The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) allows developers to run both Windows and Linux simultaneously on a Windows machine without using a virtual machine. With WSL, developers can install several popular Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Kali, and Debian, and use Linux apps directly on Windows.
Today, Microsoft announced that Fedora Linux is now officially supported as a WSL distribution. The Fedora Project is using WSL’s new tar-based architecture to create WSL images, starting with Fedora 42. The Fedora team is working to enable GUI-based applications to take advantage of hardware acceleration on Windows in the future. They are also working to improve the Flatpak experience.
To install Fedora Linux on WSL, enter the following commands:
- wsl –-install FedoraLinux-42
- wsl –d FedoraLinux-42
Once installed, users can enter their username and start using the distro. By default, the user will not have a password and will be part of the wheel group, which allows users to use sudo to run commands that require elevated privileges.
Since Flatpak support is not included in the Fedora WSL image by default, users who need Flatpak will need to install it separately. Microsoft highlighted that the Fedora community is working to make several popular projects available on the Fedora WSL image. Popular tools like GCC 15, LLVM 20, Golang 1.24, Ruby 3.4, PHP 8.4, Python 3.9, and more are already supported.
You can learn more about the Fedora WSL images here. This development further expands the versatility of WSL, offering developers another popular Linux distribution directly within Windows. The Fedora community's ongoing efforts promise an even better experience and improved tool availability in the near future.
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