Windows Subsystem for GNU-Linux

OpenFoam^® can run on version 2 of WSL. Few installation notes before installing it:, run in PowerShell as adminthe followings for the enabling a necessary Windows feature:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform
/all /norestart

The proceed with the installation:

wsl –install

After having prepared the environment, download from the Windows Store the GNU/Linux distribution you would like to work on. Then, once installed, The GNU-Linux root folder is in the Windows file explorer in:

\\wsl$\Ubuntu-20.04\

Change the distribution name accordingly to the distribution you have chosen to run.

GUI applications

To lunch GUI programmes via WSL the following actions must take place: Install an Xserver like VcXsrv, download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/ 782 and install/start it. Specifying the server numer to be ‘0’ on the first screen and also allow public access such as:

Disable Windows Defender Firewall for Guest or public Network

In WSL edit the file shell confing file in this way:

export DISPLAY=$(grep -m 1 nameserver /etc/resolv.conf | awk '{print $2}'):0.0 >> ~/.bashrc

Storage reclaim

Shirnking the storage has been a problem for WSL instances and they can clog the storage of the entire system. Given that you have reduced the size of the content inside the WSL it is adviced to do the following in powershell to get back the storage:

wsl.exe --shutdown
cd C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState
optimize-vhd -Path .\ext4.vhdx -Mode full