ArchWSL

ArchWSL is a package that lets you run Arch Linux inside Windows using a feature called WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). WSL is a built-in Windows tool that allows Linux programs to run alongside normal Windows applications without needing a separate virtual machine. This project specifically packages Arch Linux, a do-it-yourself Linux distribution popular among more technically-oriented users, to work within that environment.

The requirements are Windows 10 from the Fall Creators Update (version 1709) or later, or Windows 11, with the WSL feature turned on. Installation has three options: download a zip file and run the included executable, install an appx package (the Windows Store format, which requires adding a certificate first), or use Scoop, a command-line package manager for Windows.

One notable feature is that you can install multiple separate Arch Linux instances on the same machine at the same time. You do this by copying the launcher executable and giving each copy a different name. Each renamed copy becomes its own independent WSL instance, letting you maintain several separate Arch environments without them interfering with each other.

The launcher executable that comes with the package accepts commands for common management tasks: running individual Linux commands from Windows without opening a full shell, switching between WSL version 1 and 2, changing which user account opens by default, toggling whether Windows drives and environment paths are visible inside Linux, and creating backup copies of the installation in several formats including compressed archives and virtual disk images.

The README is available in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, German, and French. Full setup documentation, including steps for getting the Arch package manager working, is hosted at a separate documentation site linked from the README.