Enable systemd in WSL

Enable systemd

You can enable systemd in Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.

When you enable systemd, services such as SSH and docker will start automatically.

Use a text editor (as root or using sudo) to create (or modify if it exists) the file /etc/wsl.conf

Add the following lines to /etc/wsl.conf:

    

        
        
[boot]
systemd=true

    

Open a Windows Command Prompt or PowerShell. Run the following commands to terminate and restart the distribution:

    

        
        
wsl --terminate Ubuntu-22.04
wsl -d Ubuntu-22.04

    

Confirm systemd is running:

    

        
        
systemctl list-unit-files --type=service

    

Individual services can also be queried to confirm they are running:

    

        
        
systemctl status cron