{"id":6187,"date":"2016-08-05T16:12:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T15:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/?p=6187"},"modified":"2016-08-05T16:53:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T15:53:51","slug":"how-to-enable-the-linux-bash-subsystem-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/?p=6187","title":{"rendered":"How to enable the Linux \/ Bash subsystem in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many people, I was excited to learn about the new Linux subsystem in Windows announced by Microsoft earlier this year (See Bash on Windows: The scripting game just changed<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Along with others, I’ve been playing with it on the Windows Insider builds but now that the Windows Anniversary Update has been released, everyone can get in on the action.<\/p>\n

Activating the Linux Subsystem in Windows<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you’ve updated to the Anniversary Update of Windows, here’s what you need to do.<\/p>\n

Open settings<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"windows_settings\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In\u00a0settings<\/strong>, click on Update and Security<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"windows_update\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In\u00a0Update and Security,\u00a0<\/strong>click on For developers<\/strong> in the left hand pane. Then click on\u00a0Developer mode<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"windows_for_developers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Take note of the\u00a0Use developer features<\/strong> warning and click\u00a0Yes\u00a0<\/strong>if you are happy. Developer mode gives you greater power, and with great power comes great responsibility<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"windows_develper_warning\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reboot the machine (may not be necessary here but it’s what I did).<\/p>\n

Search for\u00a0Features\u00a0<\/strong>and click on\u00a0Turn Windows features on or off<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"windows_features\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tick\u00a0Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta)\u00a0<\/strong>and click OK<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

When it’s finished churning, reboot the machine.<\/p>\n

Launch cmd.exe<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Type\u00a0bash<\/strong>, press enter and follow the instructions<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

The linux subsystem will be downloaded from the windows store and you’ll be asked to create a Unix username and password.<\/p>\n

Try something linux-y<\/strong><\/p>\n

The short version of what’s available is ‘Every userland tool that’s available for Ubuntu’<\/strong> with the caveat that anything requiring a GUI won’t work.<\/p>\n

This isn’t emulation, it isn’t cygwin, it’s something else entirely<\/a>. It’s very cool!<\/p>\n

The gcc compiler isn’t installed by default so let’s fix that:<\/p>\n

sudo apt-get install gcc\r\n<\/pre>\n
Using your favourite terminal based editor (I used vi), enter the following ‘Hello World’ code in C and call it hello.c.<\/p>\n
\/* Hello World program *\/\r\n\r\n#include\r\n\r\nint main()\r\n{\r\n    printf(\"Hello World from C\\n\");\r\n    \r\n    return(0);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n
Compile using gcc<\/p>\n
gcc hello.c -o hello\r\n<\/pre>\n
Run the executable<\/p>\n
.\/hello\r\nHello World from C\r\n<\/pre>\n
Now, transfer the executable to a modern Ubuntu machine (I just emailed it to myself) and run it there.<\/p>\n
That’s right – you just wrote and compiled a C-program on a Windows machine and ran it on a Linux machine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Now install cowsay — because you can:<\/p>\n
sudo apt-get install cowsay\r\ncowsay 'Hello from Windows'\r\n ____________________\r\n< Hello from Windows >\r\n --------------------\r\n        \\   ^__^\r\n         \\  (oo)\\_______\r\n            (__)\\       )\\\/\\\r\n                ||----w |\r\n                ||     ||\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
Update 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n
I was challenged by\u00a0@linuxlizard<\/a>\u00a0to do a follow up tutorial that showed how to install the scientific Python stack — Numpy, SciPy etc.<\/p>\n
\n
@walkingrandomly<\/a> Follow up with HOWTO on installing NumPy, SiPy, Pillow, etc. :-)<\/p>\n
\u2014 David Poole (@linuxlizard) August 5, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n