Arch on WSL 2

These are the basic instructions to build Arch on WSL 2.

• For instructions on bootstrapping WSL 1, please go here.

Table of Contents

• Installing Arch Linux for WSL2
• Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper
• Configure the Arch Linux WSL install for systemd
• Install and Configure Windows Terminal
• Powerline Fonts
• Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

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Installing Arch Linux for WSL 2 from bootstrap

1. Install/upgrade to the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. Go here.

2. Install your favorite available distro from the Windows Store, then launch it from the Start menu.

   • Steps 3-8 should be completed on a linux system

3. Download the Arch Linux bootstrap (latest version at time of writing).

   wget https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-2020.07.01-x86_64.tar.gz

4. Extract the image.

   sudo tar -zxvf archlinux-bootstrap-2020.07.01-x86_64.tar.gz

5. Enter the extraced directory root.x86_64

   cd root.x86_64

6. Uncomment some servers in the pacman mirrorlist.

   vim etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

7. Recompress files in root.x86_64 directory.

   sudo tar -czvf root.tar.gz *

8. Move the root.tar.gz file to an accessible Windows directory.

   sudo mv root.tar.gz /mnt/c/Users/USERNAME/root.tar.gz

   • After this step, you no longer need the temporarily installed linux system

9. Open a PowerShell prompt as Admin, and issue the following command:

   wsl --import Archlinux PATH_WHERE_VHD_SHOULD_BE_CREATED C:\Users\USERNAME\root.tar.gz

10. Launch Archlinux from WSL.

    wsl -d Archlinux

11. Initialize Arch keyring.

    pacman-key --init
    pacman-key --populate archlinux

12. Install base.

    pacman -Syyu base base-devel git vim wget reflector zsh

13. Enable multilib (if you want).

    linenumber=$(grep -nr "\\#\\[multilib\\]" /etc/pacman.conf | gawk '{print $1}' FS=":")
    sed -i "${linenumber}s:.*:[multilib]:" /etc/pacman.conf
    linenumber=$((linenumber+1))
    sed -i "${linenumber}s:.*:Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:" /etc/pacman.conf

14. Sync package databases.

    pacman -Syy

15. Update mirror list (replace United States with preferred repo mirror country).

    reflector --country "United States" --age 12 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

16. Set root user password.

    passwd

17. Create new user.

    useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash username

18. Set password on user.

    passwd username

19. Enable wheel group.

    sed -i '/%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL/c\%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL' /etc/sudoers

20. Edit Arch locale and regenerate.

    sed -i 's:#en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:g' /etc/locale.gen
    locale-gen
    echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
    echo LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
    echo LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.confS

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Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper

1. Create a directory for the yay PKGBUILD files and enter it.

   mkdir ~/yay cd ~/yay

2. Download yay PKGBUILD from AUR.

   wget "https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/plain/PKGBUILD?h=yay" --output-document=./PKGBUILD

3. Run makepkg to build and install yay.

   makepkg -si

• Alternatively, you could use the instructions from the official Yay Github repo)

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Configure the Arch Linux WSL install for systemd

This guid is based off the information found on WSL.dev.

1. Install daemonize.

   yay -S daemonize

2. Create the wsl.conf file on the system.

   vim /etc/wsl.conf

   [automount]
   enabled = true
   options = "metadata,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=22,fmask=11,case=off"
   mountFsTab = true
   crossDistro = true
   
   [network]
   generateHosts = false
   generateResolvConf = true
   
   [interop]
   enabled = true
   appendWindowsPath = true
   
   [user]
   default = your_username

3. Create a startup script daemonize systemd as PID 1.

   vim /etc/profile.d/00-wsl2-systemd.sh

   SYSTEMD_PID=$(ps -ef | grep '/lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target$' | grep -v unshare | awk '{print $2}')
   
   if [ -z "$SYSTEMD_PID" ]; then
      sudo /usr/bin/daemonize /usr/bin/unshare --fork --pid --mount-proc /lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target
      SYSTEMD_PID=$(ps -ef | grep '/lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target$' | grep -v unshare | awk '{print $2}')
   fi
   
   if [ -n "$SYSTEMD_PID" ] && [ "$SYSTEMD_PID" != "1" ]; then
       exec sudo /usr/bin/nsenter -t $SYSTEMD_PID -a su - $LOGNAME
   fi

4. Exit out of WSL, and re-enter. It should now be running systemd.

   • If you have any issues with the network, manually set a public DNS entry.

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Install and Configure Windows Terminal

1. From the Windows Store, install Windows Terminal.

2. Copy any .png or .ico that you would like to use as distro icons to the following folder:

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState\

3. Edit the settings.json file for Windows Terminal and add the following line to the list item:

   "icon" : "ms-appdata:///roaming/filename.ico",

---

Powerline Fonts

Download and install fonts for Powerline. Download here.

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Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

1. Download, install and then launch VcXsrv.

   • Select display settings - Take default
   • Select how to start clients - Take default
   • Extra settings - Be sure Disable access control is checked.
   • Configuration complete - Click Finish

2. Create a firewall rule in Windows to allow communication from WSL 2 to host OS.

   New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "X Server - WSL 2" -Direction Inbound -Program "C:\Program Files\VcXsrv\vcxsrv.exe" -Action Allow

3. Update DISPLAY environment variable. The method provided by X410 is used here.

   For bash and zsh: export DISPLAY=$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2; exit;}'):0.0

   For fish: set -x DISPLAY $(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2; exit;}'):0.0

   Note: Add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.config/fish/fish.config and you won't need to type it again on the next WSL launch.

4. Install an xorg app for testing (We will use the Xorg Calculator).

   sudo pacman -S xorg-xcalc

5. Launch xcalc to test.

   xcalc

6. If VcXsrv is working properly, Xorg Calculator should popup as a new window.