor Platform, & WSL installed. My CPU has virtualization for both types: VT-i and VT-x. Within windows under system info: I have the following Hyper-V support: VM Monitor Mode Extensions, Virtualization Enabled in Firmware, & Data Execution Prevention. I Do Not Have Support for SLAT (Second Level Address Translation Extensions). With this, I cannot use WSL v2, Docker and a few other modern things. As I was setting up WSL with Ubuntu as the base, there is an available ArchLinux distro for WSL through the Microsoft Store. Before trying to install this, doing the same steps as seen within this video for setting up Ubuntu and updating will work, but within either CMD or PowerShell, you have to make sure that WSL 1 is set to default for older architectures that do not have SLAT instruction support. This is a limitation. After setting wsl default to version 1. I was able to successfully install the Arch Distro that is available through the Microsoft Store without having to use Docker or some other virtual container. This was a bit tricky to initially get setup because it was very hard to find the fact that WSL 2 requires SLAT. This can be found on Microsoft's website for WSL now, yet it's not directly obvious as upfront information before installing or setting up WSL for Windows 10+. This information was a bit buried. It took me almost 2-3 days to troubleshoot this. I only posted this for those who have older architectures such as the Core 2 series pre iSeries as a work around. Do know that currently, with only having access to WSL v1 as opposed to WSL v2 you are limited. If you do use WSL v1 for the moment I believe you can only use the bash shell within the terminal. There is no desktop manager or visual application support without having to setup an actual virtual machine such as Virtual Box or VM Ware, or alternatively setting up a dual boot, yet the dual boot defeats the purpose of using WSL. Otherwise, you will need more recent or modern hardware that should by default come with SLAT support that WSL 2, Docker and other software suites are now relying on. I'm still scouring the internet and trying to find or see if there's an alternative solution or a work around to be able to install, either XCFE, KDE Plasma, etc... within my local distributions. For the time being I am able to load and sign into both Ubuntu and Arch through Windows Terminal under wsl v1. I'm able to use the bash commands and scripts, I can install various packages, etc. However, if I'm not mistaken, I am limited as I do not have all of the capabilities to me that are offered by the Linux Kernel. Since I'm on older hardware, I might have to resort to setting up Virtual Box instead in order to have access to some of the various Linux Desktop Environments and Window Managers.
-Getting Missing ',' or '}' in object declaration- -when inputting: "wsl.exe -u -d Arch" in visual studio code. not sure what am I doing wrong.- no need to edit the json file. it's unecessary and prone to weird errors like what I experienced. Just open up settings>Arch then add -u in the command line, so it should be like this: *C:\Windows\system32\wsl.exe -u -d Arch*
I think i've missed something, how do you have a directory 'archlinux' under /mnt/c/Tools/WSL? I've pulled Arch Linux on docker as same steps as before but I seem don't have a directory named 'archlinux' in the current directory I've pulled into it
Thank you! very helpful video, everything worked flawlessly except the last section about archey3. It says error:target not found:archey3. Not that it matters anyway.
My docker not starting. ATT: I fixed it, deleting all remnants of docker on the pc, then I downloaded docker desktop from the official website, performed the installation, restarted the computer and installed docker on ubuntu too, after that it started normally.
I installed it on a clean machine to show that you don't need anything special installed to get started. If something goes wrong you just remove the WSL image and delete the VHDX file. Have fun with it.
Firstly i must say that your video is very informative and helpful💯, i have a question: Can we setup GUI here like we use to do with ubuntu and kali etc by setting up xrdp and all? Or this is just command line only? Kindly tell me because I've followed your video and setup arch on my system now i want to get GUI with it!
I have spent a bit of time looking into how you could set up VNC so you could connect to a Gnome session, XFDE, or something like that. Really the idea is that you would RDP into the Windows machine then run the Linux GUI apps there. You can run GUI apps off of the Arch Linux distro that we created here in this video. Just install and let them go, but they run on Weston/Wayland not X. That's the main reason that VNC won't work here. Let me know if there's any other questions you have.
Hi Todd. I´m trying to install Arch, but in minute 5.58 you say cd /mnt/c/Tools/WSL. But I don´t find this folder. it's appears "-bash: cd: Tools: No such file or directory" can you help me please?
Hi, i only have a 250GB SSD where my Windows is running but i have a 2TB HDD where i like to install it on. Is there a way to change the installation dir or not? It try to install on C everytime and then it can't install docker because there is no storage anymore.
When you install WSL it installs Ubuntu by default. Once you have Arch installed I think you can remove Ubuntu. But yes, following these instructions require Ubuntu to be installed.
I haven't found that before, but here's a good explanation of how to figure it out: askubuntu.com/questions/932490/issue-in-running-sudo-visudo-command-visudo-etc-sudoers-busy-try-again-later
I have been hunting around for the tabs you rely on. The only reference to them I can find is that they were removed from the production versions of Windows 10 Home. Do you know a solution to this? I had to keep openning up the individual windows for ubuntu and power shell. No tabs. I got Arch imported into WSL, but do not see my course clear to actually start that session.
I've tried to follow your awesome guide 3 times in a row now. I can't make the windows terminal to show my arch install. Docker is fine and enabled, import was made inside the WSL-directory. I don't get it. If I try to import again, it prints "a distribution with the supplied name already exists". It is also visible in the File Explorer as a network drive just like the Ubuntu.
I have totally unrelated question , when i try to update my wsl distros my internet stop working, im using USB tethering to connect internet. is there any solution for this ?
It's possible (but unlikely) that it is paying attention to the "Download updates over metered connections" option in Settings -> Windows Update -> Advanced Options. Give that a try, but other than that I can't think of why it won't update.
@@ToddSpatafore now it's start working i don't know how maybe because of windows update 😁 anyway this video is awsome i learn lots of things from this thank you! ❤️ Keep up good work
Hey there! thanks for the video and the tutorial. However I noticed that I am unable to run the man command, even after installing man and man-db i try running man man and it just says "no manual entry for man". not sure what the problem is. Does anyone know how to fix this? thanks
@@ToddSpatafore I saw a thread on Github that provided some insight into the problem. For some reason, if we run these commands in PowerShell this happens. I opened the command prompt and ran the same commands and it worked. Thank you for your great video and the prompt response. Cheers!
Okay, so I found out what happen. I set the default wsl version to 2, but it still install Arch in version 1. I updated it to version 2 wsl and it runs fine.
@@ToddSpatafore It was me not you great video kind Sir. I did not set the default to version 2 like I thought I did. So nothing installed was in version 2 and I had to convert them all. Thank you for the great video!!
@@ToddSpatafore well I read I had to git yay and build it, but you can't build as root so I had go make another user, but by doing that it asks for a password while using sudo but I didn't setup a password in the first place. Also, how would you do the AUR manually? I only started using Linux for school 8 weeks ago and I used a install script to help guide me so I'm still learning a lot.
as root use the command `passwd ` to set the user's password for your new user. then you have a password for your user's sudo account. I'd recommend reading the Arch Wiki on the subject of AUR manual install: wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository#Installing_and_upgrading_packages
![Installing Arch Linux is EASY [ A Tutorial ] -- Linux for Newbs EP 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8YE1LlTxfMQ/mqdefault.jpg)
You are a hidden gem. Thank you so much for this amazing guide. Not only did I manage to run Arch on wsl2 on one machine I transferred it to another machine vhdx and it was good to go.
The tutorial is very easy to understand and works perfectly, thanks a lot
One major issue: Docker only works through WSL 2.
For my current situation, I have Windows 10 Pro with the following Windows Features installed:
Containers, Limited Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Platform, Windows Hypervisor Platform, & WSL installed.
My CPU has virtualization for both types: VT-i and VT-x. Within windows under system info:
I have the following Hyper-V support:
VM Monitor Mode Extensions, Virtualization Enabled in Firmware, & Data Execution Prevention.
I Do Not Have Support for SLAT (Second Level Address Translation Extensions).
With this, I cannot use WSL v2, Docker and a few other modern things.
As I was setting up WSL with Ubuntu as the base, there is an available ArchLinux distro for WSL through the Microsoft Store. Before trying to install this, doing the same steps as seen within this video for setting up Ubuntu and updating will work, but within either CMD or PowerShell, you have to make sure that WSL 1 is set to default for older architectures that do not have SLAT instruction support. This is a limitation.
After setting wsl default to version 1. I was able to successfully install the Arch Distro that is available through the Microsoft Store without having to use Docker or some other virtual container.
This was a bit tricky to initially get setup because it was very hard to find the fact that WSL 2 requires SLAT. This can be found on Microsoft's website for WSL now, yet it's not directly obvious as upfront information before installing or setting up WSL for Windows 10+.
This information was a bit buried. It took me almost 2-3 days to troubleshoot this.
I only posted this for those who have older architectures such as the Core 2 series pre iSeries as a work around.
Do know that currently, with only having access to WSL v1 as opposed to WSL v2 you are limited. If you do use WSL v1 for the moment I believe you can only use the bash shell within the terminal. There is no desktop manager or visual application support without having to setup an actual virtual machine such as Virtual Box or VM Ware, or alternatively setting up a dual boot, yet the dual boot defeats the purpose of using WSL. Otherwise, you will need more recent or modern hardware that should by default come with SLAT support that WSL 2, Docker and other software suites are now relying on.
I'm still scouring the internet and trying to find or see if there's an alternative solution or a work around to be able to install, either XCFE, KDE Plasma, etc... within my local distributions.
For the time being I am able to load and sign into both Ubuntu and Arch through Windows Terminal under wsl v1. I'm able to use the bash commands and scripts, I can install various packages, etc. However, if I'm not mistaken, I am limited as I do not have all of the capabilities to me that are offered by the Linux Kernel.
Since I'm on older hardware, I might have to resort to setting up Virtual Box instead in order to have access to some of the various Linux Desktop Environments and Window Managers.
worked brilliantly dude! thank you so much for this video!
Thanks so much tried a different workaround - this is perfect
Really awesome. Thanks for this tutorial
"I use winnux btw"
🤣
Awesome todd,. Finally, I could able to install Arch Linux. Thank you
Thank you! you made this whole process really easy
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 So you can have more then one distro on your system cool. Void, Alpine, Arch. Fabulous tutorial.
Awesome todd. This made the entire process a piece of cake.
So awesome, an excellent tutorial!
-Getting Missing ',' or '}' in object declaration-
-when inputting: "wsl.exe -u -d Arch" in visual studio code. not sure what am I doing wrong.-
no need to edit the json file. it's unecessary and prone to weird errors like what I experienced. Just open up settings>Arch then add -u in the command line, so it should be like this: *C:\Windows\system32\wsl.exe -u -d Arch*
This worked perfectly. Thanks for the guide!
Hey man just wanted to ask, does it affect the windows performance in any way? Have u faced any issues regarding this?
Very nice, it's working fine, tks. Good Job!
Nice top ! Thanks !
And for the graphique mod? What is the procédure. I think kex maybe.... thanks
very helpfull video, thank you. I wish ms include arch in their wsl distros at some point in future.
Arch will probably never get added due to it being a very "do it yourself" distro.
I think i've missed something, how do you have a directory 'archlinux' under /mnt/c/Tools/WSL? I've pulled Arch Linux on docker as same steps as before but I seem don't have a directory named 'archlinux' in the current directory I've pulled into it
You need to create that directory yourself.
@@ToddSpatafore got it. Thanks 👌
Thank you!!!
You're the man Todd
Thank you! You're a gem
cool, this works perfectly, thx
Thank you! very helpful video, everything worked flawlessly except the last section about archey3. It says error:target not found:archey3. Not that it matters anyway.
for some reason on powershell its doesnt have a list where i can choose which distro to go to please help
Thank you so much
Awesomeness
My docker not starting.
ATT: I fixed it, deleting all remnants of docker on the pc, then I downloaded docker desktop from the official website, performed the installation, restarted the computer and installed docker on ubuntu too, after that it started normally.
Why did you install it on a clean system? If something goes wrong, and it can go wrong, knowing me. Can I lose data?
I installed it on a clean machine to show that you don't need anything special installed to get started. If something goes wrong you just remove the WSL image and delete the VHDX file. Have fun with it.
@@ToddSpatafore Thanks.
Firstly i must say that your video is very informative and helpful💯, i have a question: Can we setup GUI here like we use to do with ubuntu and kali etc by setting up xrdp and all? Or this is just command line only? Kindly tell me because I've followed your video and setup arch on my system now i want to get GUI with it!
I have spent a bit of time looking into how you could set up VNC so you could connect to a Gnome session, XFDE, or something like that. Really the idea is that you would RDP into the Windows machine then run the Linux GUI apps there.
You can run GUI apps off of the Arch Linux distro that we created here in this video. Just install and let them go, but they run on Weston/Wayland not X. That's the main reason that VNC won't work here. Let me know if there's any other questions you have.
@@ToddSpatafore and what would be the command to completely uninstall this instance from my Windows/WSL2?
@@sharjeel_mazhar well -unregister Arch (or whatever the name of the distribution is)
@@sharjeel_mazhar that should be wsl not well… auto correct…
Thank you sir🙌💕
thank you so much!!!!
DAMN IT WORKED!!!!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!!! but now how do I login with user in vscode instead of root (bc. root is bad)
Hi Todd. I´m trying to install Arch, but in minute 5.58 you say cd /mnt/c/Tools/WSL. But I don´t find this folder. it's appears "-bash: cd: Tools: No such file or directory" can you help me please?
Oh, Tools is the directory that I created on my C drive to hold the WSL container. Did you create this folder?
@@ToddSpatafore Thank you Todd. I could install Arch with you advice. Blessing you
Hi, i only have a 250GB SSD where my Windows is running but i have a 2TB HDD where i like to install it on. Is there a way to change the installation dir or not? It try to install on C everytime and then it can't install docker because there is no storage anymore.
hey man what do i need to learn to get into it
3:15 How are you opening Ubuntu? Is Ubuntu required to install Arch?
When you install WSL it installs Ubuntu by default. Once you have Arch installed I think you can remove Ubuntu. But yes, following these instructions require Ubuntu to be installed.
@@ToddSpatafore Weirdly, Ubuntu wasn't installed when i enabled WSL. I had to install by Microsoft Store. Is there a better way?
@@johnaweiss no the store is the preferred way.
Excellence!
when i do EDITOR=vim visudo it says:
"visudo: /etc/sudoers busy, try again later" do you know i could fix that?
I haven't found that before, but here's a good explanation of how to figure it out: askubuntu.com/questions/932490/issue-in-running-sudo-visudo-command-visudo-etc-sudoers-busy-try-again-later
I have been hunting around for the tabs you rely on. The only reference to them I can find is that they were removed from the production versions of Windows 10 Home. Do you know a solution to this? I had to keep openning up the individual windows for ubuntu and power shell. No tabs. I got Arch imported into WSL, but do not see my course clear to actually start that session.
I found the answer. Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store. And of course it was less than 5 minutes after I posted my question above.
@@Shardrk23 thanks a ton omg
I've tried to follow your awesome guide 3 times in a row now. I can't make the windows terminal to show my arch install. Docker is fine and enabled, import was made inside the WSL-directory. I don't get it. If I try to import again, it prints "a distribution with the supplied name already exists". It is also visible in the File Explorer as a network drive just like the Ubuntu.
if you type wsl --list is it listed there? Is it listed as version 1 or 2? Also what version of Windows Terminal are you running?
I have totally unrelated question , when i try to update my wsl distros my internet stop working, im using USB tethering to connect internet. is there any solution for this ?
It's possible (but unlikely) that it is paying attention to the "Download updates over metered connections" option in Settings -> Windows Update -> Advanced Options. Give that a try, but other than that I can't think of why it won't update.
@@ToddSpatafore now it's start working i don't know how maybe because of windows update 😁 anyway this video is awsome i learn lots of things from this thank you! ❤️ Keep up good work
Hey there! thanks for the video and the tutorial. However I noticed that I am unable to run the man command, even after installing man and man-db i try running man man and it just says "no manual entry for man". not sure what the problem is. Does anyone know how to fix this? thanks
I haven't tried this yet, but could you check out this: bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=255015
Yeah, I just tried it and the instructions in that link work.
I get Unspecified error during the attempt to: 'wsl --import' step.
Hmm… I think I’ve seen that before. Do a “wsl -list” and see if it is listed. If not start over.
@@ToddSpatafore I saw a thread on Github that provided some insight into the problem. For some reason, if we run these commands in PowerShell this happens. I opened the command prompt and ran the same commands and it worked. Thank you for your great video and the prompt response. Cheers!
Can we remove ubuntu and docker afterwards?? 🥴🥴
Yes
did anyone get a FATAL: kernal too old, [process exited with code 127] Error? Just thought I would ask before I go back and try again.
Okay, so I found out what happen. I set the default wsl version to 2, but it still install Arch in version 1. I updated it to version 2 wsl and it runs fine.
@@dwaynemorris1802 Sounds like you figured it out. Sorry I wasn't more specific in the video that you need WSL 2.
@@ToddSpatafore It was me not you great video kind Sir. I did not set the default to version 2 like I thought I did. So nothing installed was in version 2 and I had to convert them all. Thank you for the great video!!
Can we uninstall Ubuntu right after?
Yes
@@ToddSpatafore and what's the command to uninstall Ubuntu from WSL?
You can't just show in a video how you edit a file in vim and then not show how to exit it😆. Linux normies will get stuck
I'm trying to install YAY to run some GUI apps which should work fine on Windows 11.
Any help?
I don't have any experience with YAY. I usually do AUR manually. What problems are you running into?
@@ToddSpatafore well I read I had to git yay and build it, but you can't build as root so I had go make another user, but by doing that it asks for a password while using sudo but I didn't setup a password in the first place.
Also, how would you do the AUR manually? I only started using Linux for school 8 weeks ago and I used a install script to help guide me so I'm still learning a lot.
as root use the command `passwd ` to set the user's password for your new user. then you have a password for your user's sudo account.
I'd recommend reading the Arch Wiki on the subject of AUR manual install: wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_User_Repository#Installing_and_upgrading_packages