Windows

Windows Development Environment for Software Engineers¶

How to set up a development environment on Windows 11

Install Windows Terminal¶

Open Microsoft Store and search for Terminal and install it

Install WSL¶

create the file C:\Users\<user>\.wslconfig with the following content:

[wsl2]
memory=2GB
processors=2

Open Powershell in Windows Terminal and run the wsl commands

wsl --install  # Install WSL, a reboot is often required afterwards
wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04  # Install Ubuntu
wsl --setdefault Ubuntu-24.04  # Set Ubuntu as the default shell
wsl -l -v  # Check it's set correctly

Configure Windows Terminal¶

In Windows Terminal press Ctrl+, to open the settings

Set Ubuntu as the default shell in the settings

Configure WSL¶

In WSL create /etc/wsl.conf

[boot]
command = #add a command you want to run at boot

Some VPNs require a different MTU size that can be set in the boot command section

command = ip link set dev eth0 mtu 1280

WSL welcome message¶

Silence the welcome message in WSL

touch ~/.hushlogin

Configure SSH¶

In WSL add a folder in the home directory

mkdir ~/.ssh

add your public and private SSH key files

and set the access control on the files

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Install Keychain SSH Agent¶

In WSL

sudo apt update
sudo apt install keychain

and configure Keychain to start when WSL launches

in ~/.profile add the following line

eval `keychain --eval --agents ssh id_rsa`

Configure bash prompt¶

Find the PS1 section in ~/.bashrc

add the git ps1 settings and the PS1 prompt

GIT_PS1_DESCRIBE_STYLE='contains'
GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS='y'
GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE='y'
GIT_PS1_SHOWSTASHSTATE='y'
GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES='y'
GIT_PS1_SHOWUPSTREAM='auto'

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='\[\e[0;32m\]\u\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[0;36m\]\w\[\e[0m\]$\[\e[0m\] \[\e[0;33m\]$(__git_ps1)\n\[\e[0m\]λ\[\e[0m\] \[\e[0m\]'

Note: the above PS1 setting is a personal preference

Install VSCode¶

Download and install VSCode from code.visualstudio.com

Open VSCode and install the extension Remote - WSL from microsoft

Open the WSL shell and run

cd ~ # go to the home folder
code . # run VSCode

Configure Powershell prompt¶

Powershell