Install an Ubuntu Desktop environment on WSL

Info
This guide was adapted from a GitHub Gist by user b23prodtm: Set up a GNOME desktop environment on WSL 2.

Running a desktop environment from WSL is an unusual use-case that is not officially supported.

Requirements

WSL 2
At least Ubuntu 24.04
An X server for Windows, such as VcXsrv
Basic knowledge of how to run GUI apps with WSL 2

Update packages

Ensure your packages are up to date:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Install GNOME

Run the following command:

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop gnome

Edit bashrc

Open up your ~/.bashrc:

nano ~/.bashrc

Append these lines and save the file:

export DISPLAY=$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2}'):0
export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1

(optional) Troubleshooting systemd

If you try to start GNOME now, you may get a lot of errors:

Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(gnome-session-check-accelerated:6054): Gtk-WARNING **: 11:04:51.973: cannot open display: :0
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(gnome-session-check-accelerated:6055): Gtk-WARNING **: 11:04:52.234: cannot open display: :0
gnome-session-binary[6044]: WARNING: software acceleration check failed: Child process exited with code 1
gnome-session-binary[6044]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....

If you do, you should check that systemd is enabled in your WSL instance. The following lines should appear in wsl.conf:

[boot]
systemd=true

Shutdown WSL

Run the following in PowerShell:

wsl --shutdown

Starting GNOME

First, start your X server on Windows. Make sure you let it through your firewall and disable access control.

Then launch Ubuntu on WSL again and start GNOME:

gnome-session

If you don't get any error messages, you should be good. Wait a few seconds for GNOME to start up.

Notes

You can disable the screensaver with gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 0.
You can also list the currently running instances with:
```
wsl --list --verbose
```