Awesome

Arch on WSL 2

These are the basic instructions to build Arch on WSL 2.

For instructions on bootstrapping WSL 1, please go here.

Installing Arch Linux for WSL2
Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper
Configure the Arch Linux WSL install for systemd
Install and Configure Windows Terminal
Powerline Fonts
Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

Installing Arch Linux for WSL 2 from bootstrap

Install/upgrade to the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. Go here.
Install your favorite available distro from the Windows Store, then launch it from the Start menu.
- Steps 3-8 should be completed on a linux system
Download the Arch Linux bootstrap (latest version at time of writing).

wget https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-2020.07.01-x86_64.tar.gz
Extract the image.

sudo tar -zxvf archlinux-bootstrap-2020.07.01-x86_64.tar.gz
Enter the extraced directory root.x86_64

cd root.x86_64
Uncomment some servers in the pacman mirrorlist.

vim etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Recompress files in root.x86_64 directory.

sudo tar -czvf root.tar.gz *
Move the root.tar.gz file to an accessible Windows directory.

sudo mv root.tar.gz /mnt/c/Users/USERNAME/root.tar.gz
- After this step, you no longer need the temporarily installed linux system
Open a PowerShell prompt as Admin, and issue the following command:

wsl --import Archlinux PATH_WHERE_VHD_SHOULD_BE_CREATED C:\Users\USERNAME\root.tar.gz
Launch Archlinux from WSL.

wsl -d Archlinux

Initialize Arch keyring.

pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinux

Install base.

pacman -Syyu base base-devel git vim wget reflector fish

Enable multilib (if you want).

linenumber=$(grep -nr "\\#\\[multilib\\]" /etc/pacman.conf | gawk '{print $1}' FS=":")
sed -i "${linenumber}s:.*:[multilib]:" /etc/pacman.conf
linenumber=$((linenumber+1))
sed -i "${linenumber}s:.*:Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:" /etc/pacman.conf

Sync package databases.

pacman -Syy
Update mirror list (replace United States with preferred repo mirror country).

reflector --country "United States" --age 12 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Set root user password.

passwd
Create new user.

useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/fish -d /home/username username
Set password on user.

passwd username
Enable wheel group.

sed -i '/%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL/c\%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL' /etc/sudoers

Edit Arch locale and regenerate.

sed -i 's:#en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8:g' /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
echo LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
echo LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.confS

Install Yay AUR Helper and Pacman Wrapper

Create a directory for the yay PKGBUILD files and enter it.

mkdir ~/yay cd ~/yay
Download yay PKGBUILD from AUR.

wget "https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/plain/PKGBUILD?h=yay" --output-document=./PKGBUILD
Run makepkg to build and install yay.

makepkg -si

Alternatively, you could use the instructions from the official Yay Github repo)

Configure the Arch Linux WSL install for systemd

This guid is based off the information found on WSL.dev.

Install daemonize.

yay -S daemonize

Create the wsl.conf file on the system.

vim /etc/wsl.conf

[automount]
enabled = true
options = "metadata,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=22,fmask=11,case=off"
mountFsTab = true
crossDistro = true

[network]
generateHosts = false
generateResolvConf = true

[interop]
enabled = true
appendWindowsPath = true

[user]
default = your_username

Create a startup script daemonize systemd as PID 1.

vim /etc/profile.d/00-wsl2-systemd.sh

SYSTEMD_PID=$(ps -ef | grep '/lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target$' | grep -v unshare | awk '{print $2}')

if [ -z "$SYSTEMD_PID" ]; then
   sudo /usr/bin/daemonize /usr/bin/unshare --fork --pid --mount-proc /lib/    systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.target
   SYSTEMD_PID=$(ps -ef | grep '/lib/systemd/systemd --system-unit=basic.    target$' | grep -v unshare | awk '{print $2}')
fi

if [ -n "$SYSTEMD_PID" ] && [ "$SYSTEMD_PID" != "1" ]; then
    exec sudo /usr/bin/nsenter -t $SYSTEMD_PID -a su - $LOGNAME
fi

Exit out of WSL, and re-enter. It should now be running systemd.
- If you have any issues with the network, manually set a public DNS entry.

Install and Configure Windows Terminal

From the Windows Store, install Windows Terminal.
Copy any .png or .ico that you would like to use as distro icons to the following folder:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState\
Edit the settings.json file for Windows Terminal and add the following line to the list item:

"icon" : "ms-appdata:///roaming/filename.ico",

Powerline Fonts

Download and install fonts for Powerline. Download here.

Launch X11 apps from the shell to Windows display

Download, install and then launch VcXsrv.
- Select display settings - Take default
- Select how to start clients - Take default
- Extra settings - Be sure Disable access control is checked.
- Configuration complete - Click Finish
Create a firewall rule in Windows to allow communication from WSL 2 to host OS.

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "X Server - WSL 2" -Direction Inbound -Program "C:\Program Files\VcXsrv\vcxsrv.exe" -Action Allow
Get the IP of your local computer of the vEthernet (WSL) interface from CMD or PowerShell:

ipconfig
Export output to display using IP address collected in step 3.

For bash and zsh: export DISPLAY=192.168.1.100:0

For fish: set -x DISPLAY 192.168.1.100:0

Note: Add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.config/fish/fish.config and you won't need to type it again on the next WSL launch.
Install an xorg app for testing (We will use the Xorg Calculator).

sudo pacman -S xorg-xcalc
Launch xcalc to test.

xcalc
If VcXsrv is working properly, Xorg Calculator should popup as a new window.