EasyWSL tool can turn Linux docker image into Windows 10 WSL distro

If you can't find your favorite Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distribution (distro) in the Microsoft Store, a new tool called EasyWSL will help you. This tool can turn any Linux docker image into a WSL distro.

There are many WSL Linux distros available in the Microsoft Store such as Fedora, Ubunto, Alpine, Kali, Debian. However, many other popular distros like ArchLinux or Centos are not available or have to be purchased.

Also, many of the distros being resold were not created by the original maintarners but by third parties. Therefore, the risk of being modified, installing malicious components is quite high.

To make it easier for you to find distros that aren't on the Microsoft Store, security firm Red Code Labs has created an open source tool called EasyWSL.

EasyWSL is capable of supporting quite a few distros, including:

1. ArcLinux
2. Ubuntu 20.04
3. Ubuntu 20.10
4. Alpine
5. DebianStable
6. DebianUnstable
7. DebianTesting
8. CentOS
9. Clear Linux
10. Fedora
11. Manjaro
12. Scientific Linux
13. Crux Linux
14. Void Linux
15. Kali Linux
16. OpenSecure Leap
17. Parrot Security OS
18. Gentoo

However, if the Linux distro you are looking for is not available, you can easily use EasyWSL to install the docker image you want in WSL.

How to convert a Linux docker image to WSL

For example, the Photon distro is quite popular but not in the Microsoft Store. You can install it from Docker using EasyWSL. First, you need to download EasyWSL then install and launch.

1. Download EasyWSL here

On the initial interface, to install a custom image, you need to select "Specify a docker image". Next, you need to provide the name of the distro and the tag of the distro in the following syntax:

image:tag

In the case of Photon, the image name will be "photon" and the tag will be "latest". We will enter "p hoton:latest " in EasyWSL as shown below.

Although most Linux docker images install without any problems, you can also get errors due to missing commands. Either way, the operating system is still installable and usable in WSL.

You should note that after installing a new Linux distro using EasyWSL, the WSL installation will not appear in the Start Menu. To launch a new distro, you must use the command wsl -d [linux_distro] from the Command Prompt. For example, to run Photon we have to use the command wsl -d photon .

For those who like to use WSL on Windows 10, EasyWSL is definitely a great tool.

Micah Soto

Update 17 August 2021