My Ultimate WSL2 Dev Setup!

Table of Contents

Introduction

Ever felt limited while coding on Windows? Like things work, but not in the smooth way you see Linux users working.
At the same time, switching to Linux full-time is hard because some software only runs on Windows, or you’re into gaming like me, and Windows still has the best support for that (typical Microsoft stuff).
That’s where WSL2 comes in.
In this blog, I’ll show you how to set up WSL2 to run Linux inside Windows, configure ZSH to make your terminal cleaner and more powerful, and set up multiple GitHub SSH keys so you can easily manage different accounts.
This setup gives you the best of both worlds.
Linux for development and Windows for everything else(especially gaming :<).

Installing WSL2

Before installing WSL2 on your Windows machine, there are a few things you need to have:

• Windows 10 (Build 19041+) or Windows 11 (Obviously)
• Administrator access
• Virtualization enabled in BIOS/UEFI (Follow any tutorial its pretty easy)
• Windows terminal
• VS Code (env-var should exsist & install wsl extension by Microsoft)

Installing WSL2 & Ubuntu

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

wsl --install

This command will:

• Enable WSL feature
• Enable Virtual Machine Platform
• Install Ubuntu (default distro)
• Set WSL2 as default version

Restart your computer when prompted.
After restart terminal will automatically open ubuntu in WSL2 and you will be prompted to create username and password remember them well as it will be helpful in future.
Few Commands to remember for WSL2 that might be helpful

# Start WSL
wsl

# See available distributions
wsl --list --online

# Start specific destro
wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04

# Check WSL version
wsl --version

# Install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

# Uninstall Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
wsl --unregister Ubuntu-24.04

# Stop all WSL instance (Very useful when WSL feel buggy)
wsl --shutdown

# Set WSL default distro
wsl --set-default Ubuntu

# Update WSL
wsl --update

If you face problem installing WSL you can also install it via Microsoft Store but i would recommend install it via CLI as it gives more control and you know better what is going on.

Updating Linux

After setting up username and password you will be inside ubuntu next you need to update ubuntu sourcelist and upgrade the distro with updated list

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Enter your password when prompted

You can create a .wslconfig file where you can allocate WSL resources such as memory, storage or processor.

Installing Oh My Zsh (Optional but Recommended)

A clean, step-by-step guide to transforming your terminal with Zsh, Powerlevel10k, and essential plugins.

Inside Ubuntu, follow these steps.

Install Nerd Fonts

For the icons and symbols in the theme to render correctly, you need a Nerd Font installed.
Download and Extract:

mkdir temp && cd temp

curl -L -o Meslo.zip https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/download/v3.4.0/Meslo.zip

unzip Meslo.zip -d MesloFonts

Install Fonts to System:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/fonts/truetype/meslo-nerd

sudo cp MesloFonts/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/meslo-nerd/

sudo fc-cache -fv

Cleanup:

cd .. && rm -rf temp

Note: After running these, go to your Terminal Settings and set the font to MesloLGS NF.

2. Install Zsh and Git

First, ensure your package manager is up to date and install the requirements.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install zsh git -y

Set Zsh as Default:

chsh -s $(which zsh)

Note: You may need to log out and back in (or restart WSL) for this to take effect.

3. Install Oh My Zsh

Run the official installation script:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

4. Install Powerlevel10k Theme

Clone the repository into the Oh My Zsh custom themes folder:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Activate Theme: Open your .zshrc file:

nano ~/.zshrc

Find ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell" and change it to:

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

5. Add Productivity Plugins

These plugins add “fish-like” autosuggestions and syntax highlighting.

# Autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

# Syntax Highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# History Substring Search
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-history-substring-search

6. Finalize Configuration

Update your plugin list in ~/.zshrc:

plugins=(
  git
  zsh-autosuggestions
  zsh-syntax-highlighting
  zsh-history-substring-search
)

Apply Changes:

source ~/.zshrc

If the Powerlevel10k configuration wizard doesn’t start automatically, run:

p10k configure

Install Essential Development Tools

Inside Ubuntu:

# Git
sudo apt install git -y

#Build essentials
sudo apt install build-essential -y

# Install Node.js, Docker(Might need to do some config for WSL), Python, MongoDB(Compass, MongoShell, mongodb-database-tools): Just Google these they are pretty simple and too the point

WSL File structure

In WSL Windows drives are mounted at /mnt/:

cd /mnt/c/Users/YourUsername

To access your linux distro files you can either type this in address bar of windows explorer

\\wsl.localhost\

Or you can see Linux on left side sidebar you can go from there also

Setting up WSL distro as default terminal

To set your linux distro as your default terminal profile: Settings → Startup → Default profile → Ubuntu
Customize Ubuntu profile

• Settings → Profiles → Ubuntu-24.04
• Set starting directory: \\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\YourUsername
• Customize appearance, colors, fonts, etc.

Git Multiple Account Setup

In this section, we’ll set up multiple Git identities (office and personal) using SSH in a way that does not require changing the clone command every time.
Normally, when using multiple SSH keys, you have to clone repositories like this:

git@git-office:username/repository.git

This works, but it’s annoying to remember and easy to mess up. In this setup, we’ll configure SSH so that you can simply run:

git@github.com:username/repository.git

…and Git will automatically use the correct SSH key based on where the project is located.
No aliases.
No custom clone commands.
No manual switching.

Folder Rule (Important)

To make this work smoothly, we’ll follow one simple rule:

• All office projects will live inside ~/office/ (or any folder of your choice)
• Everything outside this folder will be treated as personal work
• Before following Setup make sure you have office project directory and use that thorughout

Based on this, Git will automatically pick the correct identity and SSH key.

Setup

1. Generate SSH Keys

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "personal@gmail.com"
# Save as: /home/USERNAME/.ssh/id_personal

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "office@company.com"
# Save as: /home/USERNAME/.ssh/id_office

2. Set Permissions

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_personal ~/.ssh/id_office

3. Add keys to SSH Agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_personal
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_office

4. Configure SSH

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add:

# Personal GitHub
Host github-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_personal
    AddKeysToAgent yes

# Work GitHub
Host github-office
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_office
    AddKeysToAgent yes

5. Add Public Keys to GitHub

cat ~/.ssh/id_personal.pub  # Copy to personal GitHub account
cat ~/.ssh/id_office.pub    # Copy to work GitHub account

Add these public keys to each github account (Settings → SSH and GPG Keys → New SSH Keys)

6. Test Connections

ssh -T git@github-personal
ssh -T git@github-office

7. Setup Git Configs

Personal Config (default):

nano ~/.gitconfig

Add:

[user]
    name = Your Name
    email = personal@gmail.com

[url "git@github-personal:"]
    insteadOf = git@github.com:

[url "git@github-personal:"]
    insteadOf = https://github.com/

[includeIf "gitdir:/home/USERNAME/office/"]
    path = /home/USERNAME/.gitconfig-office

Work Config:

nano ~/.gitconfig-office

Add:

[user]
    name = Your Name
    email = office@company.com

[url "git@github-office:"]
    insteadOf = git@github.com:

[url "git@github-office:"]
    insteadOf = https://github.com/

8. Verify Setup

To verify your whole setup make sure you are first inside your personal project folder where git is initialized or is git repository run git config user.email and you should see your personal email and in your office project directory you should do same and you will see office email.

Working with WSL in VS Code

After installing WSL and the WSL extension in VS Code, the next step is using it the right way.
A common mistake is opening projects from the Windows filesystem and assuming they are running in WSL.
That’s not true.
To properly use WSL, your project must live inside the Linux filesystem, not inside C:.

Open a Project in WSL

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + P
3. Search for WSL: Open Folder in WSL
4. Select a folder inside Linux

Once opened, you’ll see WSL: Ubuntu in the bottom-left corner.

Alternative Way

You can also open a project directly from the WSL terminal:

cd ~/.../your-project
code .

Important Note

Avoid working inside:

/mnt/c/Users/...

Always work inside:

/home/your-username/

Working from Windows folders slows things down and can cause permission issues.
Also, always commit your code before experimenting with WSL. If something breaks, recovery can be difficult.

Conclusion

With this setup, you get the best of both worlds.
The power of Linux for development, and the flexibility of Windows for software that still needs it, including modern games.
This is the exact setup I use daily. It lets me work comfortably without having to compromise on development quality or give up things I enjoy, like gaming.
One small request to software vendors and game studios:
please give the same level of priority to Linux as you do to Windows. A lot of developers want to move, but support is still the biggest blocker.
Until then, WSL is the perfect middle ground.