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Additional WSL Distributions List

I've been using an additional set of distributions for quite some time to install versions missing from the official manifest, as well as my own custom ones. After the announcement of the release of Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 1, I expanded the list and published it in the WSL configuration repository — wsl-configs.

Distributions list

The unofficial, ready-to-use list of additional WSL distributions consists of:

DistributionArchitecture
NixOS 25.05amd64
Rocky Linux 9.7amd64, arm64
Rocky Linux 10.1amd64, arm64
Ubuntu 25.04amd64, arm64
Ubuntu 25.10amd64, arm64
Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 1amd64, arm64

Info

An updated, additional list of WSL distributions is available in the Distributions list section of the Refference

Local setup

The manifest can be downloaded from the following link: distributions.json.

Then connect it locally using the commands below (run as Administrator):

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" `
  -Name DistributionListUrlAppend `
  -Value "file:///path/to/distributions.json" `
  -Type String -Force

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" ^
/v "DistributionListUrlAppend" ^
/t REG_MULTI_SZ ^
/d "file:///path/to/distributions.json" ^
/f

Info

Change file:///path/to/distributions.json to real file path.

Connecting from repository

To connect the configuration from the repository, use the following commands (run as administrator):

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" `
  -Name DistributionListUrlAppend `
  -Value "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/greengorych/wsl-configs/main/distributions/distributions.json" `
  -Type String -Force

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" ^
/v "DistributionListUrlAppend" ^
/t REG_MULTI_SZ ^
/d "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/greengorych/wsl-configs/main/distributions/distributions.json" ^
/f

Verification

After enabling the list, can check the distributions available for installation using the command:

wsl --list --online

Additional distributions not included in the official manifest should now appear in the output:

NAME                FRIENDLY NAME
NixOS-25.05         NixOS 25.05
RockyLinux-9.7      Rocky Linux 9.7
RockyLinux-10.1     Rocky Linux 10.1
Ubuntu-25.04        Ubuntu 25.04
Ubuntu-25.10        Ubuntu 25.10
Ubuntu-26.04        Ubuntu 26.04 Snapshot 1

Disabling list

To disable the list, use the following commands (run as administrator):

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" `
  -Name "DistributionListUrlAppend" `
  -Force

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" ^
/v "DistributionListUrlAppend" ^
/f