Windows Setup: Linux via WSL

What You Are Installing

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) runs a genuine Ubuntu Linux system inside Windows. Your Linux shell, your files, your python, and your labs all live inside it. Windows becomes just the window frame; the work happens in Linux.

Step 1: Install WSL with Ubuntu

1. Click the Start menu, type "PowerShell", right-click it, and choose Run as administrator.
2. In the PowerShell window, type:

   wsl --install

3. Reboot when it asks. On the first launch of Ubuntu (it opens by itself, or find "Ubuntu" in the Start menu), pick a username and password. This is your Linux identity; the password is what sudo will ask for.

You should now be looking at a prompt that ends in $. That is bash. You are in Linux.

Step 2: Update and Install the Basics

Ubuntu installs software with the apt package manager. First update the package lists, then install what the lab needs:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install git xxd nano

That is the pattern for anything else you ever need: sudo apt install <name>.

Step 3: Know Where Your Files Are

• Your Linux home directory is where all lab work should live. Type cd to go there and pwd to see it.
• Your Windows files are visible from Linux under /mnt/c/, but keep the lab work on the Linux side; it is faster and simpler.
• In Windows File Explorer, your Linux files appear under the "Linux" entry in the sidebar.

If Anything Goes Wrong

Copy the exact error message and ask Claude (or paste it into claude.ai until you have Claude Code installed). WSL problems are common and almost always quickly solved. Microsoft's own WSL install guide is the reference if you want it.

Back to Lab 0