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Linux GUI applications on Windows

Linux GUI applications can be installed and run on Windows systems utilizing the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), specifically through the WSLg (WSL Graphics) feature^[600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md, 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md]. WSLg enables support for graphical Linux applications without the need for complex third-party X server configurations^[600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md, 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md].

Installation and Setup

To run Linux GUI applications, the system package manager within the WSL environment should be updated and upgraded first^[600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md, 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md]. For instance, on Ubuntu or Debian-based distributions, the following commands are used:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Once the environment is current, specific graphical software can be installed using standard package management commands^[600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md, 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md]. A common example is installing gedit, the default text editor for the GNOME desktop^[600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md, 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md]:

sudo apt install gedit

Sources

  • 600-developer-tools-windows-install-wslg.md
  • 600-developer__tools__windows__install-wslg.md
  • [[Windows Subsystem for Linux]]
  • [[Gedit]]