Build any distro in WSL2

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This uses the trick of exporting a docker container to create the initial distro disk. See Microsoft WSL Guide

On An Existing Linux image

You need to use an existing Linux image to pull the image and capture the container.

For Centos 7

docker image pull centos:centos7
docker run -t centos:centos7 bash ls /
dockerContainerID=$(docker container ls -a | grep -i centos:centos7 | awk '{print $1}')
docker export $dockerContainerID > /mnt/c/temp/centos7.tar

Then repeat for Centos 8

docker image pull centos:centos8
...

In Powershell

With the newly created tar of the docker image, you can turn it into a WSL instance.

cd C:\temp
mkdir C:\distros\CentOS7
wsl --import CentOS7 C:\distros\CentOS7 .\centos7.tar

Inspect the available instances.

wsl -l -v

Launch and enter your new instance.

wsl -d CentOS7

Update And Configure CentOS

Complete the job by updating the instance and setting up a default power user.

yum update -y && yum install passwd sudo -y
myUsername=hindmasj
adduser -G wheel $myUsername
echo -e "[user]\ndefault=$myUsername" >> /etc/wsl.conf
passwd $myUsername

Exit, make sure the instance is stopped, then restart. You should now be the default user, not root.

wsl --terminate CentOS7
wsl -d CentOS7

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