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Windows 10 now lets you export installed Linux environments, creating a TAR file of the root file system you can import on other PCs. Copy your configured systems between computers, share them with others, or just save a backup.

How This Works

The import and export features were added in the May 2019 Update---that's Windows 10 version 1903. If you don't have it installed yet, you won't be able to use these command-line options.

All you need are two new options for the Windows wsl command:

        --export
    

and --import . The

        --export
    

option will export a Linux distribution's root file system as a TAR file. The --import option lets you import a Linux distribution's root file system as a TAR file.

Related: How to Install and Use the Linux Bash Shell on Windows 10

How to Export (Back Up) a Linux System

The wsl command is a Windows command---wsl.exe. You'll need to run it in a PowerShell or Command Prompt environment, not in a Windows Subsystem for Linux environment. You can open one by right-clicking the Start button or pressing Windows+x and then clicking "Windows PowerShell."

To list the distros installed, run the following command:

wsl --list

Now, use the following command to export a distro's file system to a TAR file:

wsl --export distro_name file_name.tar

For example, to export out Ubuntu 18.04 system to a file named ubuntu.tar, we'd run:

wsl --export Ubuntu-18.04 ubuntu.tar

Exporting a WSL environment in PowerShell

You now have a TAR file containing the Linux distribution's file system. The file we created---based on a pretty standard Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system---was 645 MB in size. If you've installed more software in your distribution, it will be larger.

A Linux environment's TAR file created by Windows 10

How to Import (Restore) a Linux System

You can use the wsl command with the --import option to import a TAR file created in this way. From a PowerShell or Command Prompt window, run the following command

wsl --import distro_name install_location file_name.tar

For example, let's say you want to import a distro from a TAR file located at C:\Users\Chris\ubuntu.tar, call it "Ubuntu-18.04," and store it at C:\Users\Chris\ubuntu. You'd run:

wsl --import Ubuntu-18.04 C:\Users\Chris\ubuntu C:\Users\Chris\ubuntu.tar

If you want to match where Windows normally installs them to by default, they're generally in their own folder in C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Local\Packages. For example, you might want to put Ubuntu in C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Ubuntu.

Wherever you put the install location, note that you shouldn't modify the files directly from Windows tools. Here's how you should access the files in File Explorer instead.

Importing a Linux TAR file in PowerShell

How to Unregister (Delete) a Linux System

You can uninstall a distro with the --unregister option along with its name. This will result in all the Linux distribution's files being deleted.

Use the following command to see all installed distributions:

wsl --list

Then, specify the distribution you want to delete:

wsl --unregister distro_name

For example, if it's called Ubuntu-18.04, you'd run:

wsl --unregister Ubuntu-18.04

Unregistering or deleting a Linux environment from Windows 10's command line

This feature also lets you quickly and easily move installed distributions to another folder or drive. Just export the distro to a TAR file, unregister it from your system, and then import the TAR file to another location on your system.