How to run multiple instances of the same distro in WSL?

Microsoft WSL is a very good technology when we want to run Linux applications on our Windows computer. When we install a distro from the Microsoft Store we can only install one instance of it. But with some work we can have multiple instances of the same distro.

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Step 1: export the distro from WSL

The following command will create a tar archive from the Debian WSL distro to the D:\home_lab\wsl_backups directory.

wsl --export Debian D:\home_lab\wsl_backups\Debian_export.tar

Step 2: import the exported distro

With the –import option we can import back the exported archive file. The new instance will be called Debian_imported and the system files will be in the D:\home_lab\wsl_backups directory. The archive that we want to import is the D:\home_lab\wsl_backups\Debian_export.tar.

wsl --import Debian_imported D:\home_lab\wsl_backups\ D:\home_lab\wsl_backups\Debian_export.tar

Now we have an additional Debian instance in our WSL. The exported tar file can be moved to an external disk as a backup as well.

Final thoughts

We can list our distros with the –list command (or -l short) followed by the –verbose option (or -v short).

wsl --list --verbose

When we don’t need a WSL distro instance anymore, we can delete them with the –unregister command.

wsl --unregister Debian_imported

For more information consult with the Microsoft documentation about the WSL technology:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

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