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WSL and Network

WSL Networking Basics

WSL creates a virtual network interface that allows your Linux environment to communicate with the Windows host and the internet.

WSL 2 Network Details

WSL 2 runs in a lightweight VM, so it has its own virtual Ethernet adapter and IP address. Here's what that means:

  • Outbound connections (e.g., apt update, curl) work out of the box.
  • Inbound connections (e.g., running a web server in WSL) require:
  • Port forwarding using PowerShell or netsh
  • Firewall rules to allow traffic
  • You can find the WSL IP using: 
ip addr | grep eth0

Communicating Between Windows & WSL

  • From WSL to Windows: You can use localhost or the Windows IP.
  • From Windows to WSL:
  • Use WSL's IP (check with wsl hostname -I)

  • Or forward ports manually:

    netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8080 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectport=8080 connectaddress=<WSL-IP>

Pro Tip

If you're doing web development or running services inside WSL, consider using WSLg (for GUI apps) or Docker Desktop with WSL integration—they handle a lot of the networking quirks for you.

Bridging WSL network

You can bridge the network in WSL2 to make it accessible from remote devices, but it takes a few steps since WSL2 uses a virtualized NAT network by default. Bridging allows your WSL instance to appear as a peer device on your LAN, making it easier to access from other machines.

Option 1: Use WSL2 Bridged Networking (Experimental Feature)

WSL2 now supports bridged networking mode, but you’ll need:

  • WSL version 0.51.2.0 or later
  • A Hyper-V virtual switch configured for bridging

Steps

Step 1: Enable Hyper-V (if not already enabled)

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

Restart your machine if prompted.

Step 2: Create a Bridged Virtual Switch

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager (search for it in the Start menu)
  2. In the right pane, click “Virtual Switch Manager…”
  3. Select “New virtual network switch” → External
  4. Click Create Virtual Switch
  5. Name it something like wsl-switch
  6. Under “External network”, choose your active network adapter (e.g., Ethernet or Wi-Fi)
  7. Check “Allow management operating system to share this network adapter”
  8. Click Apply and OK

Step 3: Configure .wslconfig

Create or edit the .wslconfig file in your user profile folder (C:\Users\<User>\.wslconfig):

[wsl2]
networkingMode=bridged
vmSwitch=wsl-switch

Save the file.

Step 4: Restart WSL

Open PowerShell and run:

wsl --shutdown

Then launch your WSL instance again. It should now get an IP address from your LAN.

Step 5: Test Remote Access

Inside WSL, run:

ip addr show eth0

Look for an IP like 192.168.x.x. Try pinging it from another device on your network. If you're running a service (e.g., a web server), make sure it's listening on 0.0.0.0 and not just localhost.

Option 2: Manual Network Bridge via Control Panel

If you prefer not to use Hyper-V:

  1. Open Control Panel → Network Connections
  2. Select both your physical network adapter (Ethernet/Wi-Fi) and the vEthernet (WSL) adapter
  3. Right-click and choose “Bridge Connections”
  4. Inside WSL, manually assign an IP:
sudo ip addr flush dev eth0
sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.244/24 dev eth0
sudo ip link set eth0 up
sudo ip route add default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

This gives your WSL instance a LAN IP, making it accessible remotely.

Security Tip

If you're exposing services (like SSH, web servers), make sure to:

  • Configure firewall rules on Windows
  • Secure your services with authentication and encryption