Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 will be released for Windows 10 versions from last year

Microsoft is also bringing the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 to Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909, which is the May 2019 Update and November 2019 Update. WSL2 is currently only available for x64 systems.

Microsoft reports that it will bring WSL2 to the earlier Windows 10 versions because users would have asked for it. Users running Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909 can update to OS build versions 18362 or 18363; if at the version number the last number is 1049 or higher, WSL2 is present. The backport only applies to x64 systems. Windows 10 users on ARM64 must use Windows 10 version 2004 for WSL2.

Microsoft introduced Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update at the beginning of this year. With the subsystem, Microsoft is targeting developers who want to use Linux tools within Windows, for example. Rather than a relatively simple compatibility layer, as with WSL1, the second version is based on a virtual machine that runs an open source Linux kernel developed by Microsoft and the Linux user mode. Microsoft is working on being able to open Linux files within WSL from Explorer.