Installing Debian Linux on Windows with WSL

This is a brief guide to installing Debian on Windows using WSL.

Install WSL

To install WSL, launch PowerShell with the Run as administrator option and then type:

wsl --install

If you have a version from last year, you should update it and restart it:

wsl --update
wsl --shutdown

Pick your distribution

Next, install your distribution. I recommend doing this through the Microsoft app store. Choose Debian 12 or Ubuntu 24.04.

You should now be able to launch whichever version of Linux you installed through the Start menu.

Install system packages

Start by doing a system update:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Then install the tools we will need using the command line:

sudo apt install binutils-riscv64-linux-gnu build-essential curl gdb-multiarch git icdiff make micro python3 qemu-user-binfmt

If that succeeds then it means your Linux installation is working and up-to-date.

Next steps

From here you should go to the “Setting up CodeGrinder for assignments” link on the CS 2810 page and follow the instructions. From this point forward they are the same for Windows with WSL and MacOS.