TERMINAL CASE
By default, WSL2 launches in Windows Terminal. While we don’t make a habit of recommending Microsoft products at LXF, this is one that integrates nicely with installed Linux distros.
If you’re serious about using Linux on a regular basis, launch Windows Terminal via the search bar, then click the arrow next to the new tab icon (+).
From here you can switch between profiles – for example, from PowerShell to Ubuntu. To switch to the Linux command line by default, hit Settings. In the new window, select the dropdown menu in the Default Profile section and change to your chosen distro.
From here you can also change your default terminal application from Let Windows Decide to Windows Terminal. We also recommend enabling Launch On Machine Startup.
If you want to use the Linux command line across multiple distros and/or have a preferred program, WSL2 is compatible with other
terminal utilities, such as
Hyper or ConEmu.
By default, these programs launch cmd.exe but you can configure your profile to
point to %windir%\ system32\wsl.exe instead. The steps to do this differ depending on your terminal program. For instance, on first launch ConEmu displays a fast configuration screen. In the Choose Startup Task field, you only need change {Shells::cmd} to {Shells::wsl}. You can also go to Settings > ‘Tasks to define parameters.
Regardless of the terminal program, you can find help with basic WSL commands, including running specific apps in installed distros, at https://learn.microsoft.com/ en-us/windows/wsl/basiccommands.