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How can I export files from Ubuntu WSL to windows or any other directory so that I can use/edit that file in windows

Shubham Surve
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  • Which files do you need to edit and why can't they be edited by a Linux program? – WinEunuuchs2Unix May 20 '18 at 15:56
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    IMO it is a good question and people new to Linux using WSL are obviously going to be more comfortable and/or expect to manage files / edits with windows tools. At least point them to Linux tools such as nano ;) – Panther May 20 '18 at 16:29
  • Voted to leave open and upvoted existing answer! @Panther – Fabby May 20 '18 at 17:11
  • Close Voters The duplicate candidate spells out how to find out where files are located. OP is not asking where files are located. OP is asking how to edit them using Windows (not possible, but is possible with a Linux GUI app). – WinEunuuchs2Unix May 20 '18 at 17:23

4 Answers4

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The short answer is right now you can not, but there are some solutions.

First the warnings:

See https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-not-change-linux-files-using-windows-apps-and-tools/

I have to provide this guidance at least 2-3 times a day so instead I am publishing it here so everyone can find / link-to this guidance.

There is one hard-and-fast rule when it comes to Bash on Windows:

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, create and/or modify Linux files using Windows apps, tools, scripts, consoles, etc. Also note: Opening files using some Windows tools may read-lock the opened files and/or folders, preventing updates to file contents and/or metadata, essentially resulting in corrupted files/folders.

Creating/changing Linux files from Windows will likely result in data corruption and/or damage your Linux environment requiring you to uninstall & reinstall your distro! Note: Your "Linux files" are any of the files and folders under %localappdata%\lxss - which is where the Linux filesystem - distro and your own files - are stored on your drive

But this means any files in %localappdata%\lxss

Read the link for full details and additional information as to why. To the best of my knowledge this is currently marked as "might fix" (upgraded from "wont fix").

There are a few options:

First:

So what SHOULD I do?

To work on files using both Windows and Linux tools, store & work on those files in your Windows filesystem, and access them from both Windows and from Bash via /mnt//path (e.g. /mnt/c/dev/project/...)

There are "work arounds" listed here :

https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/1524

But no guarantee you will not break things if you try those.

Second, make a shared directory in windows and mount it in WSL:

You can also try https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/1319

Make a folder in Windows, call it

%userprofile%\projects

In Windows subsystem for linux, do the following:

ln -s /mnt/c/Users/[YourWindowsUserName]/projects ~/projects

Any Linux-related file that you want to edit, edit it in ~/projects, and you will be 100% fine.

Third (possibly best for some) is to use the linux tools.

nano is an easy to use command line editor

nano file_to_edit

The key combinations to save / exit are at the bottom of the editor

Here is a basic nano guide: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/42980/the-beginners-guide-to-nano-the-linux-command-line-text-editor/

Panther
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Just open a bash terminal at the appropriate path:

$ explorer.exe .

Et Voilà!

0xF2
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Daniele Ricci
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The easiest way of editing Linux files stored in WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) is to use Linux GUI applications. After the initial setup of Ubuntu for Windows 10 is complete you need to install vcxsrv and Ubuntu desktop. This will give you full access to GUI apps such as gedit and run scripts that contain GUI dialogs such as zenity or yad.

See this answer: What's the easiest way to run GUI apps on WSL as of 2018?

If you use a Windows app to modify a Linux file stored in a WSL directory you will corrupt the data:

WinEunuuchs2Unix
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The files are already available in windows. When you don't want to remember the difficult path, open a wsl console, go to the relevant directory and enter explorer.exe .. This will open a windows explorer in the current directory.

Alternative:
When you use the command df, you will see something like $ df

Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs         240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /
none           240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /dev
none           240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /run
none           240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /run/lock
none           240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /run/shm
none           240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /run/user
cgroup         240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /sys/fs/cgroup
C:\            240047100  56379724 183667376  24% /mnt/c
H:\            987142140 455640896 531501244  47% /mnt/h

In this case the C:\ and H:\ partitions are mounted under /mnt and you can copy the files to these drives

mkdir -p /mnt/h/folder_I_own_in_Windows/ubuntu_files
cp * /mnt/h/folder_I_own_in_Windows/ubuntu_files
Walter A
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