WSL2 Launches GUI-Enabled Linux Applications with Hardware Acceleration
At the Build 2020 conference, Microsoft announced improved support for Linux applications with a graphical interface: they can be run on Windows 10, and with hardware acceleration of the GPU.
Windows 10 will have full support for Linux applications
Support for Linux applications in Windows 10 appeared with the first generation of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), but it worked selectively and slowly, and also relied on a third-party solution. WSL2 will fix everything: there will be full-fledged support for applications with a graphical interface (for example, it will be possible to launch two versions of Firefox – for Windows and for Linux) and hardware acceleration of the GPU, and hardware acceleration will appear first of all – in a few months it will be available in Windows 10 Insiders Preview (although the final version is expected only in the fall with the release of the Windows 10 Fall 2020 Update).
Currently, Microsoft is completing work on WSL2, but this component will not be automatically included in Windows 10 – users will need to install it separately through Windows Update.
