Editing .bashrc in WSL safely

Question

How do I edit the .bashrc file in Windows Subsystem for Linux safely?

This article warns to never edit files stored in the WSL AppData folder using Windows tools.

But then how do you edit files like .bashrc in a safe manner?

Solution 1

Use the built-in nano editor as:

nano ~/.bashrc

The most important shortcuts for nano are Ctrl+O to save the file and Ctrl+X to close the editor.

A simple guide for using nano can be found in the Gentoo Linux Wiki.

Solution 2

I think Visual Studio Code works fine. Just install the Remote - WSL extension.

To use it just open cmd and type bash. In bash type cd, then use code .bashrc.

Voila! VS Code opens in WSL and you can edit the files you want.

Solution 3

If you prefer a GUI editor then install VcXsrv as detailed here:

• What's the easiest way to run GUI apps on Windows Subsystem for Linux as of 2018?

Then use gedit ~/.bashrc

Solution 4

Open Windows File Explorer and type \\WSL$ in the address bar. This will open a pseudo-share that WSL provides for each running WSL instance where it is safe to edit the files.

Note that the instance does need to be started and running for this to work.

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Comments

[Dr Jyy]

Fyi. Complains, asking for WSL2