The latest articles on DEV Community by Matteo Galdi (@matteog). https://dev.to/matteog https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F127327%2F1d6c6c51-abf4-4601-95da-81a06e58004b.png https://dev.to/matteog en Matteo Galdi Thu, 03 Sep 2020 16:36:47 +0000 https://dev.to/matteog/wsl2-for-web-development-32kh https://dev.to/matteog/wsl2-for-web-development-32kh <p>With the release of build 18361, Windows 10 introduces a new version of his Windows Subsystem Linux. It's amazing. It works very well for me, and that's how I have done.</p> <p>I wouldn't say I like Windows as a development environment. I love Linux, and I love to use the terminal. I've to say that I'm not bound to any particular kernel version or Linux distro. I like fundamental Linux utilities that speed up my routine.</p> <h3> Prerequisites </h3> <ul> <li>Windows 10 build 18361</li> </ul> <h2> Part One: How to install </h2> <p>Open PowerShell as admin and type as follow.<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart </code></pre></div> <p>If you restart your computer, you can install a Linux distro downloading it on the Microsoft Store, but you will use the first version of WSL. Follow me to update.</p> <p>WSL 2 has <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/compare-versions">a lot </a> of improvements compared to its predecessor, to update type as follows.<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart </code></pre></div> <p>Now you have to set WSL 2 as the default version (it will be in the upcoming Windows versions).<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>wsl <span class="nt">--set-default-version</span> 2 </code></pre></div> <p>99% you get this error <code>0x1bc</code> because WSL 2 runs a real Linux kernel and you don't have one, you can install it from <a href="https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel">here</a>.</p> <p>Now repeat the above command to set the default version to WSL2 finally. Restart your computer. <br> Now you can install a Linux distro of your choice (<a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#install-your-linux-distribution-of-choice">here</a> all those available). I chose Ubuntu 20.04 because it has all the tools I need out of the box.<br> Launch the Linux app you've just installed, follow the on-screen instructions, and enjoy your Linux distro running inside Windows. </p> <h2> Part two: Node setup </h2> <p>To set up the Node environment, I highly recommend using nvm for two main reasons:</p> <ol> <li>You can easily switch between Node versions</li> <li>nvm installs Node in your home folder. It would be best if you never used npm with "sudo" (useful resources <a href="https://dev.to/brylie/don-t-use-sudo-with-npm-install-56p9">here</a>)</li> </ol> <p>To install nvm, open your WSL, move to your home directory typing <code>cd</code> and type:<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>curl <span class="nt">-o-</span> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.3/install.sh | bash </code></pre></div> <p>Now relaunch your terminal.</p> <p>Type <code>nvm</code> for a list of all available commands. </p> <p>To install the LTS version of Node (and NPM) type as follow.<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>nvm <span class="nb">install </span>lts </code></pre></div> <p>That's it. Now you can use Node and NPM.<br> </p> <div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight shell"><code>npm i <span class="nt">-g</span> //installs packages globally without <span class="nb">sudo</span> </code></pre></div>