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WSL Setup Instructions

by Justin Hu, Bwohan Wang

Working with WSL (unsupported, Windows-only)

1) Installing WSL2

Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL, is a compatibility layer that allows Linux to run natively within Windows. To install WSL, follow the instructions below.

  1. Open Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal as administrator.
  2. Within the prompt, type wsl --install.

After the command finishes, you should have a working WSL2 install on your computer.

2) Installing VS Code

If you have not already installed VS Code, you are encouraged to download the software at the following link: VS Code

Once it is installed, install the Remote - WSL extension by either searching in the Extensions tab or using the following link: Remote - WSL

You can access the Extensions tab by clicking on the ‘Extensions’ icon in the navigation bar. While you are free to add other extensions based on your own preferences, make sure you have Remote - WSL installed before continuing.

3) Installing the CS225 Container

Similar to the Dockerfile used for Docker, we provide a WSL2 image that contains a similar environment to the one we use for grading. To install the environment, follow the instructions below.

  1. Download the CS225 Container WSL image.
  2. Create a folder to store your WSL filesystem.
    • This can be in any folder of your choice, such as C:\Users\your-username\wsl\cs225\ or C:\wsl\cs225\.
    • Warning: Do not delete this folder unless you intend on unregistering (uninstalling) the CS225 container. It contains the files required to run the container, as well as your course work.
  3. Open Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal.
  4. Within the prompt, type wsl --import cs225-container path-to-your-wsl-folder/ path-to-wsl-image.tar.

After the command finishes, you should have the CS225 Container on your computer.

4) Using your environment

Using the Remote - WSL extension on VSCode, run the command Remote-WSL: New WSL Window using Distro.... You can do this by either clicking on the bottom left-hand corner widget (the green X-shaped button) or by pressing F1 and typing in the command.

Select the cs225-container distro in the popup.

Your Windows directories will be mounted in /mnt/<drive-letter>/. For example, C:\Users\user\Desktop\cs225\ will become /mnt/c/Users/user/Desktop/cs225/.

You can choose to set up your course work directory either in a mounted directory (e.g., /mnt/c/Users/user/Desktop/cs225/), or natively within WSL (e.g., /home/user/cs225/). The latter will only be accessible within the WSL environment.

To close the environment, you can run wsl --shutdown within Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal. You can then always reopen it by running the Remote-WSL: New WSL Window using Distro... command again.