Ubuntu Pro for WSL is a Windows application designed to automate the attachment of your Ubuntu Pro subscription. This tool simplifies the process of enabling security updates, technical support, and other professional-grade features for Ubuntu instances running on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Key Features:
Automated Pro-attachment for all Ubuntu instances on WSL
Remote enforcement of Ubuntu Pro agent startup
Scalable fleet management for organizations
Integration with Landscape for centralized instance management
Support for free Pro subscriptions for up to 5 machines
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for developers, DevOps engineers, system administrators, and enterprises seeking streamlined subscription management. It ensures consistent security updates across all WSL instances, reduces manual overhead, and provides a scalable solution for organizations managing multiple devices.
Ubuntu Pro for WSL can be installed via winget, making it easy to integrate into your workflow.
Ubuntu on WSL provides a fully-functional Ubuntu terminal environment on
Windows. It's a lightweight and performant alternative to other methods of
using Ubuntu on Windows, such as dual-booting or conventional virtual machines.
With built-in developer tooling and excellent interoperability with the host
OS, it's a fast way of setting up a powerful development environment.
Ubuntu Pro for WSL is a separate Windows application that automates the
attachment of your Ubuntu Pro subscription. It solves the problem of needing to
manually Pro-attach each new Ubuntu instance created on a Windows machine when
you want the security benefits of Ubuntu Pro. For organisations, it enables
automated Pro-attachment at scale for fleets of devices.
Ubuntu distros can be installed on Windows by running the following command in PowerShell:
wsl --install
> [!NOTE]
> When you install and enable WSL for the first time,
> the latest Ubuntu LTS release is installed as "Ubuntu".
To see the Ubuntu distros available to install, run:
wsl --list --online
To list what Ubuntu instances are installed and available to run on your machine:
wsl -l -v
To open a specific instance of Ubuntu on WSL in its home directory:
wsl ~ -d
Then you can use that instance just like any other Ubuntu machine, for writing
code, running scripts, and even opening Linux GUI
apps.
Basic usage of Ubuntu Pro for WSL
Find and install the Ubuntu Pro for WSL application in the Microsoft Store.
After installation, open the application and enter your Ubuntu Pro token.
> [!TIP]
> If you are a system administrator, you can also use the Windows registry to
> add a Pro token. After the Ubuntu Pro app has run at least once, the relevant
> key will be available as HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Canonical\UbuntuPro. The
> Pro token can be added as data for the UbuntuProToken value.
Now, all instance of Ubuntu on WSL will be automatically Pro-attached on your machine.
You can confirm this in any Ubuntu instance with:
pro status
System components of the Ubuntu Pro for WSL app
This repository contains the source code for Ubuntu Pro for WSL.
The application consists of the following components:
A Windows MSIX package, consisting of an agent with its user interface. See Windows Agent.
An Ubuntu WSL Pro Service and its associated API, which controls the Pro and Landscape status between the agent running on Windows and the WSL instance. See WSL Pro Service.
An interface between the agent and Ubuntu Pro, to handle the transactions with the contract server.
An interface between the agent and Landscape, to manage the WSL instances from Landscape.
A WSL management API, which controls the lifecycle of the WSL instances, like provisioning, updates, and starting or stopping the WSL instances.
Documentation
Our official documentation
includes tutorials, guides, references, and explanations on both:
The Ubuntu on WSL distribution
The Ubuntu Pro for WSL application
Documentation is maintained in the docs directory of this repository. It is
written in markdown, built with Sphinx, and published on Read the
Docs.
Contribute
This is an open source project and we warmly welcome community contributions, suggestions, and constructive feedback. If you're interested in contributing, please take a look at our Contribution guidelines first.
To report a bug, please create a new issue in this repository, using the Report an issue template.
For suggestions and constructive feedback, use the Request a feature template.
Project and community
We're friendly! We have a community forum at https://discourse.ubuntu.com where we discuss feature plans, development news, issues, updates and troubleshooting.
