Microsoft Adds Linux Container Support to Windows Subsystem

Microsoft has expanded its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to include support for Linux containers. With this feature, users can now run and deploy Linux containers directly on Windows using the wslc.exe command-line tool or its built-in alias container.exe.

The general availability release of WSL Containers includes several new features that were missing during the preview phase, such as restarting containers, copying files in and out, health checks, network connect and disconnect commands, real-time container events, mount support, and configurable storage locations.

Microsoft is also integrating WSL Containers with its security tools, including Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, which allows security teams to monitor process, file, and network activity inside containers and relate it back to the Windows host. Additionally, Microsoft Intune can be used to disable or restrict WSL Containers entirely or limit developers to images from approved container registries.

The company is also working with the broader developer ecosystem, including VS Code Dev Containers, which now uses wslc as its default driver, and Aspire and the VS Code Containers extension, which support WSL Containers. Microsoft has announced that it is already working on Docker Compose-style support for WSL Containers, with a feature called wsl compose up expected to be released soon.