Windows 10 makes Linux files from WSL more accessible in File Explorer

Windows 10’s new Insider Preview makes WSL’s Linux file system more accessible from File Explorer. As a result, users no longer have to specifically search for their Linux files, but see them immediately when the Explorer is started.

The changes are in the Windows 10 Insider Preview 19603, Microsoft writes. Users who have installed a Linux distribution through the Windows Subsystem For Linux will immediately see those distros when they open File Explorer. There Linux penguin Tux is in the left bar under This PC and Networks. Users who click on it are first presented with a list of installed distros, and the root filesystems when they click through it.

It has been possible to view distributions files in Explorer since February last year, but users had to go specifically to an unc path that was difficult for some to find. In addition to the changes for the WSL, the Insider preview also includes a new function to clean up disk space via the settings.

Microsoft added the Windows Subsystem For Linux to Windows in 2016. Last year, the company released version 2 of the software. For the first time, a full Linux kernel was integrated into the operating system. The system files were therefore already available in the Explorer.