14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has officially announced support for Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 distros on Windows Server 2022, a few weeks after the company started the public testing on GitHub.
In other words, thanks to this new announcement, WSL 2 distros are now available on both Windows desktop SKUs and Windows Server.
The new feature was introduced with the release of cumulative update KB5014678, so this is pretty much the only thing you need to install if you want to get WSL 2 distro support on Windows Server 2022. Needless to say, if automatic updates are enabled on your server, the new feature should already be there.
“We first talked about this change on GitHub when this update was made available to folks who wanted to use it early, and now this is part of our latest update to Windows Server. To get it, all you need to do is click “Check for Updates” on your Windows Server machine to update to the latest version and you’ll get support for WSL 2 distros. To make sure you have the right update, please check that you have KB5014678 installed,” Craig Loewen, Program Manager II, Windows Developer Platform, explains.
Originally released only for testers back in May
The debut of WSL 2 distro support on Windows Server 2022 took place last month with the launch of optional cumulative update KB5014021. However, the cumulative update was only offered to those who manually checked for updates, but the feature is now live as an automatic update.
“We've added support for WSL 2 distros on Windows Server 2022! This is available right now by installing KB5014021. Currently this update is only available for seekers, and next month it will be pushed by default. Going forwards, WSL will be supported both on Windows server and Windows desktop SKUs,” the original announcement read.