All changes here are specific to ubuntu 20.04
wsl2-hacks
Useful snippets / tools for using WSL2 as a development environment
Auto-start/services (systemd
and snap
support)
I've done a few methods that have had various levels of success. My goal was to make it feel seamless for my workflow and have commands work as expected. What's below is the current version of the setup I use. It allows me to use the MS Terminal as well as VSCode's Remote WSL plugin.
With this setup your shells will be able to run systemctl
commands, have auto-starting services, as well as be able to run snaps.
-
Install deps
$ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install dbus policykit-1 daemonize
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Exit out of / close the WSL2 shell
The next step is to shutdown WSL2 and to change the default user to
root
.In a PowerShell terminal run:
> wsl --shutdown > ubuntu2004.exe config --default-user root
-
Create a fake-
bash
This fake shell will intercept calls to
wsl.exe bash ...
and forward them to a real bash running in the right environment forsystemd
. If this sounds like a hack-- well, it is. However, I've tested various workflows and use this daily. That being said, your mileage may vary.$ touch /usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services $ chmod +x /usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services $ code /usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services
Code can be replaced with your editor of choice
Add the following, be sure to replace
<YOURUSER>
with your WSL2 Linux username#!/bin/bash # your WSL2 username UNAME="<YOURUSER>" UUID=$(id -u "${UNAME}") UGID=$(id -g "${UNAME}") UHOME=$(getent passwd "${UNAME}" | cut -d: -f6) USHELL=$(getent passwd "${UNAME}" | cut -d: -f7) if [[ -p /dev/stdin || "${BASH_ARGC}" > 0 && "${BASH_ARGV[1]}" != "-c" ]]; then USHELL=/bin/bash fi if [[ "${PWD}" = "/root" ]]; then cd "${UHOME}" fi # get pid of systemd SYSTEMD_PID=$(pgrep -xo systemd) # if we're already in the systemd environment if [[ "${SYSTEMD_PID}" -eq "1" ]]; then exec "${USHELL}" "$@" fi # start systemd if not started /usr/bin/daemonize -l "${HOME}/.systemd.lock" /usr/bin/unshare -fp --mount-proc /lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target 2>/dev/null # wait for systemd to start while [[ "${SYSTEMD_PID}" = "" ]]; do sleep 0.05 SYSTEMD_PID=$(pgrep -xo systemd) done # enter systemd namespace exec /usr/bin/nsenter -t "${SYSTEMD_PID}" -m -p --wd="${PWD}" /sbin/runuser -s "${USHELL}" "${UNAME}" -- "${@}"
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Test the Script
In a PowerShell terminal run:
> wsl --shutdown
Fire up WSL via the MS Terminal or just
wsl.exe
. Start ubunutu and test the script you created by running$ bash /usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services
If You are logged in as your normal user then the script is working good and
systemd
should be runningYou can test by running the following in WSL2:
$ systemctl is-active dbus active
-
Set the fake-
bash
as ourroot
user's shellWe need
root
level permission to getsystemd
setup and enter the environment. The way I went about solving this is to have WSL2 default to theroot
user and whenwsl.exe
is executed the fake-bash
will do the right thing.The next step in getting this working is to change the default shell for our
root
user.Edit the
/etc/passwd
file:$ sudo editor /etc/passwd
Find the line starting with
root:
, it should be the first line. Change it to:root:x:0:0:root:/root:/usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services
Note the
/usr/bin/bash-bootstrap-services
here, slight differenceSave and close this file. Close the WSL and start again. Eveything should be working fine.
-
Create
/etc/rc.local
(optional)If you want to run certain commands when the WSL2 VM starts up, this is a useful file that's automatically ran by systemd.
$ sudo touch /etc/rc.local $ sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.local $ sudo editor /etc/rc.local
Add the following:
#!/bin/sh -e # your commands here... exit 0
/etc/rc.local
is only run on "boot", so only when you first access WSL2 (or it's shutdown due to inactivity/no-processes).
To test you can shutdown WSL via PowerShell/CMD wsl --shutdown
then start it back up with wsl
.
Increase max_user_watches
If devtools are watching for file changes, the default is too low.
# /etc/rc.local runs as root by default
# if you run these yourself add 'sudo' to the beginning of each command
sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
Open MS Terminal to home directory by default
Open your MS Terminal configuration Ctrl+,
Find the "commandLine":...
config for the WSL profile.
Change to something like:
"commandline": "wsl.exe ~ -d Ubuntu-18.04",
Get current IP of WSL2 into Windows clipboard :
Create a file called getip with the following command
sh $ sudo touch /usr/local/bin/getip $ sudo cjmod +x /usr/local/bin/getip
Put the following code inside the getip file using your editor
hostname -I | awk '{print $1}' | awk '{printf "%s", $0}' | clip.exe
hostname -I | awk '{print $1}' | awk '{printf "%s", $0}'
echo
Now everytime you type getip you will be shown the IP and it will be copied into the clipboard.
Run sudo code command for files with Previliges
Currently you cannot run sudo code command. Using defualt user as root is not recommended. So best approach is to use rmate.
-
Install rmate on your WSL VM sudo wget -O /usr/bin/rmate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aurora/rmate/master/rmate sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/rmate
-
Install the Remote VS Code plugin make sure the Extension is enabled on WSL: after adding the plugin. Here is how I configured the remote VS Code plugin File -> Preferences -> Settings
-
Start the VSCode rmate server Press F1 and run Search for the Remote: Start Server command.
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Edit your privileged files Start your WSL instance and open a terminal. If you've done everything correctly you should be able to now edit your files with sudo priveledges in your editor, even if you are not the root user.
sudo rmate /etc/profile.d/custom-profile.sh
Make it possible to run sudo code to change root files from wsl2
Currently sudo code doesnt work from wsl2. To make sudo code run you need to modify to configuration file /etc/sudoers
. Please open the file and modify the secure_path to enable run VS code with sudo command as below
Defaults secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/Vscodium/bin"
Just add the path to the bin folder of the VS code installation. Please note I use VScodium instead of VS Code so slight difference.