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Microsoft Windows Linux

Microsoft Previews Linux Containers That Run In Windows (theregister.com) 59

Posted by BeauHD from the natively-supported dept.
Microsoft has released a public preview of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) containers, adding a built-in command-line tool and API for running Linux containers directly inside Windows applications without third-party software. The update also introduces faster file access, improved networking and memory management, plus integration with Defender, Intune, and VS Code. The Register reports: WSL has always been a handy way to run Linux workloads from Windows, and is particularly convenient for Linux developers who must comply with corporate edicts to use a Windows device. The CLI for end-to-end container workflows furthers this. Microsoft stated, "WSL containers make it easier for developers and organizations to build, test, and run containerized workloads while benefiting from the security, manageability, and integration of the Windows platform."

Alternatively, you could run your preferred Linux distribution natively, but that might not be an option, particularly if an organization is keen on the "security, manageability, and integration of the Windows platform." And this is an important point. WSL's existing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) has been updated (in private preview) to be aware of Linux container events, and there are settings in Intune for managing WSL containers. Support is also in a pre-release version of VS Code, where the Docker path in the dev container settings can be changed to wslc.

There is also a new default file system for WSL container that Microsoft claims makes Windows file access twice the speed. So, going from terribly slow to just slow? We'll wait until general availability is reached before passing judgment. There's a new default networking mode to improve compatibility and better memory reclaim techniques. However, none of these tweaks will be enabled by default in WSL. Microsoft wrote, "Since these changes touch mission critical paths like file system access and network, for now they are enabled just in WSL container."

Microsoft Previews Linux Containers That Run In Windows More | Reply

Microsoft Previews Linux Containers That Run In Windows

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  • Why isn't this called (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Linux Subsystem for Windows?

  • Other way around (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:06PM (#66217038)

    I would really prefer the other way around, invoking Windows containers for the few Windows apps that I am stuck running.

  • Ain't nothing like the real thing baby. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hwstar ( 35834 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:09PM (#66217048)

    Running Linux in a Windows container is dumb.

    Run Linux natively or run Windows in a sandboxed Linux container.

    Windows is not to be trusted.

    I sense a disturbance in the Microsoft force.

    Could it be fear of Linux on Microsoft's part?

    Microsoft has a lot to lose if Linux becomes more widespread, but it is loss of control of the user experience that they fear the most.

  • WSL has been available for years. What's new here?

    • You can read all about it here: https://m.slashdot.org/story/455918 [slashdot.org].
    • The product/feature naming schemes can get quite confusing but "WSL Containers" (and this news post) are new ways of scripting (or "automating" or "programmatically") the instantiation and destruction of WSL instances via CLI parameters (binary is "wslc.exe") or API calls.

      Here's the simplest example/use-case (from within a Windows ecosystem): You setup a webhook on your git repo. The webhook is actually a script build 'agent' (unscheduled task) which spins up a Linux container via CLI script, fetches the
  • There are so many problems with Windows 11. It's fat and bloated which matters in an AI-created RAM crisis, has AI-clap, and digging through user interface is a journey back to the 1990s, when it was much better, for which Microsoft sic. solves by removing functionality from the user, because they are confused that is not a closed and limited architecture. Meanwhile, system logs or anything that uses the ill-conceived registry takes a long time to sort. Bluetooth file transfer has been hobbled. Bluetooth he

  • hahaha (Score:2, Interesting)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

    you could run your preferred Linux distribution natively, but that might not be an option, particularly if an organization is keen on the "security, manageability, and integration of the Windows platform."

    Are the security, manageability, and integration in the room with us?

    1) Microsoft just pushed an update which fixes a bunch of Windows problems, but fucks up Office, they obviously did zero integration testing.
    2) This update was mandatory, it could not be declined by any means, even though it was known to fuck things up. So much for manageability.
    3) Don't even fucking get me started on security when Microsoft doesn't even know what the fuck happened at least the last two times there's been a serious securit

  • Docker charges for use in a corp environment for the windows installer version. Let our engineers running the containers learn WSL. It's not all that hard and most of the dev work done in house here is for Linux anyway. With Claude running rampant they can probably figure it out.

  • Why would anybody sane do this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:44PM (#66217120)

    Containers already need almost full system administration, even is many people are in denial about that. Running Linux containers on underperforming, unstable, insecure Windows is about the peak of stupidity.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jetkust ( 596906 )
      It's not that people want to run Linux on Windows. It's more that they want to run Linux while they are already running Windows.

  • WIndows is useless (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:52PM (#66217140) Homepage
    If Microsoft has to keep building Linux functionality onto Windows, just convert Windows into a user land for Linux. There is no reason to use Windows, in the very rare event Wine can't run an application, and there is no superior replacement, such as LibreOffice, throw Windows into a VM, and run it that way. It's astonishing the length Microsoft will go to, to keep a dead horse alive, but now they're just replacing it with car parts, and trying to drive it on the freeway. Windows has failed, the experiment is over, Windows is a joke, and no professional would be caught using it, if they want to be taken seriously.

    • Re:WIndows is useless (Score:4, Interesting)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:57PM (#66217152) Homepage Journal

      Windows has failed, the experiment is over, Windows is a joke, and no professional would be caught using it, if they want to be taken seriously.

      The problem is government. OK, nobody takes government IT seriously and for good reason, but they still need to interface with the government constantly. Since every fucking governmental entity in the USA is based on Windows and IBM, we're all forced to be able to interoperate with those. Microsoft has deliberately made their Office suite non-interoperable with false standards that require epic effort to duplicate to a working extent.

      Local governments use Windows to interoperate with State govs. State govs use Windows to interoperate with the feds. Microsoft is a defense contractor and part of the panopticon (literally every whistleblower has had something to tell us about how our government uses their control over Microsoft to spy on us, they're a known member of PRISM, etc.) so the feds will "never" stop using Windows, and trying to keep the rest of us using it too.

      I put never in quotes because sure it can change... but only way too late.

      • Re:WIndows is useless (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @03:10PM (#66217184) Homepage

        The problem is government. OK, nobody takes government IT seriously and for good reason, but they still need to interface with the government constantly. Since every fucking governmental entity in the USA is based on Windows and IBM, we're all forced to be able to interoperate with those. Microsoft has deliberately made their Office suite non-interoperable with false standards that require epic effort to duplicate to a working extent.

        This is absolutely true, and it drives me nuts! There is no reason to use broken, locked in file formats. Just before xmas, I emailed a government client a ODT file, and holy crap.... that literally triggered a security review meeting. "Why did you do this????" what? I use LibreOffice, that's why, it wasn't an attack, and I can't open MS Office on my computer, even in the browser, it's broken due to privacy extensions.

        I've worked with senior IT in the US and Canadian government, the number of times I've seen them boot up Windows, then remote to a Linux or Unix box, make me laugh. Luckily, with the push from the EU, this might start changing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Agreed to all of that. But there are enough fake professionals around to keep Windows alive and MS getting richer on it, even if Windows is more and more crumpling in reliability, performance and security.

      • Re:WIndows is useless (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @03:12PM (#66217188) Homepage
        There's a known bug where Windows update can corrupt your UEFI. This can happen even if you block UEFI updates from Windows. The fix? You need a chip programmer to write the UEFI back onto it. Along with that bug, it can silently activate BitLocker, and not back the key up, bricking the system. This has happened at our company, multiple times, and do you think Microsoft ever rushed in to help? Not once!

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Nice! That is even worse than what I thought and I try to keep current on MS incapability and non-caring. And yes, I have an idea how much effort such a recovery is.

          I think we really need liability when a vendor pushes out crap like that. Of course, this would kill Microsoft fast and hence it is probably not going to happen soon. In the meantime, the enshittification will continue.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by batkiwi ( 137781 )

          I can't find any reference to this. Not saying it hasn't happened, I just don't see it on the internet. A link would be useful.

          I've had Linux kill a motherboard (would boot, but fans and sensors didn't work so it would overheat and crash pretty quickly) setting up lm_sensors.

    • I have never worked anywhere in my entire career where Windows wasn't the standard, dictated OS. Linux at home, Linux on the server, but there has always been a Windows PC on my work desk. Unfortunately.

      • Same, sadly.

        It's fine for our developers but apparently too damn tricky for mere mortals like myself.

      • I haven't had a Windows computer as a work computer in 11-years, maybe slightly longer. There is no longer a point, they keep building Linux / Unix functionality into Windows, which is a non-verbal omission they know it's over. Imagine if you installed Linux / Unix, and then had to install a Windows VM / Container to get anything done, it's ridiculous, and it's just wasting time, resources and causing IT constant headaches.

        Let's assume my work wanted me to use Windows. Apart from the insane memory requ
        • For those that are allowed Linux, but managed by MS tools. Intune on Linux eats RAM like starved pup. Just to report - this is genuine and compliant box. Luckily I have not seen any real memory leaks past year or two, just unbelievably high usage. While it tries to make Linux feel a bit Windowsy, it is bearable with 16GB.
          • I've managed to get Intune up and running on Ubuntu, Red Hat and Alma Linux, outside of that, it's a mess. I don't remember seeing anything crazy for memory usage, but I don't doubt that was a real issue. They really need to release Intune for Unix and Linux in general, not just focused distributions, why it can't run on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Fedora, or Arch, is beyond me.

        • Imagine if you installed Linux / Unix, and then had to install a Windows VM / Container to get anything done, it's ridiculous, and it's just wasting time, resources and causing IT constant headaches.

          You just described the last decade or so of Apple Mac in business outside Silicon Valley..

      • >"I have never worked anywhere in my entire career where Windows wasn't the standard, dictated OS. Linux at home, Linux on the server, but there has always been a Windows PC on my work desk. Unfortunately."

        Well, where I work, Linux is the standard on all machines- servers (10+) and desktops (270+). Has been for decades. And I am not even counting the switches, routers, door control system, HVAC control, electronic signs, sensors, access points, etc, all of which also run Linux. We do have a few MS-Win

      • When I went to work for post-acquisition Tivoli (IBM) they issued everyone two PCs, for the most part a pair of PPro 180s, one running Windows 2000 and one with OS/2 so that you could use it to run ACME, a screen scraper GUI for RETAIN. You had to keep Windows so that you could run Notes, but if you just used a 3270 emulator and learned to use the application directly (which was often necessary since ACME updates would lag RETAIN) then you didn't need OS/2 any more. So yes I had to have Windows, but then I

  • I could already run Docker Desktop, using WSL for the virtualization layer. What's the advantage of this? Is it only the "without third-party software"?

  • After a decade of FUD, Linux seems to have won

  • Linux containers that run in Linux!

  • Who Is Using This? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @05:45PM (#66217414)

    I'm not bashing anyone nor implying anything. I genuinely want to know the answers and reasons for this.

    First, who is using WSL for more than desktop use? If you're using WSL on the server/backend, what are you doing and why did you not choose native Linux?

    Who is going to use this new container product? What will you run in Linux containers under Windows and why?

    If your corporation mandates the use of Windows, why are you touching Linux? Why not develop for Windows native?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by laktech ( 998064 )

      First, who is using WSL for more than desktop use?

      MSFT engineers that cannot use Linux or Mac.

  • Like hauling your Porsche in a dumptruck (Score:4, Funny)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @06:06PM (#66217448) Journal

    Running Linux in containers under Windows is like hauling your Porsche around in a dumptruck.

  • This sounds truly awful. The thought of integration with Intune and Defender just brings on the nausea in all kinds of unpleasant ways.

    Why *anyone* would be using Windows for container workloads is a bit of a mystery, although I suspect that this is a half-baked precursor to convincing people that utilising AI-orchestrated container ensembles on Windows is a "fun and funky" thing to do. No doubt the MS stans out there will find some cognitively dissonant rationale for why this is cool and rad bro.

    Some Olymp

  • Microsoft never embraced open source software with the idea of giving users a free ride.

  • Why would anyone want to do this? Run an unreliable, bloated, privacy-invadfing mostrosity and then graft a good OS on the side of it? It's like screwing a Ferrari to the side of an old Chevy station wagon.

  • Microsoft would do anything to prevent users run Linux natively and discover Windows isn't really needed.

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