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Canonical announced Ubuntu Preview for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in May 2022, offering daily builds of Ubuntu’s latest development version through the Microsoft Store. It is a testing-focused Linux distribution—not a more stable edition of WSL—and Canonical warned that it receives less quality assurance and may break. The announcement is historical; current Store availability has not been established.
What Ubuntu Preview for WSL is
WSL is Microsoft’s platform for running Linux distributions on Windows. Ubuntu Preview is one such distribution: Canonical’s daily build of the latest Ubuntu development version, made available to WSL users through the Microsoft Store. It is not an LTS release, and it is not the WSL platform itself. Ubuntu’s WSL installation guide describes Preview as a daily build; BetaNews reported the availability announcement on May 14, 2022.
Canonical’s existing stable Ubuntu WSL environments were described as “a stable Ubuntu development environment, deeply integrated with Windows, for data science, cloud, web and IoT developers,” according to the wording reported by BetaNews. The Preview offering served a different purpose: trying development changes sooner.
Ubuntu Preview versus an LTS release
| What matters | Ubuntu Preview | Ubuntu LTS |
|---|---|---|
| Release track | Daily build of the latest Ubuntu development version, as described in Ubuntu’s guide. | Stable long-term support release track. |
| Change cadence | Development changes arrive through daily builds. | Follows the stable LTS track; it is not the daily development build. |
| Quality and risk | Ubuntu says it receives less QA and may break. | Intended for a more dependable environment than Preview. |
| Best fit | Early adopters who want to try changes and can tolerate bugs. | Work that needs a stable environment, including production use. |
Canonical’s caution, as quoted by BetaNews, was: “It may be unstable and it will have bugs.” Choose Preview for experimentation, not as the default environment for work that depends on reliability. Ubuntu’s guide also cautions that Preview is less tested than stable releases.
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WSL and Ubuntu are separate installations
Installing WSL sets up Microsoft’s Linux-on-Windows platform; it does not automatically install every Linux distribution. You choose and install a distribution, such as Ubuntu. Ubuntu documents both a command-line route and the Microsoft Store route. Its installation tutorial is marked no longer maintained, so its older examples should not be treated as a current list of Store offerings or as proof that Preview is still available.
Install through the command line
- Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run
wsl --installto install WSL, as described in Ubuntu’s guide. - After WSL is installed, use
wsl --list --onlineto view distributions offered by the command-line route. - Install a distribution by its listed name with
wsl --install -d <DistributionName>. Choose the exact name shown in the listing rather than assuming an older example is still offered.
Install through the Microsoft Store
- Install WSL from Microsoft Store if you need the platform app.
- Separately search the Store for the Ubuntu distribution you want and install it. Availability of Ubuntu Preview today is not established by the 2022 announcement or the cited guide.
Ubuntu’s installation guide documents these routes. Its older tutorial distinguishes version-numbered Ubuntu apps, an unversioned LTS app, and Ubuntu Preview, but those examples are not a reliable current Store inventory.
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Ubuntu Preview is not the WSL Store app
Microsoft’s WSL Store app and Canonical’s Ubuntu Preview are different products. Microsoft announced a preview of its WSL app for Windows 11 in October 2021; Microsoft later announced general availability of the WSL app on Windows 10 and 11 on November 22, 2022. Store-based delivery was presented as a way to receive WSL updates faster. Neither announcement makes Ubuntu Preview the WSL platform: Preview is a Linux distribution that runs within WSL. See Microsoft’s general-availability announcement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the Ubuntu guide says about WSL features
Ubuntu’s guide says WSL 2 includes WSLg for running Linux graphical applications, and that systemd is enabled by default in the Ubuntu Preview app. These are details from the guide, separate from the main 2022 availability announcement; they do not establish Preview’s current Store status or current behavior.
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