Let’s be honest: wsl --install -d Ubuntu is magical. One command, and within minutes, you have a fully functional Linux kernel and a user space running on Windows.
# 1. Create a directory for the distro mkdir C:\WSL\UbuntuJammy wsl --import Ubuntu-Jammy-Custom C:\WSL\UbuntuJammy .\ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-rootfs.tar.gz 3. Launch it as root wsl -d Ubuntu-Jammy-Custom 4. (Optional) Create your non-root user apt update && apt install sudo -y adduser myname usermod -aG sudo myname ubuntu jammy wsl rootfs tar.gz download
So go ahead. Download the rootfs. Import it. Break it. Reset it. Repeat. That’s the Unix way—even on Windows. Let’s be honest: wsl --install -d Ubuntu is magical
But for infrastructure engineers, CI/CD pipeline builders, or anyone who hates "magic" black boxes, this tarball is a treasure. It transforms WSL from a fancy GUI app into a genuine infrastructure-as-code tool. Create a directory for the distro mkdir C:\WSL\UbuntuJammy
But magic hides the details. And sometimes, you don't want magic. Sometimes, you want surgical precision.
Recently, I found myself needing a truly , repeatable , and offline-capable Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) environment for a container-like dev environment on Windows. The Microsoft Store version is great, but it comes with baggage: pre-installed snaps, default users, and a specific filesystem layout.
For direct link (as of this post): https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/wsl/jammy/current/ubuntu-jammy-wsl-amd64-rootfs.tar.gz