Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is designed to run on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. Therefore, if your VPS runs Windows 10 or Windows Server 2019, follow the steps below to install WSL:
1. Open PowerShell as Administrator and run this command to enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL):
```
wsl —install
```
If the command doesn’t work, you might need to manually enable “Windows Subsystem for Linux” feature. Use this command:
```
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
```
1. To install a specific Linux distribution, you should go to the Microsoft Store and select the one you prefer (e.g. Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Debian etc.).
If you don’t have access to Microsoft Store, install the Linux distro manually:
- Download a Linux distro package from Microsoft.
- Use PowerShell to navigate (cd command) to the folder you downloaded the Linux distro package.
- Use this command to install it (example for Ubuntu):
```
Add-AppxPackage .\Ubuntu.appx
```
1. After your distro is installed, you should initialize your new distro instance once, during which you’ll set up a new user account (this account doesn’t have to be the same as your Windows username).
1. Reboot your VPS to complete the installation.
Remember that using WSL for a production server is not recommended, it’s mainly used for development purposes. Running WSL means you’re running a translation layer for Linux kernel calls, which has overhead and may not fully support all Linux features.
