It’s easy as pulling the image and that’s it. Since I use multiple PHP and Node.js versions due to each project server requirements, I decided to install Docker for Windows to handle these different versions. I have two dozens of projects inside a hard disk, so it should be easy to use PHP as a remote interpreter by pointing out their path inside WSL. I decided to enable WSL 2 as Microsoft instructs, install Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store, and start developing. Let’s investigate what kind of “performance” they’re are pointing out.

Isn’t that a fancy way to tell that WSL 2 FILE SYSTEM IS SLOW? WSL 2 wasn’t supposed to be fast? But one thing I’ve learned in all these years with Microsoft is to NEVER trust their words, whoever is working there at the moment.

WSL 2 seems like a blessing considering Microsoft pointed out massive performance gains with the new version. The idea is simple: bring Linux as a first-class citizen into your Windows OS without the VMs noticeable performance penalties, without saying goodbye to Windows. The folks at Microsoft don’t want you to lay stray from them, and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) was born. Hell, I even mount the physical partition where Ubuntu is installed. In some scenarios where I don’t want to reboot, I just use the binaries for Windows if there are ones available (like PHP or Node.js) or I run a VM with Ubuntu for 20 minute adventure. I’m practically that type of guy, accustomed to booting into Windows or Ubuntu depending on what I need to do. Mix that with people without money to spend on a Mac, nor the time to dive deep into Linux, and Windows becomes like the middle ground. There is some software, like Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Designer or just playing games, that is not available for Linux. Web development on Windows is not something just a couple of people do.

Setting up a linux vm on windows 10