How to enable Ubuntu Bash in Windows 10

The arrival of the Anniversary Edition of Windows 10 has brought with him one of the most commented functions during the first year of life of this operating system: a terminal with the console Bash complete. Initially was released on build 14316, which was distributed by Fast Channel and was only available for 64-bit systems, and since then, this function, which is considered a complete Linux subsystem for the Windows 10 environment, has evolved until the last update of that operating system.

The origin of this function must be found in the failed Astoria project, an attempt by the people of Redmond to create an environment within Windows 10 where you can run Android applications natively. This was intended to address the great shortage of applications that the Windows Store suffers from its more direct competitors. In this tutorial we show you how to enable Ubuntu Bash in Windows 10 in a fast and very simple way.

The Astoria project work was formed from a collaboration between the two big companies, Microsoft and Canonical, and, although your result did not meet expectations, its code and development were used for the current terminal that we will now show you.

Technically we can't talk about a linux kernel as such, since it does not exist. Instead, there are the same binary files as in it and that they will allow us to run GNU utilities and programs.

Installing Bash on Windows 10

First and how prerequisite, we must logically have an operating system Windows 10 64-bit whose compilation is higher than Build 14316. You can make sure of this step if your system is updated to the latest Anniversary Edition of this environment.

Now, we will have to enable developer mode within the system menu Update and security, which we will access through the Search bar by introducing "updates" or from the Start menu> Settings> Update and security.

Once inside the menu, we will select the option «For programmers» and we will choose the "Programmer mode" option. As its own description indicates, this mode employs advanced development features within the system.

Next, we must install the Bash module inside the computer. For this we will access the Control Panel> Programs and Features> Turn Windows Features On or Off or through Search bar by entering "add". Specifically, the program that we must add to our environment is called "Windows Subsystem for Linux". Once installed, the system it will ask us to restart the computer, to which we will proceed in order to continue.

Once we have restarted our computer, we just have to enter the "bash" command from the Windows console, either the general interpreter or PowerShell, to start enjoying Bash in Windows 10.

It is also possible to access Bash from the Windows 10 menu itself, since it appears as just another desktop application. What we will find will be a small Linux subsystem, corresponding to a Ubuntu LTS 14.04 where we can control the most basic commands of this environment. We must forget about the graphic section, since at the moment and as the project seems to be developing, there are no plans for the future.

Common problems

During the installation process you may you can't find the option to install the Linux subsystem feature. It is usually a common error that we have not previously reviewed the version of Windows 10 with which we are working, specifically, a Build 14316 or higher, that our version of operating system is 32-bit or that still we have not received the latest system update in our team.

There are user experiences related to these events on the Internet and basically they can all be resolved from the download the latest system ISO from the Slow Ring from Microsoft or, as it is now available, the latest update of 10 Anniversary Windows Update from the MSDN website.

As you can see, the procedure is fast and very simple and opens a wide range of possibilities within this operating system.

Have you tried the Bash environment on any Windows 10? What do you think about this project? Will Microsoft and Canonical meet again in the future to talk about a joint effort?