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MicrosoftDocs / WSL

Source code behind the Windows Subsystem for Linux documentation.
https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/wsl
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Need clearer installation documentation #1747

Closed PeterSweetAndSour closed 1 year ago

PeterSweetAndSour commented 1 year ago

Documentation Issue

I ran wsl --install as directed and it eventually responds with, "The requested operation is successful. Changes will not be effective until the system is rebooted."

The documentation should state that once this message appears the computer should be rebooted before continuing.

After rebooting, Ubuntu loads as indicated ("The first time you launch a newly installed Linux distribution..."). However, the documentation then says, "All future launches should take less than a second." The documentation does not say how to launch in the future. I see now that Ubuntu has been added to the Start menu whereas I expected to have to open a command prompt and enter 'wsl'.

Link to documentation page

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

Suggested Improvements

  1. Add explicit note to reboot after wsl --install.
  2. Indicate that "Ubuntu" is added to the Start menu. It would be nice if it was added to the Desktop too.
craigloewen-msft commented 1 year ago

Hi thanks for the feedback!

For 1., wsl --install does not always require a reboot. If you already have virtualization enabled it will keep going without a reboot. Our guidance is to follow what the command says. For 2., Ubuntu is installed on your machine like other Microsoft Store apps. Our goal is to keep our docs as short and informative as possible and so since Ubuntu's installation follows just like other Store apps we do not fully explain that it will be added to your start menu, but not to your desktop.

PeterSweetAndSour commented 1 year ago

Craig, thank you for your message with these clarifications. I was not expecting any response so this is a lovely suprise! Peter

------- Original Message ------- On Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 at 4:30 PM, Craig Loewen @.***> wrote:

Hi thanks for the feedback!

For 1., wsl --install does not always require a reboot. If you already have virtualization enabled it will keep going without a reboot. Our guidance is to follow what the command says. For 2., Ubuntu is installed on your machine like other Microsoft Store apps. Our goal is to keep our docs as short and informative as possible and so since Ubuntu's installation follows just like other Store apps we do not fully explain that it will be added to your start menu, but not to your desktop.

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>