Windows with Ubuntu in WSL2

Introduction

Ubuntu 20.04 installed in WSL2 on either Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Terraform installed for use in Bash, plus a few other binaries. Uses Windows Terminal.

Install

1. Windows Terminal

   Newer versions of Windows 11 have Windows Terminal pre-installed and set as the default terminal application.

   If not then install Windows Terminal. Refer to the Windows Terminal documentation if you wish to customise.

2. Install Windows Subsystem for Linux

   Run PowerShell as Administrator.

   wsl --install
   

   The command will configure the subsystem and initialise the default Ubuntu distro. You will be guided to set up a local admin ID and password.

   You may wish to set the default profile in Windows Terminal to Ubuntu.

3. Install binaries

   sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre ca-certificates curl apt-transport-https lsb-release gnupg gpg wget -y
   wget -qO- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
   wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg > /dev/null
   sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=`dpkg --print-architecture` signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com `lsb_release -cs` main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list'
   sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=`dpkg --print-architecture` signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli/ `lsb_release -cs` main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azure-cli.list'
   sudo chmod go+r /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg
   sudo apt update && sudo apt install git terraform azure-cli jq -y
   

   These commands will install the terraform open source binary, the Azure CLI plus jq and git.

   If you want to customise the colours to match the jsonc output of the Azure CLI then add the following line into your ~/.bashrc file:

   export JQ_COLORS="1;90:1;34:0;34:1;36:0;33:1;37:1;37"
   

4. Visual Studio Code

   Download Visual Studio Code and install.

   Or install using winget with winget install vscode.

5. Install the Remote Development extension pack

   The Remote Development extension pack allows you to open any folder in a container, on a remote machine, or in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and take advantage of VS Code’s full feature set.

6. Install the Hashicorp Terraform extension

   The HashiCorp Terraform extension for Visual Studio Code (VS Code) with the Terraform Language Server adds editing features for Terraform files such as syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code navigation, code formatting, module explorer, etc.

Validation

As a test, open up your terminal and check the following commands:

1. Show the Azure CLI version

   az version
   

2. Show the Terraform version

   terraform version
   

3. Make a directory and move into it

   mkdir test
   cd test
   

4. Open vscode from the command line

   code .
   

   This should open vscode with the current working directory in the Explorer pane.

   If you are using Ubuntu on WSL2 then you should see the Remote Development icon in the left hand side of the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

5. Open the integrated terminal

   Click on View > Terminal in the menu, or use the keyboard shortcuts, Win+'.

   Your selected shell should open up in the integrated terminal pane.

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