How to Set a Default Linux Distribution in WSL

This post is to help guide you on how to set your default Linux Distribution in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). A useful command to know if you are managing multiple WSL Distros.

First up, run the following to list your installed WSL Distributions and versions –

# get installed wsl distros
wsl -l -v

The star at the Distro name indicates the current Default Distro. If we enter WSL by running wsl, we will logon to the Ubuntu-20.04 Distro.

To set the default Linux distro, run wsl -s <wsl-distribution-name>, entering your Distro name as per the name in the previous (wsl -l -v) command.

# set default wsl distribution (as per 'wsl -l' name)
wsl -s <wsl-distribution-name>

When we enter WSL, we can show system information to confirm what distro of Ubuntu we are in by running lsb_release -a

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