This repository hosts files necessary to install ubuntu with KDE desktop on WSL2.
Installing a setup like the one described in this guide aims at having the benefits of using Windows and Linux, without the inconvenience of dual booting and without the performance hit suffered by virtualized software.
Linux on WSL has many distributions available. While it may take effort to set up a GUI for some of them, having the options even if it is just access to the terminal, is awesome.
Access to the terminal means you do not need to load an entire desktop environment (DE) just to run a simple command. The ability to launch the terminal in ‘current window’ from file explorer also makes it easy to use the terminal from specified locations. This also means access to windows files from the Linux side: a shared files system allows you to get the best of both sides in your workflow.
With a full-blown DE, you can open and use both Windows and Linux where you can minimize the Linux DE or have each on a separate screen if you have two screens. This is a dream set-up for some.
There is also a shared internet. Thus, if you set up your internet connection for Windows (especially in institutional departments that give assigned IP addresses), your Linux installation uses the same connection.
The installation needs administrator privileges which may not be available for the user in some institutions.
Another annoyance is that there is no hardware accelerated graphics in the Linux DE. This means the graphics are not as smooth but general performance is not affected.
The installation has been subdivided into several steps.
Initial guide was just one script that downloaded and installed everything. However due to a few changes in ubuntu updates, this script will need to be updated.
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To prepare for installation, you need to run a python script in PowerShell as an administrator. To do this, search for PowerShell. Right-click and select run as administrator.
Change directory to the scripts directory and run script 1
Your computer will restart after the script finishes executing.
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run script 2, '2. set-up-ubuntu-kde.py'.
After it completes, you can add the shortcut to your start menu by searching “Ubuntu KDE” and clicking “Add to Start”. This shortcut will allow you to access the newly installed DE. You can also add “Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS” to the start menu to access the terminal directly.
