Replacing Cygwin with Ubuntu Using WSL on Windows

 In this article I am going to go over replacing Cygwin with Ubuntu using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) in windows

 

I have been using Cygwin for a long long time…   I love Linux but have been forced through the years to use windows machine for various reasons.  Cygwin has made it tolerable as a simple Unix like command line that has been useful to grep and such in windows and also as a simple tool to ssh to my actual Linux servers.

 

In the long term I think I am going to replace my windows personal laptop with an Linux/Ubuntu box (Windows 11… just sucks)  But in the meantime I think its well past time to replace Cygwin with WSL.

 

What is WSL?

 

WSL or Windows Subsystem for Linux lets you run a real Linux Distro like Ubuntu/Fedora/etc on a Windows box withing needing a virtual machine or dual boot.

 

Installing via PowerShell

 

Open up powershell.

 

 

In Windows search for powershell

 

 

Right click on it and select “Run as Administrator”

 

Run the following command to install Ubuntu 24.04

> wsl --install ubuntu-24.04

 

 

Enter a username

Set a password

Now you are live 😊

  

Set up Ubuntu on the taskbar

Search for Ubuntu and select the Ubuntu App to open it.

 

After it opens up you should see it in the taskbar.

 

 

Right click on it and select “Pin to taskbar”

 

Now install the tools you want

>  sudo apt install tree

 

 

Wahoo simple enough 😊

References

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