Stratosphere (xanmod-kernel) for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2)

This project provides an unofficial XanMod kernel for the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2).

It uses GitHub Actions to automatically build and release XanMod kernel images for WSL2. It checks for updates twice a month and builds new versions if available.

We are currently releasing both latest stable (mainline) and LTS Xanmod kernels, LTS kernel builds are released with extra -lts suffix.

Features

• Support for dxgkrnl patched for WSL2
• Compiled with clang with full Clang Link Time Optimization (LTO).
• Compile-time optimized for AMD Ryzen Processors

Support

Connect with other users on the Telegram Group or post about it on Issues with logs and a short description.

Installation

Manual Installation

• Visit the releases page and download the desired kernel image.
• Put the downloaded file in a convenient location, for example, C:\WSL\bzImage
• Create a file named .wslconfig in your home directory with the following content, replacing the path with the actual location of your kernel file:

[wsl2]
kernel = the\\path\\to\\bzImage
; e.g.
; kernel = C:\\WSL\\bzImage
;
; Note that all `\` should be escaped with `\\`.

• Restart your WSL2 instance to use the new kernel.

For more information about .wslconfig, see microsoft's official documentation.

Update kernel

Will be addded :)

Benchmarks

OS: Debian GNU/Linux bookworm 12.5 x86_64

Stock Kernel for WSL
Version: Linux 5.15.153.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2

Benchmark 1: hackbench -pTl 4000
  Time (mean ± σ):      5.208 s ±  0.318 s    [User: 2.668 s, System: 25.501 s]
  Range (min … max):    4.645 s …  5.678 s    10 runs
 

Stratosphere Kernel for WSL
Version: Linux 6.9.7-microsoft-Stratosphere-xanmod1
Benchmark 1: hackbench -pTl 4000
  Time (mean ± σ):      4.254 s ±  0.803 s    [User: 4.242 s, System: 20.178 s]
  Range (min … max):    3.126 s …  5.428 s    10 runs

Support for systemd

This kernel works with the built-in systemd support available since WSL 0.67.6.

Alternatively, you can also use tools such as sorah/subsystemctl and arkane-systems/genie to configure and manage systemd support

For older WSL versions, you can use wsl-distrod.

Credits

• The Linux community
• Microsoft (WSL2 and dxgkrnl patches)
• XanMod project
• Locietta for maintaining the parent source tree

Contributing

Let us know about any bugs, missing features, or suggestions by opening an issue. You can also contribute code improvements by creating a pull request.