Do I need to reinstall Ubuntu after installing WSL 2?

I installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS from the Microsoft Store on my Windows 10 laptop back when it was version 1909 Build 18363.1016.

Later reading led me to update Windows to version 1909 Build 18363.1049 in order to make use of WSL 2.

This appears to have been successful, but is this sufficient for my previously-installed Ubuntu to "make use" of WSL 2, or do I need to reinstall or do any other type of configuration update?

1 Answer

From WSL 2 Support is coming to Windows 10 Versions 1903 and 1909

Update to WSL 2
To update to WSL 2, you must meet the following criteria:
Running Windows 10, updated to version 1903 or higher, Build 18362 or higher for x64 systems.
Please note if you are on Windows 10 version 1903 or 1909 you will need to ensure that you have the proper backport...

To summarize, if your minor build number is 1049 or higher on Windows builds 18362 or 18363, then you have the backport and the ability to run WSL 2 distros.

Enable the 'Virtual Machine Platform' optional component

Before installing WSL 2, you must enable the "Virtual Machine Platform" optional feature.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart Restart your

machine to complete the WSL install and update to WSL 2.

Set WSL 2 as your default version

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run this command to set WSL 2 as the default version when installing a new Linux distribution:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Set your distribution version to WSL 1 or WSL 2

You can check the WSL version assigned to each of the Linux distributions you have installed by opening the PowerShell command line and entering the command (only available in Windows Build 18362 or higher):

wsl --list --verbose

To set a distribution to be backed by either version of WSL please run:

wsl --set-version <distribution name> <versionNumber>

Make sure to replace with the actual name of your distribution and with the number '1' or '2'. You can change back to WSL 1 at anytime by running the same command as above but replacing the '2' with a '1'.

You might see this message after running that command: WSL 2 requires an update to its kernel component. For information please visit . Please follow the link () and install the MSI from that page on our documentation to install a Linux kernel on your machine for WSL 2 to use. Once you have the kernel installed, please run the command again and it should complete successfully without showing the message.