WSL coming to the Microsoft Store

Windows ❤️ Linux.

Last week, we blogged about the new and much improved version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that comes with Windows 11. This week, Microsoft turned WSL into an application that you can simply download and install from the Microsoft Store to Windows 11. This gives Microsoft the flexibility to update WSL independently of Windows, letting users “get the latest WSL updates and features faster, and without needing to modify your Windows version.” WSL used to be installed as an optional component of Windows. You had to go through the “Turn Windows features on or off” dialog box to activate it, requiring you to restart your machine. With this change in procedure, binaries are no longer part of the Windows image, but of an application that you install from the Store. This decouples WSL from your version of Windows, allowing you to perform updates through the Microsoft Store. To install the application, this is where it happens.

⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Microsoft puts the Windows Subsystem for Linux in its app store for faster updating.”

⇨ Windows Command Line, Craig Loewen, “A preview of WSL in the Microsoft Store is now available!”

2021-10-12