Paths¶

This section provides all WSL-related folders, files and configuration paths in Windows and Linux.

Windows¶

This subsection describes all folders, files and configuration paths used by WSL environment in Windows.

WSL¶

An absolute Windows path to the WSL installation folder.

C:\Program Files\WSL

WSLg distribution¶

An absolute Windows path to the default WSLg diribution location.

C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd

The path to the WSLg system distribution is defined by the systemDistro setting in the .wslconfig configuration file.

Built-in kernel¶

An absolute Windows path to the built-in WSL kernel location

C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\kernel

The path to the built-in kernel is defined by the kernel setting in the .wslconfig configuration file.

Built-in kernel modules¶

An absolute Windows path to the built-in WSL kernel modules location

C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\modules.vhd

The path to the built-in kernel modules is defined by the kernelModules setting in the .wslconfig configuration file.

.wslconfig¶

An absolute Windows path to the global WSL 2 configuration file.

C:\Users\<UserName>\.wslconfig

More information about the configuration is available on the reference .wslconfig page.

.wslgconfig¶

An absolute Windows path to the WSLg configuration file.

C:\Users\<UserName>\.wslgconfig

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\wsl\.wslgconfig

Instance¶

An absolute Windows path to the default instance installation folder.

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\wsl\<Distribution ID>

The path to the instances installation folder is defined by the distributionInstallPath setting in the .wslconfig configuration file.

Crash dumps¶

An absolute Windows path to the default crash dumps folder.

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Temp\wsl-crashes

The path to the crash dumps folder is defined by the crashDumpFolder setting in the .wslconfig configuration file.

cloud-init¶

An absolute Windows path to the cloud-init configuration files folder.

C:\Users\<UserName>\.cloud-init

Ubuntu Pro for WSL¶

An absolute Windows path to the Ubuntu Pro for WSL configuration files and logs folder.

C:\Users\<UserName>\.ubuntupro

swap¶

An absolute Windows path to the default swap file location.

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Temp\<WSL VM ID>\swap.vhdx

WSL VM ID – an unique identifier for each WSL launch.

To get the WSL VM ID, use this command within the instance:

wslinfo --vm-id

Linux¶

This subsection describes all folders and configuration paths used by WSL environment in Linux.

wsl.conf¶

An absolute Linux path to the per-instance configuration file.

/etc/wsl.conf

More information about the configuration is available on the reference wsl.conf page.

wsl-distribution.conf¶

An absolute Linux path to the per-distribution configuration file.

/etc/wsl-distribution.conf

More information about the configuration is available on the reference wsl-distribution.conf page

OOBE script¶

An absolute Linux path to the Out-of-Box Experience script (OOBE script).

/usr/lib/wsl/<oobe-script>

Or

/usr/share/wsl/<oobe-script>

• The name and the path to the OOBE script location is specific to each distribution family and is defined by the command setting in the wsl-distribution.conf configuration file.
• More information about the Out-of-Box Experience script is available on the reference OOBE script page.

Start Menu and Windows Terminal icon¶

An absolute Linux path to the Start Menu and to the Windows Terminal icon.

/usr/lib/wsl/<DistroIcon>.ico

Or

/usr/share/wsl/<DistroIcon>.ico

The name and the path to the icon location is specific to each distribution family and is defined by the icon setting in the wsl-distribution.conf configuration file.

Windows Terminal profile¶

An absolute Linux path to the Windows Terminal profile template.

/usr/share/wsl/terminal-profile.json

Or

/usr/share/wsl/terminal-profile.json

The path to the terminal-profile.json location is specific to each distribution family and is defined by the ProfileTemplate setting in the wsl-distribution.conf configuration file.

cloud-init¶

An absolute Linux path to the cloud-init WSL data-source configuration file.

/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99_wsl.cfg

By default, the cloud-init data source configuration file is present only in Ubuntu family distributions.

Summary table¶