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WSL

🖥️ Windows Setup Guide (Docker/WSL)#

Docker Desktop

Ensure that Docker Desktop is not installed; if so, uninstall and reboot before proceeding.

🐧 WSL Install#

  1. From the Microsoft store, install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

  2. From the Microsoft store, install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

  3. Follow the setup to create your Ubuntu username and password

  4. From a Windows command prompt, paste the following:

    cd C:\WINDOWS\system32

  5. Then paste:

    wsl --setdefault Ubuntu-22.04

  6. From Windows apps, start Ubuntu 22.04, and paste the following inside the terminal:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo mount --make-rshared /

Note

sudo mount --make-rshared does not persist reboots, so it will need to be run each time WSL2 or Windows is restarted. Alternatively, see the Ubuntu systemd service guide for automatically executing the command on startup for Ubuntu.

🐳 Docker Install#

  1. Follow the Docker install guide.

  2. Follow the standard docker process for creating the container or follow the Docker Deployment or Portainer Deployment guides

📂 Accessing the Mount on Windows#

  1. From the Ubuntu terminal, paste the following, including the punctuation:

    explorer.exe .

  2. A new file explorer window will appear; you’re now inside the Ubuntu directory structure

  3. Navigate to the mount location and copy the full path from the explore window

  4. From another file explorer window, click "This PC," then right-click in the space below the listed drives and select add a network location

  5. In the pop-up, click next twice and past the mount location.

  6. Follow the remaining prompted steps

🌐 Mirrored Mode Networking#

Starting with Windows 11 22H2, WSL2 supports a new networking mode called mirrored networking, which improves compatibility and unlocks several new features by mirroring Windows' network interfaces into Linux.

✅ Benefits of Mirrored Networking#

  • 🧭 Full IPv6 support
  • 🔁 Access Windows services from WSL using 127.0.0.1
  • 🔒 Improved VPN support (VPNs work in both Windows and WSL)
  • 📡 Multicast compatibility
  • 🧷 Reach WSL directly from your local LAN

🔧 Enabling Mirrored Mode#

  1. Open (or create) the .wslconfig file in your Windows home directory:
notepad $env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig
  1. Add the following section:
[wsl2]
networkingMode=mirrored
  1. Restart WSL for the changes to take effect:
wsl --shutdown

Then restart your distro from the Windows menu or run:

wsl

📌 Additional Notes#

  • You can combine this with autoProxy=true if you're using a proxy.
  • This setting applies globally across all WSL2 instances.

🌟 Extra Credit#

  1. install Portainer