WSL Containers Enable Native Linux Workloads on Windows for Enhanced Developer Experience

Microsoft is significantly improving the developer experience on Windows with the introduction of WSL containers, a feature that has now entered public preview. This new capability, announced at Microsoft Build 2026, allows developers to natively build and execute Linux container workloads directly within the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), reducing the previous dependency on external containerization software. The integration is available through the pre-release version of WSL, specifically build 2.9.3, and can be enabled via a simple `wsl --update --pre-release` command or a direct download. A core component of this release is the new Linux container command-line tool, `wslc.exe`, which is also aliased as `container.exe` for ease of use. This tool provides a familiar interface for managing containers, enabling developers to perform tasks such as starting a Linux desktop in a container, running CUDA scripts to verify GPU access, and handling build, debug, and test cycles from a single binary. Beyond the command-line utility, Microsoft has also provided an API that allows native Windows applications to run Linux containers as part of their own logic. This API is distributed as a NuGet package, offering support for C, C++, and C# applications. This means Windows developers can reuse existing Linux code, bring cloud-native applications to their local machines, and effectively confine Linux processes' access to host resources. The API integrates with popular build systems like MSBuild and CMake, simplifying the inclusion of container build and deployment steps within an application's project file. Enterprise-level tooling is also being enhanced to support WSL containers. The existing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint plugin for WSL can now monitor Linux container events, ensuring consistent security coverage across various Linux distributions and containers. Furthermore, administrators gain new management settings through Intune, allowing for control over WSL distributions and containers, including the ability to allowlist approved container registries. Underpinning these new features are several lower-level improvements. A new default file system for WSL containers, `virtiofs`, doubles the speed of Windows file access. A new default networking mode, `consomme`, relays Linux network traffic through Windows, enabling Linux applications to inherit the host's networking environment, security policies, and enterprise integrations. Memory reclaim improvements ensure that unused memory is efficiently returned to the Windows host, optimizing resource utilization. These foundational changes are currently exclusive to WSL containers but are planned for a broader rollout to WSL in the future. Popular container tools like Docker Desktop, Podman Desktop, and Rancher Desktop are already leveraging this platform work, offering Windows users more performant options. VS Code's dev containers have also incorporated `wslc` support, with general availability for this path expected soon. Microsoft anticipates the general availability of WSL containers in Fall 2026.