What are the symlinks from /c to /mnt/c for?

[eggbean]

I want to test whether the current working directory is NTFS or in the Linux partition, so using this:

[[ $(pwd -P) = /mnt* ]]

However, this fails because of the symlinks. Should I just remove them? Or is there another way that I can make this test? It has to work quickly as it's for a wrapper script.

[eggbean]

I just realised that I cannot move them as the symlinks are /c to /mnt/c and not the other way around. If there were the other way around I wouldn't have this problem as the -P switch for pwd would ignore the symlinks.

[crramirez]

Hello @eggbean,

Probably you run the docker installer in the past from pengwin-setup. So, let's do a quick check-up. Please run the following commands and send me the answer:

• grep "root" /etc/wsl.conf
• ll /mnt
• df -h

With that information, I can give you the best alternative.

Regards, Carlos

[eggbean]

$ grep "root" /etc/wsl.conf
root=/
$ ll /mnt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 3 root root 21 Feb 16:22 c -> /c
lrwxrwxrwx 1 3 root root 21 Feb 16:22 e -> /e
lrwxrwxrwx 1 3 root root 29 Jun 03:38 g -> /g
drwxr-xr-x 2 - root root 21 Feb 11:16 wsl
$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
none            4.9G  368M  4.5G   8% /wsl
drivers         208G  208G  636M 100% /usr/lib/wsl/drivers
none            4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /usr/lib/wsl/lib
/dev/sdc        251G   12G  227G   5% /
none            4.9G  280K  4.9G   1% /wslg
rootfs          4.9G  1.9M  4.9G   1% /init
none            4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /dev
none            4.9G  4.0K  4.9G   1% /run
none            4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /run/lock
none            4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /run/shm
none            4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /run/user
tmpfs           4.9G     0  4.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none            4.9G   72K  4.9G   1% /wslg/versions.txt
none            4.9G   72K  4.9G   1% /wslg/doc
drvfs           208G  208G  636M 100% /c
drvfs            30G  9.2G   21G  32% /e
/dev/sde        251G  7.6G  231G   4% /wsl/docker-desktop-data/isocache
none            4.9G   12K  4.9G   1% /wsl/docker-desktop/shared-sockets/host-services
/dev/sdd       1007G   60M  956G   1% /wsl/docker-desktop/docker-desktop-proxy
/dev/loop0      330M  330M     0 100% /wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools

I think it's okay though, as this seems to be working fine and should work on all distros and WSL versions, I think?

shopt -s extglob
[[ $(realpath "${*:-.}") == /@(mnt|?)/* ]]

[crramirez]

Hello,

Where the Windows drives are mounted is determined by the root property in wsl.conf:

[automount]
root=/

This is why your drives are mounted in / and your C: drive is on /c. This configuration is made by pengwin-setup, and it is required for mounting volumes from Windows in Docker for Windows via Hyper-V implementation. I see you have docker in WSL2, so this change is unnecessary. You can disable it by changing the root value to /mnt or entirely deleting the root line. The symlinks are created for the scripts that assume that C: drive is permanently mounted in /mnt/c. If you make the change remember to terminate pengwin wsl --terminate wlinux

Hope it helps

[eggbean]

Thank you for this information. I installed Docker Desktop through Pengwin setup (I think). I an unfamiliar with Docker Desktop but I know Docker on Linux. Is it still possible to use Docker Desktop GUI stuff with Docker on WSL/Linux or does it only use the Hyper-V virtualisation? It's confusing. Cheers.

[crramirez]

Docker Desktop have two modes:

• (Legacy) Hyper-V virtualization
• (Current) WSL2 backend

These lines:

/dev/sde        251G  7.6G  231G   4% /wsl/docker-desktop-data/isocache
none            4.9G   12K  4.9G   1% /wsl/docker-desktop/shared-sockets/host-services
/dev/sdd       1007G   60M  956G   1% /wsl/docker-desktop/docker-desktop-proxy
/dev/loop0      330M  330M     0 100% /wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools

Make me think that you are using docker desktop with the WSL2 backend

[eggbean]

Great, thanks.