mirror of
https://github.com/avinal/avinal.github.io.git
synced 2026-07-04 07:40:09 +05:30
99 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
99 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: Move WSL 2 Safely to another Drive
|
|
date: 2020-12-31 19:07
|
|
tags: [wsl, wsl2]
|
|
category: development
|
|
description: 'It is real pain when you have small SSD and Windows Subsystem for Linux
|
|
(WSL) is growing exponentially in size. There is no easy way to move the
|
|
WSL installation to another drive. Here in this blog I will discuss how
|
|
to tackle this problem with bite size steps.'
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Move WSL 2 Safely to another Drive
|
|
|
|
It is real pain when you have small SSD and Windows Subsystem for Linux
|
|
(WSL) is growing exponentially in size. There is no easy way to move the
|
|
WSL installation to another drive. Here in this blog I will discuss how
|
|
to tackle this problem with bite size steps.
|
|
|
|
1. Open a PowerShell
|
|
<img src="/images/powershell.png" class="align-middle"
|
|
style="width:5.0%" alt="powershell" /> or Command Prompt
|
|
<img src="/images/command-line.png" class="align-middle"
|
|
style="width:5.0%" alt="command-line" /> with *Admin* access. For
|
|
this you can use
|
|
<img src="/images/windows10.png" class="align-middle" style="width:5.0%"
|
|
alt="WinKey" /> + X shortcut and select **Windows
|
|
PowerShell(Admin)**.
|
|
2. Check if the WSL 2 installation you are planning to move is is
|
|
currently running/stopped.
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -l -v
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal>
|
|
NAME STATE VERSION
|
|
* Ubuntu Running 2
|
|
Kali Stopped 2
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
3. If its running then you must stop the particular WSL distribution.
|
|
(*Ubuntu* used as example)
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -t Ubuntu
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
4. Export to some folder. (Here exporting *Ubuntu* as *ubuntu-ex.tar*
|
|
to *Z:wsl2*)
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --export Ubuntu "Z:\\export\\ubuntu-ex.tar"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
5. Unregister previous WSL installation
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --unregister Ubuntu
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
6. Create a new folder and import your WSL installation to that folder.
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> New-Item -Path "Z:\\wsl2" -ItemType Directory
|
|
|
|
Directory: Z:\\
|
|
|
|
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
|
|
---- ------------- ------ ----
|
|
d----- 31-12-2020 21:03 wsl2
|
|
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --import Ubuntu "Z:\\wsl2" "Z:\\export\\ubuntu-ex.tar"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
7. Check after import is complete
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -l -v
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal>
|
|
NAME STATE VERSION
|
|
* Ubuntu Running 2
|
|
Kali Stopped 2
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
8. Mark one of your WSL distribution as *(default)*.
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -s Ubuntu
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
9. After exporting your default user will be set as
|
|
<i style="color:red">root</i> , to change it to your desired
|
|
username, run following command
|
|
|
|
```powershell
|
|
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> ubuntu config --default-user user_name
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
10. Finally run `wsl` and you have successfully moved your WSL 2
|
|
installation to another drive.
|