How to install WSL Containers on Windows 11 (preview)

WSL Containers is installed through the WSL pre-release update, not a separate installer.
The update enables a new wslc command-line tool for running Linux containers.
Installation requires running wsl --update --pre-release and restarting WSL.
Users can verify the setup using wsl --version and wslc --help.
The feature is currently in preview, so behavior and commands may evolve.

On Windows 11, WSL Containers is now available in public preview, giving developers a built-in way to create, run, and manage Linux containers directly from the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Instead of installing a separate container runtime just to get started, the latest WSL preview includes native container support through a new command-line tool called wslc.

What is WSL Containers?

If you’ve used WSL before, you already know it lets Windows 11 (and 10) run a Linux environment without a traditional virtual machine. WSL Containers builds on that foundation by adding native support for Linux containers.

A container is a lightweight, isolated environment that packages an application together with everything it needs to run. Unlike a virtual machine, it doesn’t include an entire operating system, making it faster to start and more efficient. Developers commonly use containers to build and test applications that need to run consistently across different computers, servers, and cloud environments.

Until now, developers typically relied on tools such as Docker Desktop or Podman Desktop to manage Linux containers. Those applications often use WSL behind the scenes. With WSL Containers, Microsoft is adding its own built-in Linux container platform directly to WSL.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to install the WSL Containers preview on Windows 11.

Install WSL Containers on Windows 11

To install the WSL Containers preview on Windows 11, follow these steps:

Open Start on Windows 11.
Search for Command Prompt (or Terminal), right-click the top result, and select Run as administrator.
Type this command to install the latest pre-release of WSL and press Enter:
```
wsl --update --pre-release
```
Type this command to restart WSL and press Enter:
```
wsl --shutdown
```
Type this command to confirm the WSL version is 2.9.3.0 and press Enter:
```
wsl --version
```
Type this command to confirm the new container CLI is available, and press Enter:
```
wslc --help
```

After installing the preview, you can start using the new wslc command to create and manage Linux containers.

Microsoft provides several examples in its documentation, including running Linux desktop environments and GPU-enabled AI workloads. As the preview evolves, more sample containers and tutorials are expected to become available.

What else is included?

Installing the WSL Containers preview also brings several improvements to the underlying WSL platform. Microsoft has introduced virtiofs as the default file system for containers, which the company says delivers up to twice the Windows file access performance compared to previous implementations.

The preview also includes a new experimental networking mode called consomme. Instead of using a separate networking stack, it routes Linux network traffic through Windows, allowing Linux applications to leverage the same VPN connections, proxy settings, and enterprise security policies configured on the host.

The company has also improved how WSL reclaims memory, allowing unused memory inside the Linux virtual machine to be returned to Windows more gradually after workloads finish.

Currently, these platform improvements are limited to WSL Containers because they affect WSL’s core components. Microsoft says it plans to bring them to the broader WSL platform in future releases after additional testing.

Troubleshooting

If the wslc command isn’t recognized after updating:

Confirm the WSL update completed successfully.
Restart WSL with the wsl --shutdown command.
Close and reopen Windows Terminal.
Verify you’re running the latest pre-release version by checking wsl --version.
Restart the computer and run wslc command one more time.

After completing these steps, your Windows 11 installation will be ready to create, run, and manage Linux containers using the new WSL Containers platform.

As Microsoft continues to develop the feature, future preview releases are expected to expand the available commands, improve performance, and add additional enterprise management capabilities.

Pureinfotech’s take

WSL Containers isn’t really about adding another developer feature to Windows. It feels more like Microsoft is quietly turning WSL into a foundational layer for Linux workloads in the operating system.

What stands out is the direction, not the tooling. For years, WSL has been a compatibility bridge for running Linux tools on Windows. Now it’s starting to behave like a platform that can host production-style Linux workflows, not just emulate them. Containers are a natural next step because they already sit at the center of modern development pipelines.

I also don’t see this as the software giant trying to pull developers away from Docker Desktop or Podman. That would be the wrong read. Instead, Microsoft is lowering the barrier underneath all of them. If WSL natively supports containers, then every tool built on top of it benefits without changing developer habits. That’s a more sustainable move than competing at the tooling layer.

The more interesting part, though, is the API. The wslc command is straightforward, but the ability for Windows apps to spin up Linux containers programmatically changes the shape of WSL. At that point, containers stop being something you manage manually and start becoming something applications quietly rely on in the background. That’s where WSL starts to look less like a subsystem and more like infrastructure Windows itself depends on.

Thank you for your feedback!

Tell me why, so I can fix it