Additional WSL distributions list¶

An unofficial, ready-to-use manifest of additional WSL distributions not included in the official list, and instructions for enabling and configuring it.

Distributions list¶

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

Description¶

Distribution Family Name¶

The name of the distribution family is used to install the distribution of the family specified as default.

Example of installing a distribution using a family name:

wsl --install CentOS

Installs CentOS Stream 10, which is specified as the default for the entire family.

Distribution Name¶

The name of the specific distribution used for installation.

Example of installing a specific distribution:

wsl --install Rocky-Linux-9.7

Install Rocky Linux 9.7.

Distribution Friendly Name¶

Distribution Friendly Name is a user-friendly and convenient name of the distribution.

Architecture¶

Architecture shows the availability of the distribution for the specified processor architecture type: amd64 and arm64. During installation, the distribution corresponding to the processor architecture will be selected.

Default¶

The default distribution for the entire distribution family. Specifies the distribution that will be installed when using the distribution family name in the installation command:

wsl --install <Distribution Family Name>

How to use¶

Local registeration¶

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

Registration 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 registering the list, the distributions available for installation can be checked using the command:

wsl --list --online

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

NAME                FRIENDLY NAME
CentOS-Stream-9     CentOS Stream 9
CentOS-Stream-10    CentOS Stream 10
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

Unregistering¶

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