Installing WSL - KineticTheory/Linux-HPC-Env GitHub Wiki

• WSL2 should be provided with Windows 11. No need to install it.
• Update with wsl --update
• Install a new distro: wsl -o --all, then wsl install [Distro]

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove    
sudo apt-get install -y net-tools git pkg-config
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential gcc gfortran unzip libtool mesa-common-dev
sudo apt-get install -y keychain autoconf autopoint finger
# newer versions of spack may require these tools to bootstrap itself
sudo apt-get install -y libssl-dev cmake bison libpython3-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev gettext  libgettextpo-dev
# needed for cairo (x11)
sudo apt-get install -y libx11-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev 
sudo apt-get install -y libxcb-xkb-dev libcairo2-dev librsvg2-dev librsvg2-bin
sudo apt-get install -y libjbig-dev libjpeg-dev libjpeg-turbo8-dev libjpeg8-dev liblzma-dev libtiff-dev libtiffxx5 gnutls-dev gnutls-bin
# Convenience tools that KT uses.
sudo apt-get install -y gitk emacs-nox golang-go meld
# Latex and autodoc support
sudo apt install -y graphviz libgd-dev texlive-latex-extra texlive-extra-utils
# spack support
sudo apt-get install -y bzip2 ca-certificates g++ gcc gfortran git gzip lsb-release patch python3 tar unzip xz-utils zstd

• Installation Instructions for WSL 2

General help pages

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config

• Fix proxy issue for Git
  • git config --global url."https://".insteadOf git://

• setup ssh-keys
• First time setup

git clone [email protected]:spack/spack/ && cd spack
source share/spack/setup-env.sh 
spack compiler add
# Tell spack about packages that are already installed.  Creates ~/.spack/packages.yaml
spack external find

• Build normal dev tools

spack install lmod cmake numdiff ack htop gsl random123 openblas eospac lcov mscgen doxygen
spack install openmpi
spack install parmetis caliper libquo

• Error: Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer
  • Fixed by: gpupdate /force
  • While the above has always fixed the problem for me, another user reports that this command can help: Restart-Services vmcompute
• Configure WSL2 properties by creating %USERPROFILE%/.wslconfig:
  • Advanced properties. Maybe try settings for networking and dns?
  • Example:

[wsl2]
Memory = 4GB
Processors = 2

• Firewall blocking dns/networking
  • SEP might be blocking the NAT communication. https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/221329/endpoint-protection-firewall-blocks-netw.html. Diagnose SEP issues by stopping SEP: C:\Program Files\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\14.3.9681.7000.105\Bin64\Smc.exe -stop.
  • WSL2 features (2024) that should help https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/networking
  • I have had success in fixing NAT/firewall issues by using the wsl-vpnkit.
• Free up memory in windows when WSL uses too much:
  • wsl --shutdown

• Install CascadiaCodePL.ttf to Linux
  • Copy CascadiaCodePL.ttf to $HOME/.fonts and then run fc-cache -f -v
  • Use Gnome-Terminal settings to select the new font.
• Powerline prompt
  • Install go: sudo apt install golang-go
  • Install powerline-go: go install github.com/justjanne/powerline-go@latest (might need to set proxy first).
  • Add this to .bashrc

GOPATH=$HOME/go
function _update_ps1() {
    PS1="$($GOPATH/bin/powerline-go -error $?)"
}
if [ "$TERM" != "linux" ] && [ -f "$GOPATH/bin/powerline-go" ]; then
    PROMPT_COMMAND="_update_ps1; $PROMPT_COMMAND"
fi

• Ref: details and github site

• For this to work correctly, you will need to setup Pageant from putty-cac so that your ssh-keys and your PIV certificates are held and served up by pageant.
• You will need a helper tool to can import ssh information from Pageant to WSL2's ssh-agent.
• In your WSL2 session:
  • mkdir $HOME/bin && cd $_ && wget https://github.com/BlackReloaded/wsl2-ssh-pageant/releases/download/v1.3.0/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe && chmod +x *.exe
  • sudo apt-get install socat iproute2
• Instead of running ssh-agent or keychain, add the following script-let to .bash_profile to import your credentials:

export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$HOME/.ssh/agent.sock"
if ! [[ $(ss -a | grep -q "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK") ]]; then
  rm -f "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK"
  if [[ -x "$HOME/bin/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe" ]]; then
    (setsid nohup socat UNIX-LISTEN:"$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,fork" \
            EXEC:"$HOME/bin/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe" >/dev/null 2>&1 &)
  else
    echo >&2 "WARNING: $wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin is not executable or not found."
  fi
fi

• Find the name of the WSL image:

$ wsl --list`
`Ubuntu-24.04`

• Export the image to a backup location:

$ mkdir f:\WSL2-backups
$ wsl --export Ubuntu-24.04 F:\WSL2-backups\Ubuntu-24.04.tar

• Unregister the same distribution to remove it from the C: drive: wsl --unregister Ubuntu-24.04
• Import the distribution from the backup location:

$ mkdir F:\WSL2-images
$ wsl --import Ubuntu-24.04 F:\WSL2-images\Ubuntu-24.04\ F:\WSL2-backups\Ubuntu-24.04.tar

• By default Ubuntu will use root as the default user, to switch back to previous user go to the Ubuntu App Folder run command to set default user

$ cd %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps
$ ubuntu2404.exe config --default-user <username>

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