Various scripts to make life with Windows Subsystem for Linux ( WSL2 ) easier:
- Download Script to create WSL2 Image from any DockerHub image -- download-wsl2-imgage.ps1
- Deploy Script to create new WSL2 Linux instance from an WSL2 Image -- deploy-wsl2-image.ps1
To bypass Power Shell policy, you can use this trick from PowerShell console:
PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File script_to_run.ps1 <params...>
The script is able to download and create deployable WSL2 image from a DockerHub image. The image can be deployed as WSL2 instance directly by wsl.exe --import command or by the script deploy-wsl2-image.ps1 then.
download-wsl2-imgage.ps1 -Image library/ubuntu -Destination E:\WSL_ubuntu
Downloads the latest ubuntu image and stores it at 'E:\WSL_ubuntu' folder
download-wsl2-imgage.ps1 -Image library/fedora -Tag 32 -Destination E:\WSL -MakeDir
Downloads the fedora 32 image and stores it at 'E:\WSL\fedora_32' folder
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Image (Mandatory) - Specifies the docker hub image name. Consider that Dcoker Official images has prefix library, then Fedora official image name is library/fedora. Official Ubuntu image name is library/ubuntu etc...
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Destination (Mandatory) - Folder where the created WSL2 Linux instance image will be stored or where sub-folder will be created if the -MakeDir parameter is specified.
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Tag (default value = latest) - Specifies the DockerHub image Tag. If not specified the 'latest' tag is used.
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MakeDir - If specified then the script will create sub-folder at Destination with name 'Image_Tag' and then downloads the image here. If the Tag is not specified, only the 'Image' sub-folder is created
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Force - If specified and image already exists then image is overwritten by new one. Otherwise the script prints warning and exits.
Because native Windows tar executable doesn't support --combine option and this is essential for correct script functionality, the external tar Windows executable (renamed to img-pkg.exe) is included into the repository. If you do not trust this file then find your own tar executable with --combine supported option and rename it to img-pkg.exe.
This script automates deployment of fresh WSL2 instances from specified image or exported backup. By this script is possible to deploy fresh WSL2 instance without interaction with MS Windows Store. For Ubuntu 20.04 is supported automatic image download from Ubuntu servers, then deployment is as easy as possible (see UbuntuImageDir parameter)
Script also allows bootstrapping of the deployed image by specified scripts. These bootstap scripts can be run as root, normal user or both and by this mechanism is possible to customise image automatically.
deploy-wsl2-image.ps1 Ubuntu22 linux_user -DisksDir e:\WSL\Disks -Image E:\WSL\Ubu.tar.gz
Deploy WSL instance with name Ubuntu22, store disk in the folder 'e:\WSL\Disks' and
creates new default user with name 'linux_user'. As source uses image 'E:\WSL\Ubu.tar.gz'
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InstanceName (Mandatory) - Name of the WSL Instance. Can be specified also as the first positional parameter of the script. Must be unique and Windows WSL will use this name to identify the instance. If instance with same name already exists, script generates error and fail. I
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UserName - Name of the user account to be created at the WSL Instance. Can be specified also as the second positional parameter of the script. if user already exists inside the WSL instance then creating and bootstrapping for the user is skipped.
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Destination (Mutual exclusive with DisksDir) - Folder where the vmdx file for the WSL2 instance will be created. The ext4.vhdx file can't exist in the folder. otherwise the script generates error and stop.
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DisksDir (Mutual exclusive with Destination) - Folder where subdir with InstanceName will be created to store WSL2 Instance ext4.vmdx virtual disk file. This parameter allows to organize WSL2 Instances vhdx inside this folder by this way:
- DisksDir - Instance1\ext4.vhdx - Instance2\ext4.vhdx - InstanceName\ext4.vhdx - ..... - InstanceX\ext4.vhdxThe InstanceName folder can already exists, but the ext4.vhdx file can't exist in the folder. otherwise the script generates error and stop.
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Image (Mutual exclusive with UbuntuImageDir) - Path to the image file from which the WSL Instance will be deployed.
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UbuntuImageDir (Mutual exclusive with Image) - Path where the Ubuntu 20.04 image will be downloaded if not already exists and then used for deplyment. This allows easy unatended Ubuntu 20.04 deployment without MS Store assistance
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ForceDownload Makes sense only for Well-known images (As for Ubuntu 20.04 for example). Otherwise is ignored. If specified then the Well-known image will be re-downloaded from distribution point even if already exists in the Image folder.
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BootstrapRootScript If specified then the file is copied to /root folder inside the new fresh image and run as shell script under the root user account. It allows to provide necessary modifications to deployed image as install required software packages, update image by package manager to latest versions etc...
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BootstrapUserScript If specified then the file is copied to /home/ folder inside the new fresh image and run as shell script under the user account. It allows to provide custom modifications to deployed image as deploy coinfigs, dot files and other user related stuff.
The deployment process can be customized by run of the bootstrap script(s). The script will run inside the deployed image and it can be run as root script or user script. Is possible to run only one or both bootstrap scripts during the deployment process.
The Bootstrap script can be specified by three ways
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Explicitly by parameter (*BootstrapRootScript, *BootstrapUserScript)
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Can be placed to same folder as image and have to have specific filename:
- root_bootstrap For bootstrap script run as root
- user_bootstrap For bootstrap script run as user with name specified by UserName parameter
Then it's connected with the image and is used always when the image is deployed
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For Well Known image ( UbuntuImageDir ) the default script located in the same directory as the main PowerShell script can be used (ubuntu_root_bootstrap) This option is valid only for well known image as the Ubuntu and this script for Ubuntu is member file of the repository.