Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Update WSL home dir snippet
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
The previous recommendation was to expose the Windows home directory
under the WSL directory. I thought this would be a practical approach to
the difference in home directories, but I'm not a WSL user so I can't
verify that idea. Installing `wslu` is also a bit more complicated
nowadays.¹

Instead of a hard recommendation, simply describe the difference in home
directories and let the user decide what to do.

¹ <https://wslutiliti.es/wslu/install.html#ubuntu>
  • Loading branch information
victorlin committed May 29, 2024
1 parent 5282fa3 commit 29f44b9
Showing 1 changed file with 7 additions and 5 deletions.
12 changes: 7 additions & 5 deletions src/snippets/wsl-home-dir.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
.. admonition:: For Windows (WSL) installs
:class: hint

By default, your Windows home directory will not be directly accessible under your WSL home directory. When run in a WSL prompt, the following command fixes that by creating a symlink to it in your WSL home directory. This allows you to use Windows-based text editors and Linux commands all on the same files.
You will have two home directories: one for Windows and one for WSL. You can run commands and edit files in either directory, but note the difference in paths when working on Windows vs. WSL.

.. code-block:: bash
1. Windows home directory

ln -ws "$(wslpath "$(wslvar USERPROFILE)")" ~/windows_home
- Windows path: ``C:\Users\<user>\``
- WSL path: ``/mnt/c/Users/<user>/``

Optionally, you can customize the ``windows_home`` folder name or only link to a specific directory under your windows user (e.g. ``ln -ws "$(wslpath "$(wslvar USERPROFILE)")/Documents" ~/windows_documents``).
2. WSL home directory

If the command does not work, you may have to first run ``sudo apt install wslu``.
- Windows path: ``\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\``
- WSL path: ``/home/<user>/`` or ``~``

0 comments on commit 29f44b9

Please sign in to comment.