p1-insta4288-static

Windows Command line tools (WSL)

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) runs an Ubuntu Linux guest virtual machine on your Windows host machine. It is a reasonable choice if you are using Windows to complete CS4288.

Install WSL

Follow the Umich EECS 280 WSL Tutorial to install WSL 2.

Make sure to review the WSL Pro-Tips and home directory Pitfalls.

Install CLI tools

You can now use Ubuntu Linux tools, including the apt package manager. Run these commands in an Ubuntu Bash shell:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv python3-wheel python3-setuptools git tree default-jre

GUI app test and troubleshooting

To verify that you can successfully run GUI apps on Ubuntu, install x11-apps and run a small GUI app called xeyes.

$ sudo apt install x11-apps
$ xeyes

You should see a new window open with a pair of eyes that follow your cursor.

If xeyes doesn’t work, you may need to update WSL. In Windows PowerShell, run these commands:

$ wsl --update
$ wsl --shutdown

If xeyes still doesn’t work, make sure there are no DISPLAY environment variables. Close your terminal and reopen it after this command.

$ sed -i 's/^export DISPLAY=.*$//g' ~/.bashrc

If xeyes still doesn’t work, check if you can upgrade Windows to a newer version.

As a last resort, you can try a fresh install. Your version might be different. This will delete everything in your WSL filesystem!!! Back up any important files you have in Ubuntu first.

C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl -l -v
  NAME                   STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu-24.04           Stopped         2
C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --unregister Ubuntu-24.04

After uninstalling Ubuntu, follow the UMich EECS 280 WSL Tutorial again.

Acknowledgments

Original document written by Andrew DeOrio awdeorio@umich.edu.

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. You’re free to copy and share this document, but not to sell it. You may not share source code provided with this document.