WSL Manager

Welcome to WSL Manager

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Shown on Windows · the same app runs native VMs on macOS — expand See it on macOS below

Preview with light theme (Windows)

See it on macOS — native Linux and macOS virtual machines through Apple's Virtualization framework (beta)

WSL Distro Manager is a free, open source GUI for the Windows Subsystem for Linux — and, on macOS, for native Linux VMs. Install, copy, rename, move, back up and delete WSL distros without memorising a single wsl.exe flag — plus templates, saved command snippets, disk mounting, .wslconfig editing, remote WSL over SSH, and an MCP server that lets AI agents drive your WSL environment. On a Mac the very same app manages virtual machines through Apple's Virtualization framework instead.

Features

Manage distros

• [x] Install from a built-in catalogue, or bring your own rootfs
• [x] Copy, rename, move to another drive, back up and delete instances
• [x] Back every instance up to one folder — with a list of what is in it — and restore them all on another PC
• [x] Compact virtual disks to reclaim space WSL never gives back
• [x] Watch what an instance is using right now — processor time, memory and swap, with a live graph
• [x] Supports Ubuntu, Debian, Alpine, Kali Linux, openSUSE, SLES and anything else WSL accepts

Get instances running faster

• [x] Use any Docker image as a distro — Docker itself is not required
• [x] Package a configured distro as a portable .wsl file that installs on any machine (templates are deprecated in favour of these)
• [x] Turnkey Linux and other LXC containers (experimental)
• [x] Snippets: keep your setup commands in the app and run them on any instance
• [x] Point the app at your own repository of rootfs images
• [x] Browse a distro's files and copy the ones you pick into another instance — no share, no mount, no Explorer needed

Configure without editing files by hand

• [x] systemd, automount, default user, start command and start path per distro
• [x] Memory, processors, swap, networking mode, DNS and the rest of .wslconfig
• [x] Mount a physical disk or a VHD into WSL, with partition and filesystem control
• [x] Share host folders into a distro or VM at a mount point you pick, read-only if you like — the AI Workspace included

Work the way you already do

• [x] Open Windows Terminal, VS Code or Explorer straight inside a distro