Microsoft is expanding the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) with native support for Linux containers. WSL Containers is now generally available. With this move, Microsoft aims to further develop Linux on Windows from a tool for developers into a platform capable of running AI and cloud-native workloads.
Developers could already use WSL to run a Linux environment alongside Windows. However, containers typically required additional software and a separate container runtime. With WSL Containers, Microsoft is bringing that functionality closer to WSL itself.
At the heart of this is wslc.exe, a command-line interface that allows Linux containers to be built, started, and managed from within Windows. Microsoft also provides container.exe as an alias for the same functionality. In addition, an API enables Windows applications to call Linux containers directly.
The latter is particularly useful for applications that use Linux components. Microsoft cites local AI workloads, among other things, as an example. A Windows application can thus execute functionality in a Linux container without the user having to manage a separate Linux system.
From development environment to execution platform
This gives the introduction a broader significance than simply adding container support. Microsoft says it envisions WSL eventually evolving from a development environment into an execution platform for AI and cloud-native workloads.
This aligns with a trend in which more and more AI and cloud infrastructure software is initially developed for Linux. Instead of directing developers to a separate Linux machine or virtual environment, Microsoft is working to host those workloads within Windows.
With the general availability release, WSL Containers has therefore also gained features necessary for more robust container management. Among other things, containers can now be restarted, files can be copied, and health checks and more extensive networking features have been added. It is also possible to specify where container data is stored.
Microsoft also claims that accessing Windows files from Linux can be up to twice as fast in certain situations. This file access has traditionally been a bottleneck when Windows and Linux environments are used side by side.
Management for businesses
At the same time, Microsoft is working to make WSL Containers suitable for use within organizations. Integrations with Intune and Defender for Endpoint are therefore being extended to containers.
Through Intune, administrators can disable WSL Containers or specify which container registries developers can retrieve images from. This is intended to prevent arbitrary container images from being used within an enterprise environment.
Meanwhile, Defender for Endpoint can monitor process, file, and network activity within WSL containers and link it to the Windows host. As a result, security teams do not need to treat the Linux container as a completely separate environment.
Development tools are also beginning to support WSL Containers. VS Code Dev Containers can use wslc as a driver, while Aspire and the VS Code Containers extension, among others, have added support.
Compose is in the works
One key feature is still missing for now. Microsoft is working on Compose support, which lets you launch multiple containers from a single configuration file. The ultimate goal is to be able to use existing compose.yaml files without any modifications.
Microsoft is also continuing to work on networking capabilities and file performance between Windows and Linux. This makes clear where the company wants to take WSL: Linux within Windows should no longer be just a convenient environment for developers, but an integrated part of the platform where containers and AI workloads can also run.