Microsoft has formally welcomed Fedora Linux into the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) family, confirming that Fedora 42 is now available for direct installation. This development allows users to run a native Fedora environment within their Windows setup using a simple WSL command. The move follows the official integration of Arch Linux on April 22, signaling a broader trend of Microsoft embracing community-favored distributions.
Users can initiate the Fedora setup by running wsl –-install FedoraLinux-42 from a command line, which fetches and installs the official image. Launching the environment is subsequently done via wsl –d FedoraLinux-42.
The initial setup prompts for a username; the user account created during this process is, by default, configured without a password and is automatically part of the wheel group, providing the necessary permissions to execute administrative commands using sudo.
For those new to this particular Linux flavor, the Fedora Project’s documentation offers comprehensive guides. Jeremy Cline from Microsoft’s Linux Community Engineering stated, “We’re pleased to announce that one of the latest additions to the list of official WSL distros is Fedora Linux!”
A Path Paved by Collaboration and Technical Shifts
This official release leverages WSL’s newer tar-based distribution architecture. This architecture, also adopted by Ubuntu in February 2025, allows distributions to be packaged and installed from tar files, offering more flexibility than relying solely on the Microsoft Store and is particularly beneficial for enterprise scalability and customization with native cloud-init support.
This approach proved instrumental for Fedora; historical attempts to bring Fedora to the Store had reportedly stalled over distribution terms. A Fedora Project change proposal from late 2024, outlined the plan to produce Fedora images for WSL distributed as tarballs.
This aligned with improvements in WSL (version 2.4.4 and later, as noted in the Fedora Project Wiki, which simplified non-Store installations; older versions required more manual steps like wsl --import for tarballs).
The Fedora community actively participated in the lead-up, holding a dedicated test day on February 17. The Fedora Project itself then announced on April 15, that Fedora Linux 42 would include official WSL images.
What Fedora 42 Brings to WSL
Inside the Fedora WSL environment, users will find the familiar dnf package manager for handling Fedora’s RPM-based ecosystem. The Fedora 42 release includes an up-to-date software stack, featuring GCC 15, LLVM 20, Golang 1.24, Ruby 3.4, PHP 8.4, and Python versions from 3.9 up to the 3.14 alpha.
The official Fedora WSL image is derived from Fedora’s cloud and container images but comes with some useful preinstalled developer-focused packages like manual pages, wget, and vim, along with WSL-specific configurations for X11 and Wayland compatibility.
Graphical Linux applications are supported via Flatpak, a popular containerized application format. Users can install Flatpak manually with sudo dnf install flatpak and then follow the Flathub setup instructions to access applications from the main Flatpak repository, such as installing Tally to count Fedora releases, as suggested in the Microsoft announcement.
Graphical Applications and Future Steps
Running GUI applications smoothly relies on the WSLg (Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI) component, which bridges Linux display protocols (X11 and Wayland) with the Windows desktop. WSLg is available for Windows 10 (Build 19044+) and Windows 11.
Achieving optimal performance, especially with hardware acceleration for OpenGL rendering, requires installing appropriate graphics drivers on the Windows host from Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA.
Jeremy Cline stated in the Microsoft announcement that this is “just the beginning for Fedora on WSL,” adding that there is ongoing work to enable graphical applications to take advantage of hardware acceleration, and there are opportunities to improve the flatpak experience.
Early community feedback indicates users are exploring ways to optimize `dnf` performance and Flatpak configurations. The Fedora Project encourages users with questions, ideas, or bug reports to engage via their established channels, including Fedora’s Discourse or Matrix. The successful integration was aided by the efforts of David Duncan, Neal Gompa, and Patrick Lang.
