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Microsoft has a comprehensive FAQ if you consider using WSL. You also need to be in the 99% of users that have a 64bit Windows installation. It is considered stable for a long time now, is very easy to install and the only major limitations are that you can't edit WSL(Linux) files from Windows programs and that Microsoft is not supporting running Linux services in production environments(see Can I use WSL for production scenarios?). Thus WSL is the best option for most cases.
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With WSL you get 99.9% of the CLI programs/utilities you'd expect to find on a Linux installation and the option to install almost everything available from the repositories (including GUI apps). Options that stand out Windows Subsystem for Linux(WSL) Here's a list of the options available as of 2018-05 with a plenty of updates regarding WSL as of 2022-10 along with a bit of detail regarding each one. Over the course, Microsoft collaborated with Canonical (creators of Ubuntu Linux) to provide them with a native image with all supported tools/binaries. Eventually project Astoria was dropped as it undermined their UWP (Universal Windows Platform) strategy, but some parts were retained and form the basis of bash for Windows.
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After installation it will ask to create a UNIX username and password.Search for "bash" and click on it, it should open a command prompt and ask you if you want to install "Ubuntu on Windows", continue with "y".In the dialog box, check "Windows Subsystem for Linux" and click Ok.Control Panel -> Programs and Features and click "Turn Windows Features on or off" on the top left pane.Navigate to Settings -> Update & Security -> For Developers and select "Developer mode".
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To enable the new feature on a Windows 10 Anniversary Update machine, do the following: This was introduced in Windows 10 with the Anniversary Update (2016) and is not enabled by default.
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This allows you to run Bash shell directly on Windows and is based on Ubuntu. You can now install the Windows Subsystem for Linux which allows you to run native user-mode Linux shell and tools on Windows.
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