Windows 10 Subsystem For Linux Strips Beta Label And Lands With Fall Creators Update

Windows Running Linux
Microsoft has been doing a lot for Linux fans lately. Last week, the software giant announced its full support for Open Source and Linux by joining the Cloud Computing Foundation. Microsoft is now back with a new feature coming out of beta that Linux users will be happy to hear.

In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update set to ship this fall, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) will cease to be a beta feature and will become a fully supported. Microsoft notes that early adopters participating in the Windows Insider Program should note that WSL is no longer marked as a beta service in insider build 16251. 

Ubuntu Windows Store

WSL can now be used as a normal developer toolset to allow building, testing, deployment, and management of apps and systems on Windows 10. 

With WSL leaving beta, developers using the feature can file issues on WSL and associated Windows tooling using normal support mechanisms. Devs using the features can also offer feedback via Windows 10 feedback hub app sending that feedback directly to the Windows team. Microsoft says that it will support the WSL infrastructure and tooling while the distro-publishers are responsible for the internals of their distro. Microsoft is also being specific on a few things that it explicitly will not support even though WSL is out of beta.

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Unsupported uses include:

  • Linux distro's running atop WSL are for interactive user scenarios, NOT for running production workloads on Apache/nginx/MySQL/MongoDB/etc.
  • Linux files are NOT accessible from Windows (we're working to improve this scenario over time)
  • NO current plans to support X/GUI apps, desktops, servers, etc. at this time
Microsoft isn't alone in making changes and tweaks to help things run better on Linux. Intel released a critical fix for Skylake and Kaby Lake HyperThreading bug fixes that affected Linux and Windows that was limited in scope.