Tool released to run more Linux distros on Windows

Microsoft has unveiled a tool to assist Linux distribution managers.

The tool will help in bringing users’ preferred Linux distros to operate on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). It is actually a compatibility layer for the functioning of Linux Binary executables on Windows 10.

In addition, the tool will also provide a compatible kernel interface proposed by Microsoft, which can then operate a GNU on top of it, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Kali Linux, Ubuntu and open SUSE.

This Windows sub-system for Linux cannot run all kinds of Linux software. There are a number of Linux distros available, most of which are created for some particular niche purpose only. For instance, this kind of sub-system cannot run 32-bit binaries, or those needed for unimplemented kernel services.

The tool doesn’t support a GUI as it is specifically designed to provide alternative command line interfaces to Windows tools. Also, developers can’t share the Linux distributions on the Microsoft store. They can initially use the tool to create its packages that can be added onto a machine operating Windows 10 in developer mode.

The WSL is only accessible on x64 editions of Windows10, and can be run on the advanced version of Windows 10 or later. Earlier, Microsoft decided to open source a project called ‘WSL DistroLauncher Sample’ that includes a reference execution of how Linux OS projects could implement their Linux distro to work inside the WSL component.