Windows has complete access to the WSL file system, so there’s zero privacy improvement. If you’re concerned with privacy, take a look at Arch Linux or Gentoo to install only the components you want, or if you are looking for extreme privacy, check out Tails or possibly QubesOS. Those are probably not the place to start learning about Linux but you mentioned privacy. Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. all have telemetry and crap built in so if you want privacy/anonymity you should look at other systems like the ones I mentioned. Have fun, good luck.
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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I'll also add to this that WSL is a security nightmare. If something manages to dig its way into your wsl install and add, for example, WINE, there's no end to the (hidden to your av) mischief it can enact.
W/o a fully functional systemd (or equivalent) implementation, there's no dbus session; w/o dbus, GUI apps can't work reliably.
As to various server processes -- windows can kill them at will, if it decides that they're idling.
Peerhaps some cli tools work reliably on wsl2; but then again it's got very slow i/o for extensive use.
I think a fully fledged vm on Hyper-V is a better bet by far.
WSL2 is good, but not usable in all scenarios. IIRC, it can't use systemd services. It is also very slow with file I/O, which is not a problem with small datasets, but some of the git repos I work with are so big that git operations take a couple of minutes to complete in WSL2, but only take a second or so in PowerShell. If you are doing a full backup of your PC with rsync or something like that, it could take days to complete something that would take only 30 minutes or so running in a native Windows shell.
Wish I could say that was an improvement.
ok so far I gather that its a no lol
WSL is not Linux. Has none of the advatanges of Linux. Fuck windows