WSL Bridge

Invoke Linux commands from Windows, pass data between WSL and Windows filesystems, and manage WSL distributions — without switching terminals.

When to Use

• User wants to run a Linux command (grep, awk, sed, curl) from Windows
• User asks to install or manage a WSL distribution
• User needs to access Windows files from WSL or vice versa
• User wants to run a bash script via WSL
• User asks about WSL status, memory usage, or network config

How to Use

Run a Linux command from PowerShell

powershell
wsl -- ls -la /home/
wsl -- df -h
wsl -- uname -a

Run a bash script in WSL

powershell
wsl bash -c "cd /home/user/project && npm install && npm run build"

Pass Windows file to WSL command

powershell
# Convert Windows path to WSL path
$winPath = "C:\Users\<you>\data.csv"
$wslPath = wsl wslpath -u $winPath
wsl -- cat $wslPath | wsl -- grep "ERROR"

Access Windows drive from WSL

powershell
# Windows C: drive is mounted at /mnt/c inside WSL
wsl -- ls /mnt/c/Users/<you>/Documents

List installed WSL distributions

powershell
wsl --list --verbose

Check WSL version and status

powershell
wsl --status
wsl --version

Shutdown WSL (frees memory)

powershell
wsl --shutdown

Set default WSL distribution

powershell
wsl --set-default Ubuntu-22.04

Run a specific distro

powershell
wsl -d Ubuntu-22.04 -- python3 --version

Forward a port from WSL to Windows

powershell
# Get WSL IP
$wslIp = (wsl -- hostname -I).Trim()
Write-Host "WSL IP: $wslIp"
# Use netsh to forward (requires elevated session)
# netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=3000 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectport=3000 connectaddress=$wslIp

Examples

"Run grep on a log file using WSL" → wsl -- grep -i "error" /mnt/c/logs/app.log | wsl -- tail -n 50

"What WSL distros do I have installed?" → wsl --list --verbose — shows name, state, and WSL version for each distro.

"Use awk to sum a column in a CSV" → wsl -- awk -F',' '{sum += $3} END {print sum}' /mnt/c/Users/<you>/data.csv

Cautions

• WSL 2 uses a virtual machine — memory is not immediately released on process exit; use wsl --shutdown to reclaim RAM
• File I/O across the Windows/WSL boundary (/mnt/c/) is slower than native Linux filesystem operations
• Some Linux tools behave differently on WSL vs native Linux (e.g., systemd, Docker daemon)
• Port forwarding between WSL and Windows host may require adjustments after each WSL restart