LxRunOffline is a full-featured utility for managing Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

LXRunOffline provides a uniform way to download various distributions and import them as WSL instances into any directories.

Install LxRunOffline

  • Scoop

    scoop bucket add extras
scoop install lxrunoffline

  • Chocolatey

    choco install lxrunoffline

  • Or download binaries directly from GitHub.

Download an Image

The download URL pattern is

https://lxrunoffline.apphb.com/download/{distro}/{version}

Choose the distribution and version using the LXRunOffline Wiki.

For example:

  • Ubuntu Jellyfish: https://lxrunoffline.apphb.com/download/Ubuntu/jellyfish
  • Fedora 35: https://lxrunoffline.apphb.com/download/Fedora/35

Import the Image

Assuming that

  • $Name is the name you give to the new created WSL instance.
  • $Target is the path to the directory where you want to store the new WSL instance.
  • $RootFsTar is the path to the download image file, usually with extension .tar.gz or .tar.xz.
  • Remember to append the required additional argument listed in the Wiki.

Here is the command to create a new WSL instance from the downloaded instance:

lxrunoffline.exe i -n "$Name" -f "$RootFsTar" -d "$Target" -v 2 [Append additional argument here]

Examples:

  • Ubuntu Jellyfish

    lxrunoffline.exe i -n ubuntu-jellyfish -f ./ubuntu-jellyfish-oci-amd64-root.tar.gz -d D:\WSL\ubuntu-jellyfish -v 2

  • Fedora 35, remember to append -r ..

    lxrunoffline.exe i -n fedora-35 -f ./fedora-35-x86_64.tar.xz -d D:\WSL\ubuntu-jellyfish -v 2 -r .