# Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Reference

## Documentation

- [WSL Home](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/)
- [What is the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)?](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about)
- [Install WSL](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install)
- [Install Linux on Windows Server](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-on-server)
- [Manual install steps](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual)
- [Best practices for setting up a WSL development environment](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/setup/environment)
- [Comparing WSL 1 and WSL 2](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions)
- [What's new with WSL 2?](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions#whats-new-in-wsl-2)
- [Frequently Asked Questions](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq)
- [Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2025/05/19/the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-is-now-open-source/)

## Related Tools

- [Microsoft PowerToys](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/)
- [Windows Package Manager](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/)
- [Windows Insiders Program](https://insider.windows.com/getting-started)

## Blogs and Community

- [Overview post with a collection of videos and blogs](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/learn-about-windows-console-and-windows-subsystem-for-linux-wsl/)
- [Command-Line blog](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/)
- [Windows Subsystem for Linux Blog](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/wsl/)
- [GitHub issue tracker: WSL](https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues)
- [GitHub issue tracker: WSL documentation](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues)

## Technical Documentation (wsl.dev)

### Development

- [Building and testing WSL](https://wsl.dev/dev-loop/)
- [Debugging WSL](https://wsl.dev/debugging/)

### Components

- [Overview](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/)
- [wsl.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wsl.exe/)
- [wslg.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wslg.exe/)
- [wslconfig.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wslconfig.exe/)
- [wslhost.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wslhost.exe/)
- [wslrelay.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wslrelay.exe/)
- [wslservice.exe](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/wslservice.exe/)

### Internals

- [mini_init](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/mini_init/)
- [init](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/init/)
- [session leader](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/session-leader/)
- [relay](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/relay/)
- [gns](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/gns/)
- [localhost](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/localhost/)
- [plan9](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/plan9/)

### Architecture

- [Boot process](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/boot-process/)
- [Interop](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/interop/)
- [Drvfs & Plan9](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/drvfs/)
- [Systemd](https://wsl.dev/technical-documentation/systemd/)