In our last article we talked about Moving an install WSL Distro from it awful install folder to another drive and path. So let’s make a back up of that distro, and then install it on a different PC. Using our new favorite tool LxRunOffline let’s make back up of a distro on our PC. However, as one starts down the path of using LxRunOffline, there is a slight issue when it comes to WSL2 Distros: lxrunoffline export -n openSUSE-Leap-15-1 -f suse.tar.gz [ERROR] The action/argument “export” doesn’t support WSL2. Ok, not a huge problem… this article just got longer…. LxRunOffline export will work for WSL 1 type Distros… So let’s…

Why start this series with moving Distro’s around and not just about installing? Simple, The distro’s tend to default their install on the C: drive in the login user App Data space (don’t even get me started on over loading c:\users\<YourUserName>). So what’s the problem with c:\users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local?  where do I begin… protected? hidden? Filling up your c: drive… pick one. But the most annoying one when it comes to Windows WSL distros… the install places these in the package folder. So c:\users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\Packages, and it does it in a way that usually involves a GUID like naming… Get the picture? Ok, enough harping on it… Let’s get to moving things about.…

Ok it’s time to start a series on WSL. I make no apologies when I say I’m not huge Linux fan, but I’m also not lacking when it comes to understanding how to utilize this OS in my Microsoft world. First off, I’m not a newbie when it comes to matters of Linux or Unix- I spent a number of years working on HP UX with Window-X/Motif apps I had to support (so to all the Linux Trolls… yeah whatever). So why is a “Microsoft Heavy” a.k.a. Me, ScottGeek bothering with the Linux side? Simple, over the past few years with MS moving to an inclusive approach with it’s Development…