Microsoft is taking Windows Subsystem for Linux beyond just running Linux distributions, as WSL Containers is now generally available.

You can get the feature by running wsl --update, and once installed, there's a new wslc.exe command-line tool.

Microsoft also includes container.exe as an alias, so you can use more familiar container commands.

"WSL containers CLI: wslc.exe to directly build, run and deploy Linux containers on Windows, or use its built-in alias container.exe to run the same familiar container commands," Microsoft explained.

There's also a WSL Containers API, which allows Windows apps to programmatically launch and interact with Linux containers.

"Access functions to run Linux containers programmatically in your native Windows apps – unlocking scenarios like running local AI workloads or using cloud-based containerized applications locally," Microsoft noted.

The general availability release adds several features that were missing during preview, including restarting containers, copying files in and out, health checks, network connect and disconnect commands, real-time container events, mount support, and configurable storage locations.

Microsoft is also bringing WSL containers to businesses

WSL Containers now integrates with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, so security teams can see process, file, and network activity inside containers and relate it back to the Windows host.

Microsoft Intune can also disable WSL Containers entirely or restrict developers to images from approved container registries.

"With container registry allow lists, administrators can define approved registries and help ensure developers only pull container images from that list, that meet organizational security and compliance requirements," Microsoft noted.

Microsoft is also working with the broader developer ecosystem.

VS Code Dev Containers can use wslc as their default driver, while Aspire and the VS Code Containers extension now support WSL Containers.

wsl compose up is coming next

The most requested missing feature is Docker Compose-style support, and Microsoft says it's already working on it.

"Our aim is for wsl compose up to work with your existing compose.yaml files, unchanged," Microsoft said. "We've started on this and hope to share more soon."

Microsoft is also working on WSL's underlying networking and cross-OS file performance.

The company says WSL Containers can already deliver up to 2x faster performance when accessing Windows files from Linux environments.

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