Bash on Ubuntu on Windows

15 Aug 2016

So Microsoft added Ubuntu into Windows which is quite nice (besides the rather mouthful name). Let’s dig a little beneath the surface of things.

What it is not?

• It is not a Desktop. Duh. It says “Bash” after all. It didn’t occur to me until I installed it.
• It doesn’t integrate with Git for Windows or SSH agent in Windows
• It doesn’t mean you can open Linux programs outside of Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

Where is it located in Windows?

Here: C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\lxss

For example, you usually /etc directory is mapped here: C:\Users\KahWee\AppData\Local\lxss\rootfs\etc.

I tried to manually edit the files here in Windows and it glitched out. Somehow the file disappeared from Bash on Ubuntu.

How do I get to my Windows drives?

It’s mounted in /mnt. In the case for my F: drive, it’s mounted here /mnt/f. You have access to all your drives.

How do I restart Bash on Ubuntu?

You can restart only when you restart your Windows.

Can I open files with Windows applications?

Yes but it doesn’t really sync properly. I wanted a setup where I use Bash on Ubuntu for command line and the Windows file system to do web development. I couldn’t quite get used to this workflow.

Does Bash on Ubuntu support tabs?

Nope, much to my disappointment. I tend to open a lot of terminal tabs and I really miss that. Managing 10 of these terminal sessions with ALT+Tab isn’t ideal.

Can I install zsh?

Yes! I did that. I’m not sure if it would glitch out.

Verdict

I like the idea but the moments when I lost files scare me a little. Until my confidence regains I will not be using this with serious work too soon. I’ll definitely be trying this again.