Windows

Windows doesn't support bash out of the box. Most developers on Windows choose to install WSL (Windows Subsystem Linux) and use this for all of their development work. It is a great way to ensure that your development environment remains consistent with most documentation, your server environment where your apps are deployed, and other developers on the team.

Prepare your machine

Open powershell as admin and run

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

and

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

Installing WSL

In your powershell, run

wsl --install

This may take some time, but you should see a success message after a few minutes.

INFO

If the above command doesn't work, you might need to specify the WSL distribution as Ubuntu:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu

Launching WSL

You will need to restart your computer. When it restarts, search for "Ubuntu" in your search bar and launch the Ubuntu app. If all has gone well, it will install Ubuntu and ask you to create a new user.

Problems with virtualisation

If your installation tells you that virtualisation is not enabled, you can try following Microsoft's help page to enable virtualisation.

If it still doesn't work, you can downgrade to WSL by running

wsl --set-default-version 1

in a powershell window. Now, try opening the Ubuntu app again.

Configuring WSL

If this is your first time using WSL, you will be asked to choose a username and password.

Once you have created your user account, type

echo "Hello, bash!"

and hit enter. You should see your message printed in the terminal.

Updating WSL

Run

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

to update your Ubuntu libraries.

Run

sudo apt-get install wget ca-certificates

to install a couple of useful utilities.

With these steps completed, you have WSL set up and ready to use.