Before proceeding with the installation, we need to make sure that no other WSL2 distribution (aka: distro) is running. This is important because this installation will fail if required ports are already in use by another distro.
Open Windows Terminal.
List all installed distros:
wsl -l -vIf there is no other distro installed, you will see the below output (an empty list):
NAME STATE VERSIONIn this case, you can jump to the installation section.
If you have other distros installed, the output could look similar to the below:
NAME STATE VERSION
AlmaLinux-8 Stopped 2
* AlmaLinux-9 Running 2Make sure that the STATE column reads Stopped for all distros.
If any of them reads Running, you must stop if first by executing wsl -t <distro-name> after replacing <distro-name> with the name of the distro you want to stop.
Once you have stopped all distros, you can continue to the installation section.
List the available Linux distros by executing:
wsl --list --onlineDepending on the list of distros available at the moment you run the command, the output should look similar to the below:
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.
NAME FRIENDLY NAME
AlmaLinux-8 AlmaLinux OS 8
AlmaLinux-9 AlmaLinux OS 9
AlmaLinux-Kitten-10 AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10
AlmaLinux-10 AlmaLinux OS 10
Debian Debian GNU/Linux
FedoraLinux-42 Fedora Linux 42
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP5 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP5
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6
Ubuntu Ubuntu
Ubuntu-24.04 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
archlinux Arch Linux
kali-linux Kali Linux Rolling
openSUSE-Tumbleweed openSUSE Tumbleweed
openSUSE-Leap-15.6 openSUSE Leap 15.6
Ubuntu-18.04 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
OracleLinux_7_9 Oracle Linux 7.9
OracleLinux_8_7 Oracle Linux 8.7
OracleLinux_9_1 Oracle Linux 9.1Note the two columns: NAME and FRIENDLY NAME.
To install a specific distro, use the value from the NAME column, in this case: AlmaLinux-10.
If you try to install a distro that is already installed, the installation process will fail:
Downloading: AlmaLinux OS 10
Installing: AlmaLinux OS 10
A distribution with the supplied name already exists. Use --name to choose a different name.
Error code: Wsl/InstallDistro/Service/RegisterDistro/ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTSInstall the AlmaLinux 10 distro by executing the below command:
wsl --install -d AlmaLinux-10You should see the download progress—once finished, the output should look like this:
Downloading: AlmaLinux OS 10
Installing: AlmaLinux OS 10
Distribution successfully installed. It can be launched via 'wsl.exe -d AlmaLinux-10'
Launching AlmaLinux-10...
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username:As per the last line, the installation process now prompts you to enter a username.
This is the username you will use inside AlmaLinux 10, and it can be any alphanumeric string (for example dotkernel):
Next, you are prompted to change the password associated with your chosen username (you will not see what you are typing, that's a security measure in Linux regarding passwords):
Enter new UNIX username: dotkernel.
New password:Depending on the strength of your password, you might get a BAD PASSWORD: <some-reason> message (if you want to choose a different password, hit Enter and you are taken back to the previous step—else, continue with retyping your password):
Next, you are asked to retype your password:
Retype new password:Finally, you should see the following message:
passwd: password updated successfully
[<your-alma-linux-10-username>@<your-device-name> <your-windows-username>]$