Fedora 42 now an official Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 distro

Good news for those fond of crimson headwear – Fedora 42 is now an official distro on Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2). When we wrote about the addition of Arch Linux on WSL2 a week ago, we showed Fedora in our screenshots, but now it's public and approved, alongside two versions of AlmaLinux and Oracle Linux. Fedora 42 …

[captain veg]

way out of line here, but...

... seems to me that the only real justification for using WSL is to create Docker images for DotNet apps, which generally (so far as I can tell) use Alpine Linux. Otherwise just run a Linux VM in Windows, or, better, vice-versa. That's what I do (the vice-versa) using VirtualBox. It works well.

-A.

[ecofeco]

Re: way out of line here, but...

Rube Goldberg would be proud.

No snark to you, just the whole concept of loading Windows to run Linux is bloody absurd.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: way out of line here, but...

Yet fits perfectly in those forward-thinking corporations where Windows/Office 365/Teams/Microsoft SSO PCs is corporate policy for writing Linux server software.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: way out of line here, but...

Same here - work developer laptops are Windows 11 - WSL2 allows me to do some of the early development checks and tweaks without having to deploy to a linux server

[captain veg]

Re: way out of line here, but...

> the whole concept of loading Windows to run Linux is bloody absurd

Well, I don't do that. The opposite, in fact. Sorry for being unclear.

I can only do this because I live outside the corporate IT system to the greatest extent possible, largely at my own expense. My colleagues, using machines "provisioned" by Central Services, are only allowed Windows or macOS. If they beg in the right way then they might be allowed to install Linux in a VM. The permission is likely to be revoked arbitrarily.

-A.

[collinsl]

Re: way out of line here, but...

"provisioned" by Central Services

Central Services have noted your snark, and one of our specialised teams will be visiting you soon.

[captain veg]

Re: way out of line here, but...

They'd better remember to bring a 27B/6.

-A.

[MrReynolds2U]

Re: way out of line here, but...

For me, the strength comes from being able to develop in Visual Studio and run either under Windows or WSL from the same IDE. YMMV.

When running the WSL console it's also 99% like using SSH to a Linux box (or VM) without necessarily needing to have one available that you can break as you like.

Docker? No thanks.

[Irongut]

Re: way out of line here, but...

I use WSL regularly for several use cases. Using VirtualBox instead would make these tasks harder, increase friction and take longer.

Why would I want to do that when WSL fits all my use cases better than "just use a VM."

I suggest next time you want to do a complex calculation you try just using an abacus and see how you get on.

[RockBurner]

Glad to see I'm not the only one unable to get anything linux to work in a Gen2 hyper-v machine under Win11. Seems to be a lot of noise about issues on the internet, but no reliable solutions yet.

[Dan 55]

Forget Fedora 42, I want to see Commodore OS Vision in WSL.

[Liam Proven]

> Forget Fedora 42, I want to see Commodore OS Vision in WSL.

You remind me of my esteemed editor's suggestion that I run nothing but Windows 11 for week and then write about it.

*Growls quietly*

[Dan 55]

Make sure it's the 24H2 version, that'll give you enough material for a whole series of articles.

[Liam Proven]

> Make sure it's the 24H2 version, that'll give you enough material for a whole series of articles.

*Blocked and reported*

:-P

[blu3b3rry]

Given my own experience of using W11 I wouldn't be surprised if there's enough materials for two articles. One writing about your experience, and then the edited publishable version with all the swearing removed....it definitely drove me to some incredibly bad language when I gave something similar a try last year!

[Mockup1974]

I'd really like to see the opposite - a tightly integrated Windows VM running under Linux. WinApps (https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps) is trying but there's still many FreeRDP-related bugs and the setup is not yet as straightforward as it could be.

[Liam Proven]

> WinApps

This is fascinating and totally new to me. (I don't _have_ any essential Windows apps and haven't for 20 years or so.) I will look into it. Thanks!

[thod]

docker

it is quite straightforward if you use the docker file to generate a winapps container.

Yes windows in qemu in a docker.

Now for a flatpack version..

[jeremya]

Debian?

Unless I am highly mistaken I am running Debian under WSL2 and it's one of the standard offerings.

According to Gemini it's one of the most popular distros for WSL2

Why did the article forget about it?