{"slug": "wsl", "name": "WSL", "category": "infra", "category_name": "Infrastructure and DevOps", "description": "Windows Subsystem for Linux, Microsoft's feature for running Linux distributions on Windows.", "recommenders": 16, "commenters": 33, "warners": 8, "score": 9.918, "rising": 1.4, "first": "2025-11-17", "latest": "2026-10-10", "why": "Liked as a daily Linux dev environment on Windows, letting one machine handle games, Windows-only apps and Linux tooling, with easy VS Code connection and isolated per-project distros.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 16, "neutral": 9, "compare": 0, "warn": 8}, "spark": [0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 0, 3, 4, 0, 0, 2, 3], "listed": true, "loved": ["Windows dev environment", "Both worlds"], "caveat": "Host OS frustrations", "short_quote": "WSL is my favorite and most used feature of Windows 11.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/microsoft/wsl", "official_url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["WSL", "WSL2", "WSL 2"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked as a daily Linux dev environment on Windows", "cites": [{"id": 737767856, "item_id": 46110491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110491", "by": "pak9rabid", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "excerpt": "Yes, a VM with extremely tight integration with the Windows environment to make things that would otherwise require lots of time to setup a breeze. I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "context": "required to use Windows at work", "use_case": "daily dev work on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 748367136, "item_id": 46772946, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772946", "by": "eleventhborn", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development.", "excerpt": "Coming from a Gsuite + Atlassian + AWS world to an all-inclusive Microsoft world was an experience. It should be in the bucket list for every developer to try once in their life. WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development. I use it at work. It is fine. Windows OS on the other hand is a mess. There are dedicated keyboard shortcut (win + c), keyboard buttons, buttons on deskt", "context": "developer moved from Gsuite/Atlassian/AWS to Microsoft", "use_case": "development environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?"}, {"id": 767943216, "item_id": 47996451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47996451", "by": "k3vinw", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is my favorite and most used feature of Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m most excited for the scheduler and memory footprint improvements. As bad as I hear Windows 11 is, I\u2019ve rarely had issues with it. For the most part it just works and stays out of my way. My only gripes are the occasional forced updates and a rare hard crash that happened once in a span of a year of using it as my daily driver. Well that and I have to be mindful of running too many resource starving processes at t", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"}]}, {"text": ", letting one machine handle games, Windows-only apps and Linux tooling", "cites": [{"id": 777018801, "item_id": 48563675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563675", "by": "nilkn", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds", "excerpt": "I use Windows on my home PC simply because it's such a versatile setup thanks to native GPU support, game support, and WSL2. It feels like I can do almost everything on one machine with little to no compromise. If I didn't care about games I'd probably load Linux onto it, but WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds without needing to do that.", "context": "gamer who also develops", "use_case": "Linux tooling on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude: Elevated errors across many models"}, {"id": 774567232, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL allows you to generally have both of the words.", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 773795584, "item_id": 48362224, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48362224", "by": "darkstarsys", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well.", "excerpt": "I'm on my third Surface Pro (an 11 this time) and basically love it. Tablet form factor, lightweight, multitouch, with a real desktop OS (I mean not ipad's iOS). Decent battery life. True, it's not perfect: slow to wake, the touchpad stops working once in a while & needs to be reset. Missing a GPS chip. But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well. I love the absolutely gorgeous Hi", "context": "Surface Pro user, also daily drives an M1 MacBook Pro", "use_case": "Linux on Surface Pro", "switched_from": "", "story": "MacBook Pro Rival with the Nvidia Powered Surface Laptop Ultra"}]}, {"text": ", with easy VS Code connection and isolated per-project distros.", "cites": [{"id": 800542432, "item_id": 50033902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "by": "Mabusto", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become. One of the things I loved about windows was developing on it, WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it and it\u2019s my own little dev box. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the switch so far, having attempted it a few times in the past and ended up going back to windows (once in 2003, another in 2012). It\u2019s encouraging to see MS continue to ", "context": "Moved to Linux 8 months ago", "use_case": "dev box on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 798751456, "item_id": 49921966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49921966", "by": "tonymet", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images", "excerpt": "No need for mise just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images . I use alpine because each one is tiny", "context": "", "use_case": "separate dev environments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaints are tooling friction with the Windows filesystem and occasional crashes or silent mount failures", "cites": [{"id": 774645904, "item_id": 48415369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48415369", "by": "desipenguin", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together.", "excerpt": "I did a similar workshop between Feb-April (1 hour zoom call on Wednesday, 3 hour hands-on in person every week) Most of the participants has Windows laptop. (Except one with Mac) We had suggested Linux on WSL2 and VSCode. (`uv` for python package management) But realized that we were spending a LOT of time fighting the tools/combination. WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together. For person with macO", "context": "ran an AI workshop", "use_case": "workshop dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 748805568, "item_id": 46800348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800348", "by": "vanillax", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried the whole WSL2 but lots of apps need so much tuning to work properly", "excerpt": "I made the same switch but all linux always feels slightly jank. I think Macos is the best premium decoupling from Winblows, but that comes with its own ecosystem lock in. I use all three equally daily and it just drives me insane. Lots of games on Windows ONLY work on windows due to anti cheat. Ie BattleField 6.... MacOs Gaming is non existent and any attempt with say wine/parallels or whatever brings you back to wi", "context": "uses Windows, macOS and Linux daily", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}, {"id": 756806849, "item_id": 47300428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47300428", "by": "behnamoh", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine", "excerpt": "I wish it was a TUI. Windows is a plague I try to stay away from as much as possible, and it already gives me headaches to setup WSL and manage them over ssh. Some things you just can't do w/o remote desktop... And sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine. The only reason I use Windows is because Nvidia drivers are easier to setup. But once I'm inside my Fedora", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 776113456, "item_id": 48507091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48507091", "by": "edallme", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount", "excerpt": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount, e.g., https://github.com/microsoft/wsl/issues/40773", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows file system access", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}]}, {"text": ", and some prefer dual booting or a full VM instead.", "cites": [{"id": 775077778, "item_id": 48442361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442361", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this.", "excerpt": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this. Microsoft is user hostile and the only thing they care about Windows users is how much ad revenue they can get from shoving AI down their users throats. I recommend doing a dual boot. I personally do a multi drive dual boot, because again, Microsoft is user hostile and will sometimes randomly just blow away the Linux EFI partition if they're both on the same drive. . If", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "I am giving up on VM Gaming"}, {"id": 737814577, "item_id": 46113411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113411", "by": "Const-me", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find WSL2 pretty much useless.", "excerpt": "I find WSL 1 incredibly useful. C++ and .NET compiler toolchains, ssh and scp clients, and many other command-line Linux tools are working flawlessly for me despite the fake emulated kernel lacking some of the APIs. When I develop anything related to Linux be it embedded or servers, I use WSL1 a lot. I find WSL2 pretty much useless. When I want Linux inside a VM I use VMware which is just better. VMware has tree of s", "context": "develops embedded and server software", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 776601045, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I stay away from crap like WSL and Code.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Windows dev environment", "summary": "Commenters use it as a pleasant daily Linux development environment on Windows.", "quotes": [{"id": 737767856, "item_id": 46110491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110491", "by": "pak9rabid", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "excerpt": "Yes, a VM with extremely tight integration with the Windows environment to make things that would otherwise require lots of time to setup a breeze. I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "context": "required to use Windows at work", "use_case": "daily dev work on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 748367136, "item_id": 46772946, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772946", "by": "eleventhborn", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development.", "excerpt": "Coming from a Gsuite + Atlassian + AWS world to an all-inclusive Microsoft world was an experience. It should be in the bucket list for every developer to try once in their life. WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development. I use it at work. It is fine. Windows OS on the other hand is a mess. There are dedicated keyboard shortcut (win + c), keyboard buttons, buttons on deskt", "context": "developer moved from Gsuite/Atlassian/AWS to Microsoft", "use_case": "development environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?"}, {"id": 767943216, "item_id": 47996451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47996451", "by": "k3vinw", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is my favorite and most used feature of Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m most excited for the scheduler and memory footprint improvements. As bad as I hear Windows 11 is, I\u2019ve rarely had issues with it. For the most part it just works and stays out of my way. My only gripes are the occasional forced updates and a rare hard crash that happened once in a span of a year of using it as my daily driver. Well that and I have to be mindful of running too many resource starving processes at t", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"}]}, {"label": "Both worlds", "summary": "It lets one Windows machine cover gaming and Windows-only software alongside Linux tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 777018801, "item_id": 48563675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563675", "by": "nilkn", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds", "excerpt": "I use Windows on my home PC simply because it's such a versatile setup thanks to native GPU support, game support, and WSL2. It feels like I can do almost everything on one machine with little to no compromise. If I didn't care about games I'd probably load Linux onto it, but WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds without needing to do that.", "context": "gamer who also develops", "use_case": "Linux tooling on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude: Elevated errors across many models"}, {"id": 774567232, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL allows you to generally have both of the words.", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 773795584, "item_id": 48362224, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48362224", "by": "darkstarsys", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well.", "excerpt": "I'm on my third Surface Pro (an 11 this time) and basically love it. Tablet form factor, lightweight, multitouch, with a real desktop OS (I mean not ipad's iOS). Decent battery life. True, it's not perfect: slow to wake, the touchpad stops working once in a while & needs to be reset. Missing a GPS chip. But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well. I love the absolutely gorgeous Hi", "context": "Surface Pro user, also daily drives an M1 MacBook Pro", "use_case": "Linux on Surface Pro", "switched_from": "", "story": "MacBook Pro Rival with the Nvidia Powered Surface Laptop Ultra"}]}, {"label": "Isolated environments", "summary": "Separate distros or containers give lightweight, isolated workspaces.", "quotes": [{"id": 798751456, "item_id": 49921966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49921966", "by": "tonymet", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images", "excerpt": "No need for mise just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images . I use alpine because each one is tiny", "context": "", "use_case": "separate dev environments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux"}, {"id": 800509920, "item_id": 50031870, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031870", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "nowadays I use WSL to run immutable containers", "excerpt": "Since nowadays I use WSL to run immutable containers, and not really classical Linux Desktop, it isn't something that bothers me. Agents take more time than building Docker images.", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 756861584, "item_id": 47303849, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303849", "by": "herf", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user", "excerpt": "I wish there were more ways to specify whether the Windows filesystem /mnt/c should be mounted in a WSL2 instance - it is kind of generally on or off. In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user just in case.", "context": "", "use_case": "isolated Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}]}, {"label": "Tight integration", "summary": "Close Windows integration, including VS Code connection, makes setup easy.", "quotes": [{"id": 737767856, "item_id": 46110491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110491", "by": "pak9rabid", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "excerpt": "Yes, a VM with extremely tight integration with the Windows environment to make things that would otherwise require lots of time to setup a breeze. I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "context": "required to use Windows at work", "use_case": "daily dev work on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 800542432, "item_id": 50033902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "by": "Mabusto", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become. One of the things I loved about windows was developing on it, WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it and it\u2019s my own little dev box. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the switch so far, having attempted it a few times in the past and ended up going back to windows (once in 2003, another in 2012). It\u2019s encouraging to see MS continue to ", "context": "Moved to Linux 8 months ago", "use_case": "dev box on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}]}, {"label": "Cross-platform parity", "summary": "Tooling and scripts work the same as on colleagues' Macs, and GPU acceleration works out of the box.", "quotes": [{"id": 797644960, "item_id": 49852810, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852810", "by": "jareds", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "As a blind developer WSL is amazing.", "excerpt": "Don't ruin this for me. As a blind developer WSL is amazing. Windows accessibility is significantly better then Mac in my experience. I use WSL, everyone else uses a Mac, and all the same tooling and scripts work identically.", "context": "blind developer", "use_case": "development environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL as a Blind Spot for Enterprise Endpoint DLP Controls"}, {"id": 748792752, "item_id": 46799547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799547", "by": "pregnenolone", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "something that works out of the box on WSL", "excerpt": "My main machines have been running Linux for years now, but there are still some things that are really bothering me. For one, I think dealing with virtual machines are still somewhat painful on Linux. VM managers continue to be clunky (I believe KDE is working on a new one), and GPU acceleration, let alone partitioning, isn\u2019t really a thing for Windows guests which is something that works out of the box on WSL. Anot", "context": "Linux user for years", "use_case": "VMs with GPU acceleration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}]}, {"label": "Accessibility", "summary": "A blind developer says it pairs Linux tooling with Windows' better accessibility.", "quotes": [{"id": 797644960, "item_id": 49852810, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852810", "by": "jareds", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "As a blind developer WSL is amazing.", "excerpt": "Don't ruin this for me. As a blind developer WSL is amazing. Windows accessibility is significantly better then Mac in my experience. I use WSL, everyone else uses a Mac, and all the same tooling and scripts work identically.", "context": "blind developer", "use_case": "development environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL as a Blind Spot for Enterprise Endpoint DLP Controls"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Host OS frustrations", "summary": "Some commenters dislike Windows itself and recommend dual booting or Hyper-V instead.", "quotes": [{"id": 775077778, "item_id": 48442361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442361", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this.", "excerpt": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this. Microsoft is user hostile and the only thing they care about Windows users is how much ad revenue they can get from shoving AI down their users throats. I recommend doing a dual boot. I personally do a multi drive dual boot, because again, Microsoft is user hostile and will sometimes randomly just blow away the Linux EFI partition if they're both on the same drive. . If", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "I am giving up on VM Gaming"}, {"id": 776601045, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I stay away from crap like WSL and Code.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 760715888, "item_id": 47544743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544743", "by": "smithcoin", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I look back fondly to the time I had using my Dell XPS when WSL first came out, they had me hooked.", "excerpt": "I posted something similar the other day, but at this point it is too little too late. Using windows feels like actively submitting to a hostile user experience. I look back fondly to the time I had using my Dell XPS when WSL first came out, they had me hooked. I've been using MacBook Pro for about a decade now and I can't even fathom going back to windows. Every time I open the start menu I feel personally attacked.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account"}]}, {"label": "Tooling friction", "summary": "Some tools, such as uv with the Windows filesystem, need tuning or work poorly.", "quotes": [{"id": 774645904, "item_id": 48415369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48415369", "by": "desipenguin", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together.", "excerpt": "I did a similar workshop between Feb-April (1 hour zoom call on Wednesday, 3 hour hands-on in person every week) Most of the participants has Windows laptop. (Except one with Mac) We had suggested Linux on WSL2 and VSCode. (`uv` for python package management) But realized that we were spending a LOT of time fighting the tools/combination. WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together. For person with macO", "context": "ran an AI workshop", "use_case": "workshop dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 748805568, "item_id": 46800348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800348", "by": "vanillax", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried the whole WSL2 but lots of apps need so much tuning to work properly", "excerpt": "I made the same switch but all linux always feels slightly jank. I think Macos is the best premium decoupling from Winblows, but that comes with its own ecosystem lock in. I use all three equally daily and it just drives me insane. Lots of games on Windows ONLY work on windows due to anti cheat. Ie BattleField 6.... MacOs Gaming is non existent and any attempt with say wine/parallels or whatever brings you back to wi", "context": "uses Windows, macOS and Linux daily", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}]}, {"label": "Reliability", "summary": "Users report crashes needing a full reboot and silently failing automounts.", "quotes": [{"id": 756806849, "item_id": 47300428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47300428", "by": "behnamoh", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine", "excerpt": "I wish it was a TUI. Windows is a plague I try to stay away from as much as possible, and it already gives me headaches to setup WSL and manage them over ssh. Some things you just can't do w/o remote desktop... And sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine. The only reason I use Windows is because Nvidia drivers are easier to setup. But once I'm inside my Fedora", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 776113456, "item_id": 48507091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48507091", "by": "edallme", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount", "excerpt": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount, e.g., https://github.com/microsoft/wsl/issues/40773", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows file system access", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}]}, {"label": "WSL2 limitations", "summary": "Some find WSL2 worse than WSL1 or VMware, including a terminal that intercepts keys like ^V.", "quotes": [{"id": 737814577, "item_id": 46113411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113411", "by": "Const-me", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find WSL2 pretty much useless.", "excerpt": "I find WSL 1 incredibly useful. C++ and .NET compiler toolchains, ssh and scp clients, and many other command-line Linux tools are working flawlessly for me despite the fake emulated kernel lacking some of the APIs. When I develop anything related to Linux be it embedded or servers, I use WSL1 a lot. I find WSL2 pretty much useless. When I want Linux inside a VM I use VMware which is just better. VMware has tree of s", "context": "develops embedded and server software", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 774517440, "item_id": 48407340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48407340", "by": "anamax", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the shell for WSL2 runs in a window that grabs things, such as ^V.", "excerpt": "I switched from WSL (reconn'd to WSL1) to WSL2 because I thought that WSL1 would be abandoned. However, the shell for WSL2 runs in a window that grabs things, such as ^V. So, ssh from WSL2 (to AWS for example) is awkward. For exampl, Emacs on the AWS box is almost unusable.", "context": "", "use_case": "ssh to AWS from Windows", "switched_from": "WSL1", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}]}, {"label": "Resource use", "summary": "Running WSL with other heavy processes can quickly degrade performance.", "quotes": [{"id": 767943216, "item_id": 47996451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47996451", "by": "k3vinw", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is my favorite and most used feature of Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m most excited for the scheduler and memory footprint improvements. As bad as I hear Windows 11 is, I\u2019ve rarely had issues with it. For the most part it just works and stays out of my way. My only gripes are the occasional forced updates and a rare hard crash that happened once in a span of a year of using it as my daily driver. Well that and I have to be mindful of running too many resource starving processes at t", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"}]}, {"label": "Mount control", "summary": "Mounting the Windows drive inside WSL2 is mostly all-or-nothing.", "quotes": [{"id": 756861584, "item_id": 47303849, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303849", "by": "herf", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user", "excerpt": "I wish there were more ways to specify whether the Windows filesystem /mnt/c should be mounted in a WSL2 instance - it is kind of generally on or off. In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user just in case.", "context": "", "use_case": "isolated Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Mabusto", "context": "Moved to Linux 8 months ago", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "jareds", "context": "blind developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852810", "date": "2026-09-26"}, {"by": "nilkn", "context": "gamer who also develops", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563675", "date": "2026-06-16"}, {"by": "epolanski", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "date": "2026-06-05"}, {"by": "darkstarsys", "context": "Surface Pro user, also daily drives an M1 MacBook Pro", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48362224", "date": "2026-06-01"}, {"by": "artemonster", "context": "uses Linux in a VM at work daily", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150874", "date": "2026-05-15"}, {"by": "llm_nerd", "context": "has done in-depth WSL2 work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303533", "date": "2026-03-08"}, {"by": "pregnenolone", "context": "Linux user for years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799547", "date": "2026-01-28"}, {"by": "eleventhborn", "context": "developer moved from Gsuite/Atlassian/AWS to Microsoft", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772946", "date": "2026-01-26"}, {"by": "pak9rabid", "context": "required to use Windows at work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110491", "date": "2025-12-01"}], "tags": ["for Windows-mandated devs", "for gamers who code", "for blind developers", "for isolated dev setups", "for AI coding agents"], "use_cases": ["linux on windows", "linux dev environment on windows", "linux environment on windows", "development environment", "dev box on windows", "development on windows"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 11, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vmware", "name": "VMware", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "visual-studio-code", "name": "Visual Studio Code", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-terminal", "name": "Windows Terminal", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mise", "name": "mise", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47299505", "title": "WSL Manager", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49998801", "title": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49894351", "title": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403377", "title": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795864", "title": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46039140", "title": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 2}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "warn": 5}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800542432, "item_id": 50033902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033902", "by": "Mabusto", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it", "excerpt": "I moved to Linux 8 months ago because of how crappy windows 11 has become. One of the things I loved about windows was developing on it, WSL2 was great and I loved just having VS Code connect to it and it\u2019s my own little dev box. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the switch so far, having attempted it a few times in the past and ended up going back to windows (once in 2003, another in 2012). It\u2019s encouraging to see MS continue to ", "context": "Moved to Linux 8 months ago", "use_case": "dev box on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 800535408, "item_id": 50033463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033463", "by": "mellosouls", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love WSL", "excerpt": "I love WSL, but giving this a major upgrade label (2 to 3) seems a bit of a stretch, at least from the viewpoint of an average dev user. Perhaps it reflects the amount of work and thought that has gone into it, but I really think the optics are better if the selling points are immediately obvious to the user. Hopefully some light will be shed in further blogs.", "context": "", "use_case": "development on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 800509920, "item_id": 50031870, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031870", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "nowadays I use WSL to run immutable containers", "excerpt": "Since nowadays I use WSL to run immutable containers, and not really classical Linux Desktop, it isn't something that bothers me. Agents take more time than building Docker images.", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL3 Performance is about 5-60% faster than WSL2 depending on the workload"}, {"id": 798751456, "item_id": 49921966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49921966", "by": "tonymet", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images", "excerpt": "No need for mise just run separate wsl \u201cdistros\u201d (VMs ) eg Debian-node , debian-Claude by importing root images . I use alpine because each one is tiny", "context": "", "use_case": "separate dev environments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux"}, {"id": 798451361, "item_id": 49903210, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49903210", "by": "aj2048", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I did enjoy WSL when I used Windows.", "excerpt": "I've wanted a little more isolation than what distrobox can give me for a while now, and I did enjoy WSL when I used Windows. I've also never heard of Frostyard before, and the other repos look pretty interesting as well. Thanks for sharing!", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux"}, {"id": 798424785, "item_id": 49901549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49901549", "by": "rao-v", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use mise inside WSL.", "excerpt": "I use mise inside WSL. It's sort of a terminal into \"workspace\" for me. Should probably spin an orbstsck or whatever to do thisnon my macbook", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: NSL \u2013 WSL for Linux"}, {"id": 797644960, "item_id": 49852810, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852810", "by": "jareds", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "As a blind developer WSL is amazing.", "excerpt": "Don't ruin this for me. As a blind developer WSL is amazing. Windows accessibility is significantly better then Mac in my experience. I use WSL, everyone else uses a Mac, and all the same tooling and scripts work identically.", "context": "blind developer", "use_case": "development environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL as a Blind Spot for Enterprise Endpoint DLP Controls"}, {"id": 781780849, "item_id": 48861303, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48861303", "by": "masfoobar", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "in recent years, I tend to use Emacs via WSL.", "excerpt": "This is what I do when I use Windows. However, in recent years, I tend to use Emacs via WSL. However, I believe Microsoft Intune is used within the Business to control what software can and cannot be installed. So my guess is Windows won't allow you to install via a typical .exe I am not suggesting the above is 100% valid. I just don't want to get a new laptop and find out. Maybe I can still use Emacs via WSL... bypa", "context": "", "use_case": "running Emacs on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Emacs, Everything Looks Like a Service"}, {"id": 777471633, "item_id": 48591977, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591977", "by": "tracker1", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "often joking that WSL was my favorite Linux distro", "excerpt": "I'm not really using anything too exotic... my hardware all works, and my printer has generally been without issue (HP Color Laser on ethernet) regardless of what I use to print from. For me, I switched when the start menu started showing internet ads as part of the results... I ran insiders for years, often joking that WSL was my favorite Linux distro... I love the new MS Terminal, and pretty happy with a lot of thi", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"}, {"id": 777018801, "item_id": 48563675, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563675", "by": "nilkn", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds", "excerpt": "I use Windows on my home PC simply because it's such a versatile setup thanks to native GPU support, game support, and WSL2. It feels like I can do almost everything on one machine with little to no compromise. If I didn't care about games I'd probably load Linux onto it, but WSL2 gets me most of what I want from both worlds without needing to do that.", "context": "gamer who also develops", "use_case": "Linux tooling on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude: Elevated errors across many models"}, {"id": 776601045, "item_id": 48537565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48537565", "by": "tenderfault", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I stay away from crap like WSL and Code.", "excerpt": "I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use H", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything"}, {"id": 776113456, "item_id": 48507091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48507091", "by": "edallme", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount", "excerpt": "I wouldn't try this yet. I ran into problems with silent failing automount, e.g., https://github.com/microsoft/wsl/issues/40773", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows file system access", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 775077778, "item_id": 48442361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442361", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this.", "excerpt": "I would recommend dual booting over doing this. Microsoft is user hostile and the only thing they care about Windows users is how much ad revenue they can get from shoving AI down their users throats. I recommend doing a dual boot. I personally do a multi drive dual boot, because again, Microsoft is user hostile and will sometimes randomly just blow away the Linux EFI partition if they're both on the same drive. . If", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "I am giving up on VM Gaming"}, {"id": 774645904, "item_id": 48415369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48415369", "by": "desipenguin", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together.", "excerpt": "I did a similar workshop between Feb-April (1 hour zoom call on Wednesday, 3 hour hands-on in person every week) Most of the participants has Windows laptop. (Except one with Mac) We had suggested Linux on WSL2 and VSCode. (`uv` for python package management) But realized that we were spending a LOT of time fighting the tools/combination. WSL2 + Windows filesystem + uv did not work well together. For person with macO", "context": "ran an AI workshop", "use_case": "workshop dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 774567232, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL allows you to generally have both of the words.", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 774517440, "item_id": 48407340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48407340", "by": "anamax", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the shell for WSL2 runs in a window that grabs things, such as ^V.", "excerpt": "I switched from WSL (reconn'd to WSL1) to WSL2 because I thought that WSL1 would be abandoned. However, the shell for WSL2 runs in a window that grabs things, such as ^V. So, ssh from WSL2 (to AWS for example) is awkward. For exampl, Emacs on the AWS box is almost unusable.", "context": "", "use_case": "ssh to AWS from Windows", "switched_from": "WSL1", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 773989857, "item_id": 48374366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48374366", "by": "gavinray", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Terminal + WSL2", "excerpt": "People will talk down on this because it's Microsoft, but I use Terminal + WSL2 and have been waiting for Cursor-like functionality to be integrated. I don't want to download more programs and pay more subscriptions, so I'm quite happy to replace Terminal with this.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Intelligent Terminal 0.1"}, {"id": 773795584, "item_id": 48362224, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48362224", "by": "darkstarsys", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well.", "excerpt": "I'm on my third Surface Pro (an 11 this time) and basically love it. Tablet form factor, lightweight, multitouch, with a real desktop OS (I mean not ipad's iOS). Decent battery life. True, it's not perfect: slow to wake, the touchpad stops working once in a while & needs to be reset. Missing a GPS chip. But it runs Adobe, Resolve, Chrome of course, msys2, and Linux (WSL2) quite well. I love the absolutely gorgeous Hi", "context": "Surface Pro user, also daily drives an M1 MacBook Pro", "use_case": "Linux on Surface Pro", "switched_from": "", "story": "MacBook Pro Rival with the Nvidia Powered Surface Laptop Ultra"}, {"id": 770413984, "item_id": 48150874, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150874", "by": "artemonster", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just use WSL2 for rare cases where I need my unix build tools", "excerpt": "this resonates with my experience. once every 3 years I try linux as primary OS for my home PC, I do small stuff with C/python, browse web and play factorio. I use linux in VM on my job daily, so I am not a beginner, but gosh, linux sucks. Everything breaks constantly even when doing NOTHING. Nothing ever works installing first try, you always end up googling stupid error message and stumble upon 250 other idiots tha", "context": "uses Linux in a VM at work daily", "use_case": "unix build tools on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "I love Linux, but I can't quit Windows"}, {"id": 767943216, "item_id": 47996451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47996451", "by": "k3vinw", "date": "2026-05-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is my favorite and most used feature of Windows 11.", "excerpt": "I\u2019m most excited for the scheduler and memory footprint improvements. As bad as I hear Windows 11 is, I\u2019ve rarely had issues with it. For the most part it just works and stays out of my way. My only gripes are the occasional forced updates and a rare hard crash that happened once in a span of a year of using it as my daily driver. Well that and I have to be mindful of running too many resource starving processes at t", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"}, {"id": 767786242, "item_id": 47986640, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986640", "by": "jdw64", "date": "2026-05-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I rejoiced when WSL2 support improved, meaning I no longer had to use a Mac.", "excerpt": "From an open-source perspective, many would say that Linux is the best. I also agree that Linux is the right answer for servers in most cases. However, rather than being a single unified system, there are likely many branches and distributions, starting with Ubuntu. However, from an industrial software perspective, the story changes. In a field intertwined with PLCs, vision equipment, barcode scanners, serial communi", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which is better\u2013macOS/Windows/Linux?"}, {"id": 760715888, "item_id": 47544743, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544743", "by": "smithcoin", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I look back fondly to the time I had using my Dell XPS when WSL first came out, they had me hooked.", "excerpt": "I posted something similar the other day, but at this point it is too little too late. Using windows feels like actively submitting to a hostile user experience. I look back fondly to the time I had using my Dell XPS when WSL first came out, they had me hooked. I've been using MacBook Pro for about a decade now and I can't even fathom going back to windows. Every time I open the start menu I feel personally attacked.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account"}, {"id": 756861584, "item_id": 47303849, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303849", "by": "herf", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user", "excerpt": "I wish there were more ways to specify whether the Windows filesystem /mnt/c should be mounted in a WSL2 instance - it is kind of generally on or off. In cases where I want WSL2 to function as a \"container\" isolated from my desktop, I use a different Windows user just in case.", "context": "", "use_case": "isolated Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 756856528, "item_id": 47303533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303533", "by": "llm_nerd", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've done a lot of in-depth WSL2 work", "excerpt": "I've done a lot of in-depth WSL2 work, so I'm just aware of its particulars, but to cite some documentation- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about \"WSL 2 uses virtualization technology to run a Linux kernel inside of a lightweight utility virtual machine (VM). Linux distributions run as isolated containers inside of the WSL 2 managed VM. Linux distributions running via WSL 2 will share the same network ", "context": "has done in-depth WSL2 work", "use_case": "running Linux distros on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 756827858, "item_id": 47301741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47301741", "by": "llm_nerd", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "100% of what I use Windows for was as a WSL2 foundation", "excerpt": "Neat project. Merging the layers of a docker image and setting that as a WSL filesystem is a nice convenience. I recently realized that 100% of what I use Windows for was as a WSL2 foundation: It had been reduced to being an extremely overbearing and heavyweight host machine for a Linux VM. Nothing in my life was Windows-only anymore, and it was basically just inertia that I even still had it installed. I'd been a \"W", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux VM host", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 756806849, "item_id": 47300428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47300428", "by": "behnamoh", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine", "excerpt": "I wish it was a TUI. Windows is a plague I try to stay away from as much as possible, and it already gives me headaches to setup WSL and manage them over ssh. Some things you just can't do w/o remote desktop... And sometimes WSL crashes and there's literally no way to recover except to restart the whole machine. The only reason I use Windows is because Nvidia drivers are easier to setup. But once I'm inside my Fedora", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL Manager"}, {"id": 748805568, "item_id": 46800348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800348", "by": "vanillax", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried the whole WSL2 but lots of apps need so much tuning to work properly", "excerpt": "I made the same switch but all linux always feels slightly jank. I think Macos is the best premium decoupling from Winblows, but that comes with its own ecosystem lock in. I use all three equally daily and it just drives me insane. Lots of games on Windows ONLY work on windows due to anti cheat. Ie BattleField 6.... MacOs Gaming is non existent and any attempt with say wine/parallels or whatever brings you back to wi", "context": "uses Windows, macOS and Linux daily", "use_case": "Linux dev environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}, {"id": 748792752, "item_id": 46799547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799547", "by": "pregnenolone", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "something that works out of the box on WSL", "excerpt": "My main machines have been running Linux for years now, but there are still some things that are really bothering me. For one, I think dealing with virtual machines are still somewhat painful on Linux. VM managers continue to be clunky (I believe KDE is working on a new one), and GPU acceleration, let alone partitioning, isn\u2019t really a thing for Windows guests which is something that works out of the box on WSL. Anot", "context": "Linux user for years", "use_case": "VMs with GPU acceleration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux"}, {"id": 748367136, "item_id": 46772946, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46772946", "by": "eleventhborn", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development.", "excerpt": "Coming from a Gsuite + Atlassian + AWS world to an all-inclusive Microsoft world was an experience. It should be in the bucket list for every developer to try once in their life. WSL is a far better developer environment in Windows even for dotnet based development. I use it at work. It is fine. Windows OS on the other hand is a mess. There are dedicated keyboard shortcut (win + c), keyboard buttons, buttons on deskt", "context": "developer moved from Gsuite/Atlassian/AWS to Microsoft", "use_case": "development environment on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Windows: What is going on with Windows 11?"}, {"id": 737849153, "item_id": 46115572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115572", "by": "williamDafoe", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "mostly just using the 10 cores at my desk to run minikube and WSL and Windows", "excerpt": "I'm had 15 months of daily usage (8+ hours per day) of an Asus S16 and it's been pretty great. I haven't been lugging it around very much - mostly just using the 10 cores at my desk to run minikube and WSL and Windows and also gaming on it and I upgraded the SSD to 2GB. I was a longtime thinkpad bigot (T41, T42, T60, T430, T460s) but their near-complete shunning of AMD CPUs has been a FAIL. This laptop had some Media", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Quality of recent gens of Dell/Lenovo laptops worse than 10 years ago?"}, {"id": 737814577, "item_id": 46113411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113411", "by": "Const-me", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I find WSL2 pretty much useless.", "excerpt": "I find WSL 1 incredibly useful. C++ and .NET compiler toolchains, ssh and scp clients, and many other command-line Linux tools are working flawlessly for me despite the fake emulated kernel lacking some of the APIs. When I develop anything related to Linux be it embedded or servers, I use WSL1 a lot. I find WSL2 pretty much useless. When I want Linux inside a VM I use VMware which is just better. VMware has tree of s", "context": "develops embedded and server software", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 737767856, "item_id": 46110491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110491", "by": "pak9rabid", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "excerpt": "Yes, a VM with extremely tight integration with the Windows environment to make things that would otherwise require lots of time to setup a breeze. I use it as my daily driver for dev work (at work, since we're required to use Windows :( ) and to be honest it's quite pleasant most of the time.", "context": "required to use Windows at work", "use_case": "daily dev work on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Isn't WSL2 just a VM?"}, {"id": 736702578, "item_id": 46043911, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46043911", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2025-11-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "WSL just makes windows suck less", "excerpt": "> The BSDs and the illumos distributions generally follow an approach to design and development that aligns more closely with the way I think My impression has been that Linux is simply better than the BSDs. Now, BSD users may disagree; my point is primarily that Linux is more flexible overall. Take LFS/BLFS - you basically have extensive documention how to adjust Linux. Where is that available for BSD on an equal ba", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Windows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I (Still) Love Linux ?"}, {"id": 735384275, "item_id": 45961517, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45961517", "by": "ChicagoDave", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Claude for coding (and mostly in WSL).", "excerpt": "Microsoft has gone full-blown evil corporation again. No customer validation on any of the AI cruft. No full OPT OUT. Office products are bastardized with copilot buttons everywhere. I've been a Windows user from day one and I now see a future without it. Satya had been a bright spot in Microsoft, but this blind lust for AI, especially in bed with Altman who is pure con artist, is unforgivable. Some of the investment", "context": "", "use_case": "development environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}]}