How to open a VS Code IDE from Linux subsystem on Windows?

Question

I'm running a Linux subsystem with an Ubuntu terminal inside Windows 10 - I wanted to make use of the functionalities of both operating systems without partitions or virtual machines.

In an Ubuntu terminal on Linux, I use the command 'code .' to open up the VS Code IDE but it doesn't seem to work when the terminal is part of a subsystem on Windows.

I can open up the IDE from Windows 10 and set my path into the Linux system but I remember reading some guidance that it's okay to save files from the Linux onto the Windows side but not vice versa.

Any solutions are much appreciated, thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you wish to invoke windows binaries from WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) like for the example you want to run visual-studio-code, you can do so by setting your visual-code's installation directory into your %PATH% system variable and invoking it using this way

$ [application-name].exe notice the .exe is important.

And this interoperability is added in the Fall Creator Update of windows.

You can follow this documentation from Microsoft for more help.