Users can now install WSL without having to endure huge, and potentially disruptive feature updates.

Microsoft has just made the experience of installing, managing, and updating Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) easier and less clunky.

WSL is the latest app to be moved to the Windows Store, following a plethora of Windows built-in apps. The move allows users to take advantage of WSL without having to endure huge, and potentially unwanted feature updates.

In a blog post, the company said the new WSL app allows users to "get the latest WSL updates and features faster, and without needing to modify your Windows version" and added that major features updates to WSL such as "GUI app support, GPU compute, and Linux file system drive mounting" could be coming through the Microsoft Store.

Currently, the WSL preview from the windows store is only available for Windows 11 users. However, Microsoft hasn’t made it clear whether WSL will eventually be available to Windows 10 users through the Microsoft store as well.

 
After spending decades trashing Linux as a “cancer”, and suing in court for violating “unnamed patents”, lately Microsoft has been showing a lot of “love” to Linux.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux is one of the ways Microsoft allows people who want to take advantage of Linux’s best features without having to install an entire distro. WSL allows enthusiasts and developers to install a Linux distribution of their choice on top of Windows and run native Linux apps.

When it launched on Windows 10, WSL was clunky to install and was barebones in features. The user had to enable WSL and install through Windows Updates which had the potential to be disruptive, especially for developers.

Despite the launch of WSL, many of the flashy features Microsoft announced along with the launch of Windows 11, such as the ability to run Android apps, aren’t available yet – at least not officially anyway.