Windows 11 includes Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), in the same way as Windows 10 did it before. But that's the problem: every time Microsoft adds new features to WSL, have to wait for a major Windows operating system update to reach users. Microsoft has a preview feature to speed up this.
What is changing for WSL?
Windows 11 you still have WSL software that you can install in the traditional way. It is built into Windows 11 as an optional component of the Windows operating system. New WSL features cannot be delivered to WSL users as soon as they are ready; they should expect a big windows update. As an example, Compute GPU has been ready for a while, but it will only reach stable versions of Windows 10 with the release of update 21H2 in the fall of 2021.
The 11 October 2021, Microsoft announced a big change: WSL will now be distributed via the Windows Store on Windows 11. You can install a WSL preview from the Store on Windows 11. Most importantly, WSL can be updated through the Store. , ensuring that users can get the latest features as soon as they are ready without waiting for major Windows updates.
Now it can be updated more quickly, just as Microsoft Edge can now receive more frequent feature updates because your browser updates are not tied to Windows operating system updates.
Craig Loewen, a program manager for the Windows development platform at Microsoft, announced the change and explained the philosophy on the Microsoft blog:
This change moves those binaries from being part of the Windows image to being part of an application that you install from the Store. This decouples WSL from your version of Windows, allowing you to update via Microsoft Store. So, once they develop, test and get new features like GUI app support ready for release, GPU computing and Linux file system drive mounting, you will get access to them immediately on your machine without having to update your entire Windows operating system, or go to Windows Insider preview builds.
The preview version of WSL in the Store has some new features and commands, so that check out the Microsoft blog post or the video below for more information.
How to preview the WSL store
If you want to try it, you can install a WSL preview from the Store in Windows 11. Loewen says that, if you have both the built-in version of WSL and the Store version of WSL installed, Store version will always be preferred. If you have any problem and want to use the built-in version of WSL, just uninstall the Store version.
Microsoft will continue to support the built-in version of WSL on Windows 11, but the Store version is likely to get new features faster. Loewen wrote that Microsoft will be “data driven” on decisions to potentially delete WSL from a future version of Windows in the future.
In other words, it is feasible that Windows 12 don't have built-in WSL. If so, it will be right there in the Store and it will be better.
