--- title: WSL containers are now generally available | daily.dev description: WSL containers has reached general availability on Windows, bringing a new CLI (wslc.exe, aliased as container.exe) and API for building, running, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: WSL containers are now generally available | daily.dev og:description: WSL containers has reached general availability on Windows, bringing a new CLI (wslc.exe, aliased as container.exe) and API for building, running, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/hzL3QXciD.png og:image:alt: WSL containers are now generally available og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # WSL containers are now generally available **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary WSL containers has reached general availability on Windows, bringing a new CLI (wslc.exe, aliased as container.exe) and API for building, running, and deploying Linux containers directly on Windows, including programmatic access for native apps. The GA release adds commands for container lifecycle management, networking (connect/disconnect, driver options), observability (events streaming, health checks, system info), and enterprise controls via Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, including registry allow lists. Partner integrations now span VS Code dev containers, Aspire, the VS Code container extension, and community tools like Lazywslc and WSL Container Desktop. Upcoming work includes wslc compose support and a new consomme network mode delivering up to 2x faster file access performance between Windows and Linux. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I get WSL containers now that it's generally available? Run wsl --update in a terminal, or download the latest release from the Microsoft WSL GitHub repository. This installs the wslc.exe CLI (aliased as container.exe) for building, running, and deploying Linux containers on Windows, plus an API for running containers programmatically from native Windows apps. _daily.dev helps developers track new WSL container tooling as it ships and stabilizes._ ### What new wslc commands came with the WSL containers GA release? The general availability release adds wslc container restart, wslc container cp for copying files via tar archive, wslc system info for environment status, wslc network connect/disconnect, wslc events for real-time activity streaming, container health checks, a --stop-timeout flag supporting infinite timeouts, --mount support on create/run, and configurable container storage paths. _Developers adopting new container CLIs can compare these workflows using daily.dev before committing to a toolchain._ ### Does WSL containers support Docker Compose files? Not yet at general availability, but compose support is the top requested feature and the team's next development focus. The goal is for wsl compose up to work with existing compose.yaml files unchanged, and initial work has already started on this capability. _Track compose support progress for WSL containers alongside other container tooling news on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 4 discussions and 7 comments across lobsters, hackernews (as of 2026-10-02). **TL;DR:** Discussion focuses on the architecture (control plane moved into Windows while containers still run in a paravirtualized Linux VM) and draws comparisons to Docker Desktop's licensing costs and security model versus Apple's per-VM container isolation, with some skepticism about Microsoft's framing of Windows as a Linux host. **Sentiment:** 20% positive · 40% mixed · 40% skeptical **The case for** - It's seen as a convenient built-in alternative to manually installing a Linux distro in WSL and then Docker engine. - Likely developed partly to avoid Microsoft's own per-seat Docker Desktop licensing costs. **The pushback** - The shared one-VM-for-all-containers model is considered a weaker security model than per-container VM isolation like Apple's Container tool. - A container escape in this shared-VM model could give read-write access to the entire mounted home directory. - Some find it ironic or absurd that Microsoft frames Windows as 'the best place to build, run and manage Linux workloads.' **By community** - lobsters (mixed): Technical interest in the architecture mixes with skepticism about Microsoft's security model and messaging. **Hottest debate:** Whether the shared-VM container model is a security regression compared to per-container VM isolation approaches like Apple's. **Open questions** - How does the new architecture's security posture compare in practice to per-VM isolation models? **Highlights** > The 'normal' flow on Windows is to use Docker Desktop, which does this for you. The same is true on macOS, where Docker Desktop uses Virtualization.framework to manage a Linux VM. This is now problematic because Docker Desktop has a license that requires paying per seat for companies above a certain size (including Microsoft, which actually pays the license). I suspect that developing this cost less than Microsoft's annual license fee to Docker. It looks as if this uses the same one-VM-for-all-containers model as Docker Desktop. Apple's Container tool instead uses one VM per container, which is a better security model. I haven't looked in detail at how Docker Desktop works on macOS, but Podman's `podman machine` command defaults to mounting the user's home directory and a bunch of other things in the VM so that bind mount into individual containers. This means that a container escape in the Linux VM can give you complete read-write access to the entire home directory. In contrast, Apple's `container` tool attaches host filesystems on demand and isolates them to each VM, so a container escape in the VM can access only files exposed to the container (a VM escape can still damage a lot more things, but that's harder). > — [david\_chisnall on lobsters · 7 points](https://lobste.rs/s/8ckgq8/wsl_containers_are_now_generally#c_aoxtnh) > At first I thought this might be a stunning return to the WSL 1 architecture where Linux syscalls were translated into Windows syscalls at the container boundary, but reading [the architecture blog post](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/wslc-architecture-deep-dive/) makes clear the containers are all running in the WSL 2-style heavily-paravirtualized Linux VM on Hyper-V, just with container control machinery located outside the VM in Windows itself instead of inside the VM like before. > — [ahelwer on lobsters · 7 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/8ckgq8/wsl_containers_are_now_generally#c_jbccip) > > WSL is central to our commitment to making Windows the best place to build, run and manage Linux workloads. This is one of the most bonker sentences i've ever read. > — [marco on lobsters · 1 points](https://lobste.rs/s/8ckgq8/wsl_containers_are_now_generally#c_njgujf) > Seems like a convenient alternative to the normal route of installing a linux distro in WSL, then installing docker engine. > — [JulianSildenLanglo on lobsters · 2 points, 2 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/8ckgq8/wsl_containers_are_now_generally#c_nolvhz) **Source threads** - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/8ckgq8/wsl_containers_are_now_generally) · 21 points · 7 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49897042) · 8 points · 0 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49904417) · 4 points · 0 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49923967) · 3 points · 0 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [WSL container is now available for public preview](https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-container-is-now-available-for-public-preview-qszgs39xw) · Windows Command Line · 110 upvotes · 8 comments - [WSL containers are here, bringing Linux development straight into Windows without extra tools](https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-here-bringing-linux-development-straight-into-windows-without-extra-tools-7tvl6ztrw) · XDA Developers · 40 upvotes · 7 comments - [Microsoft Announces Public Preview For Linux Containers On WSL](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-announces-public-preview-for-linux-containers-on-wsl-0kzbappo1) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows), [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#containers](https://daily.dev/tags/containers), [#vscode](https://daily.dev/tags/vscode) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"WSL containers are now generally available","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T08:57:09.933Z","dateModified":"2026-10-02T16:02:46.489Z","description":"WSL containers has reached general availability on Windows, bringing a new CLI (wslc.exe, aliased as container.exe) and API for building, running, and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b5052c070838e193f13c7a49b27f0068?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b5052c070838e193f13c7a49b27f0068?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"windows,docker,containers,vscode","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"WSL containers are now generally available"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wsl-containers-are-now-generally-available-hzl3qxcid#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I get WSL containers now that it's generally available?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Run wsl --update in a terminal, or download the latest release from the Microsoft WSL GitHub repository. 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