Unfortunately, that means that you’ll need to be part of the Windows 10 Insider program instead, running version preview build 21364 or higher. But the company clarified Tuesday that the feature is not being generally released in 21H1 and that it would have more information about general availability at a later date. This week, Microsoft seemed to indicate that these features would be released in Windows 10 21H1, the latest Windows feature update which has just begun rolling out. That allows you to use a greater number of apps than any one OS offers, since you can use apps coded for Linux or Windows.

That means that if you have a favorite Linux GUI app that’s written strictly for Linux, you can probably run it as part of Windows-i.e., launch the app from the Start menu, pin it to the taskbar, et cetera. Essentially, Linux within Windows isn’t restricted to text any more. But in the upgrade to WSL2 in May 2020, Microsoft opened the door to more visually friendly GUI apps and even the ability to perform GUI computations. When the Windows Subsystem for Linux debuted in Windows 10 in 2016 it had somewhat limited, text-based capabilities.

How to install linux on windows