Arch on WSL 2

These are the basic instructions to build Arch on WSL 2.

Table of Contents

• Installing Arch Linux for WSL2
• Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper
• Install and Configure Windows Terminal
• Powerline Fonts
• Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

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Installing Arch Linux for WSL 2

1. Install/upgrade to the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. Find it on the Microsoft Store.

2. Download ArchWSL from here. Find the .appx and it's associated .cer.

3. Open an elevated Powershell prompt, then import the certificate.

   Import-Certificate -FilePath ~\Downloads\ArchWSL-AppX_*.cer -CertStoreLocation Cert:\LocalMachine\TrustedPeople\

4. Add the package.

   Add-AppxPackage ~\Downloads\ArchWSL-AppX_*

5. Then run arch.exe
   _{^{PS. You don't need Powershell anymore. Just invoke this from Windows search.}}

6. Uncomment some servers in the pacman mirrorlist.

   vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

7. Become root and refresh Arch keyring.

   rm -R /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
   rm -R /root/.gnupg/ 
   gpg --refresh-keys
   pacman-key --init && pacman-key --populate archlinux
   pacman -S archlinux-keyring
   pacman -Syu

8. Install base.

   pacman -Syyu base base-devel git neovim aria2 fish

9. Set root user password.

   passwd

10. Create new user.

    export USER=<username> && useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/fish -d /home/$USER $USER

11. Set password on user.

    passwd $USER

12. Enable wheel group.

    sed -i 's/# %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL/%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL/' /etc/sudoers

13. Edit Arch locale and regenerate.

    sed -i 's:#en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:g' /etc/locale.gen
    locale-gen
    echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
    echo LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
    echo LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.confS

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Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper

1. Create a directory for the yay PKGBUILD files and enter it.

   mkdir ~/yay && cd ~/yay

2. Download yay PKGBUILD from AUR.

   aria2c "https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/plain/PKGBUILD?h=yay"

3. Run makepkg to build and install yay.

   makepkg -si

_{^{Alternatively, you could use the instructions from the official Yay Github repo.}}

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Install and Configure Windows Terminal

1. From the Windows Store, install Windows Terminal.

2. Edit the settings.json file for Windows Terminal and add the following line to the list item:

   "icon" : "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\yuk7.archwsl_22.10.16.0_x64__35zwpb4sx6e50\images\StoreLogo.png",

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Powerline Fonts

Download and install fonts for Powerline. Download here.

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I don't use VcXsrv so I can NOT guarantee the accuracy of the info below

_{^{Though you can comment on this issue if you would like a section for another X server.}}

Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

1. Download, install and then launch VcXsrv.

   • Select display settings - Take default
   • Select how to start clients - Take default
   • Extra settings - Be sure Disable access control is checked.
   • Configuration complete - Click Finish

2. Create a firewall rule in Windows to allow communication from WSL 2 to host OS.

   New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "X Server - WSL 2" -Direction Inbound -Program "C:\Program Files\VcXsrv\vcxsrv.exe" -Action Allow

3. Get the IP of your local computer of the vEthernet (WSL) interface from CMD or PowerShell:

   ipconfig

4. Export output to display using IP address collected in step 3.

   For bash and zsh: export DISPLAY=192.168.1.100:0

   For fish: set -x DISPLAY 192.168.1.100:0

   Note: Add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.config/fish/fish.config and you won't need to type it again on the next WSL launch.

5. Install an xorg app for testing (We will use the Xorg Calculator).

   sudo pacman -S xorg-xcalc

6. Launch xcalc to test.

   xcalc

7. If VcXsrv is working properly, Xorg Calculator should popup as a new window.
   
   _{^{8. Uninstall if you want with sudo pacman -Rns xorg-xcalc}}

I use archwsl btw!

Share this with your Arch buddies that want to use Arch on their PCs as well. Link to this repo

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