Install WSL
Install WSL
Depending on your version of Windows, you may need to update your Windows Settings to allow WSL. (For Windows 11, this is no longer needed) https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
SIL has produced some utilities for Ubuntu that may not be available in the most recent version of Ubuntu. As of July 2022, the most recent SIL enhanced version of Ubuntu was 20.04.
You can check for newer versions at the Wasta-Linux downloads site (https://wastalinux.org/home/download/). Don’t use the Wasta-Linux download, but the Ubuntu version that matches the current Wasta-Linux version will have the SIL enhancemants.
Go to the Microsoft Store and look for Ubuntu 18.04 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ubuntu-1804-lts/9n9tngvndl3q?activetab=pivot:overviewtab - Even though there are newer versions, we currently recommend using version 18.04 anyway, for various compatibility reasons.)
Install WSL with Ubuntu 18.04.
Note that you have to reboot after installing WSL.
When you first run it, it will ask you to create a username and password. Be sure to write this down where you can find it in the future, as you will need it for the following steps, and you may need it sometime far into the future when you may have forgotten that you even created a password.
After you have installed WSL and have it running, you will want to tell it to update any software packages that were installed with it. To do that, run the following command within the WSL terminal window:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
It will ask you for a password. Provide the password you created when you installed WSL.