Solved How do I get desktop GUI on WSL2/Ubuntu 22.04?

Windows 11 Home version 22H2
AMD Ryzen 7 benchmarked @ 4.1 GHZ
16 GB ram benchmarked @ peak speed 13738 MB/s

The specs above show that I have plenty of power and memory to support a desktop GUI on WSL2/Ubuntu 22.04.

I have (at best) a beginner knowledge of Linux and want to have a functional desktop GUI to aid me in the learning Linux. I have been researching and attempting to install a desktop GUI for a few weeks without success.

Additionally I have found conflicting information during this process:

• systemd is required for the GUI - systemd is not required for the GUI
• Windows 11 supports systemd - Windows 11 does not support systemd

I have experienced "package not found" errors. I have found some hacks with a great deal of lines of code, and have been unsure of whether or not they were safe to use.

I have attempted to install GNOME, lightdm, and X*** without success.

Please tell me which conflicts are true and whether or not I can have a functional desktop GUI. If it is possible, please provide me with useful links or step-by-step instructions to achieve my goal.

Thanks in advance for helpful feedback.

regards,
caffeine

Honestly, if you want to run and learn linux, I would run Linux in a true VM rather than using WSL for it. Something like VMWare Player, Hyper-V or VirtualBox .

By installing GNOME etc...won't help you learn Linux in any way.

If you want to launch apps with GUI, you can do that straight from the shell/cli, assuming you truly have installed WSL2 and aren't stuck at WSL1. WSL even support 3D acceleration with about 70% speed compared to native Windows performance.

caffeine said:

Windows 11 Home version 22H2
AMD Ryzen 7 benchmarked @ 4.1 GHZ
16 GB ram benchmarked @ peak speed 13738 MB/s

The specs above show that I have plenty of power and memory to support a desktop GUI on WSL2/Ubuntu 22.04.

I have (at best) a beginner knowledge of Linux and want to have a functional desktop GUI to aid me in the learning Linux. I have been researching and attempting to install a desktop GUI for a few weeks without success.

Additionally I have found conflicting information during this process:

• systemd is required for the GUI - systemd is not required for the GUI
• Windows 11 supports systemd - Windows 11 does not support systemd

I have experienced "package not found" errors. I have found some hacks with a great deal of lines of code, and have been unsure of whether or not they were safe to use.

I have attempted to install GNOME, lightdm, and X*** without success.

Please tell me which conflicts are true and whether or not I can have a functional desktop GUI. If it is possible, please provide me with useful links or step-by-step instructions to achieve my goal.

Thanks in advance for helpful feedback.

regards,
caffeine

Click to expand...

The only way to learn Linux is to install something like Arch linux or any debian based distro and do a minimal install from the command line -- you can always add a GUI (or several later). The advantage of this is you can install very efficient systems totally devoid of bloat and you will learn a lot more about OS'es, security, networking etc etc.

Arch linux has a reputation of being difficult to install -- follow these instructions and it's easy. With a VM as well you can just wipe and re-do over and over again if you make mistakes so you won't hose up your system. Also software is free, open source etc. One thing though learn some of the basic commands in nano or vim as these are text based editor unlike WYSISYG type editors like notepad and wordpad.

A little learning here will pay huge dividends in time saving etc. You can practice easily enough by just downloading ANY bootable live distro that has a GUI.These run totally from the media and don't touch your main computer unless you really work hard at wrecking your system.

Here's a good guide on how to install Arch Linux. If you do it on say Virtual box (also free) as a VM then you won't overwrite your running OS.

two methods

here using Virtual Box : A step by step Arch Linux installation guide
and another - not using Virtual box (but you can in any case use it). Note HYPER-V or Vmware also work if you prefer those.


Cheers
jimbo

pparks1: Thanks for the reply.
I have Windows 11 Home.
After reading documentation on your suggested VMs, I learned the following:
HYPER-V is available only on Win 11 pro and enterprise.
VMWare player does not list Windows 11.
VirtualBox free is viable for Win 11 Home. It required installation of Visual C++ redistrbutable (no big deal). I installed VBox 7.0 running Ubuntu-22.04 LTS. (using 4GB ram, 2 processors, and 60 GB storage). It works, and I will remove bloatware and customize it from there as needed.

Jimbo45: Thanks for the reply and excellent links for Arch linux.
I plan to try Arch in Vbox later. Currently I know nothing about networking and want to stick with learning the basics well before moving into more advanced topics. Arch promises to be a good vehicle for that. I currently have about 400GB of free space on C drive, 14 GB of ram, and 14 processors available for future use. That should be plenty.

regards,
caffeine

caffeine said:

VMWare player does not list Windows 11.

Click to expand...

I guarantee you it works on Win11.

Since you are interested in Ubuntu, what I would do is create a bootable Ubuntu usb stick which is a fairly quick thing to do. Then I would boot with it to bring up Ubuntu whenever I wanted to use it, use it in live mode, without installing to your pc, and go from there. The terminal is available there, so you can learn the terminal commands, plus there are many resources available online to supplement that…. , plus, don’t forget the Ubuntu forums.

When I want to check out a new linux distribution that’s what I do, and it just takes a few minutes to create a bootable usb disk and to check it out without installing on my pc.

OAT,
It looks like I used a poor search.

Mackie,
I considered that, but choose to take advantage of my storage capacity, fast and abundant cpu, and fast and abundant ram.

regards,
caffeine

closing note before I mark this thread solved ...
I appreciate the help provided in this thread. I have been out of school for over fifty years, and I have an injury which has left me essentially one handed. It takes me more repetitions to put things to memory coupled with me typing one-handed. That is why I am waiting to install arch linux. I still love learn; so I will definitely pursue arch linux laterr.

Thanks to all,
caffeine

caffeine said:

VirtualBox free is viable for Win 11 Home. It required installation of Visual C++ redistrbutable (no big deal). I installed VBox 7.0 running Ubuntu-22.04 LTS. (using 4GB ram, 2 processors, and 60 GB storage). It works, and I will remove bloatware and customize it from there as needed.

Click to expand...

Yeah, Vbox is a great product. If it wasn't for some docker desktop and WSL stuff, I would have stayed with Vbox, versus Hyper-V.

You probably won't need 4GB of RAM for that Linux instance. Try backing it down to 2GB and see how it goes for you.

Note: There is a way to install Hyper-V under the home editions, and many are doing it fine. But you end up in a non-supported area and if you have problems, it may be hard to get help.