# Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 159 Hacker News commenters recommended Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and 101 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 3 years (9 owners). **Verdict:** Gives developers stuck on Windows, especially on corporate laptops, a real Linux environment without dual booting or switching OS, though file access across the Windows/Linux boundary is slow. ## Why people recommend it - Linux dev on Windows machines (5 comments): "modern WSL2 seems totally fine to me. It is the key ingredient that allows me to have one workstation that can do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47301588)) "I switched from developing in Linux VMs to WSL about 3 years ago and have used it daily for development." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47301604)) "WSL and Windows Terminal has done a fantastic job at delaying my move to Linux as my primary desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46567561)) - Lifeline for corporate Windows laptops (3 comments): "WSL is getting better, even with minor releases. It's the only reason I didn't switch my most recent corporate provided laptop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033425)) "WSL is an underrated component in enterprises, and quite often the only way you can get close to Linux." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48408423)) "WSL has been god send for corporate employees who get a windows laptop but need to do real work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031565)) - Shared files across both systems (3 comments): "A single source checkout I can work on from both sides; no inconsistency of forgetting that I need to apply changes twice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033618)) "I like WSL for when I'm working in Windows and need to run some quick bash and handle the output in Windows file explorer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035630)) "I can access Linux files and edit them with Windows while running local servers on different ports" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45942317)) - Avoids dual booting or OS migration (3 comments): "you would never have to go through the process of migrating to an entirely new OS and still get all of the benefits" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48000358)) "I find WSL to be very useful. Much better than my previous method of dual booting Linux and Windows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47832642)) "Having a full Windows desktop with a Linux install saves me from formatting and partitioning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48127347)) ## What people warn about - Slow cross-filesystem performance (5 comments): "performance issues make it impossible to do many things across the FS boundary in practice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48395730)) "many software developers couldn't or wouldn't use WSL because of the slow file operations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47254555)) "WSL file speeds, especially when running npm install, were the impetus that ultimately got me to switch off of Windows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406391)) - Filesystem and permission mismatches (3 comments): "Mostly its related to filesystem and permissions. Interface between windows and Linux, and mismatch in how the two work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47830626)) "Then you get flaky file watchers, odd perms, and a dev setup that feels like a workaround piled on top of another workaround." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415923)) "Microsoft had to warn users that they would corrupt the original WSL subsystem if they touched Linux files using Windows tools" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649349)) - Quirks and friction between systems (4 comments): "it has some annoying quirks with how their Wayland implementation behaves with DWM, but otherwise it's just a Linux environment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47830833)) "No matter what you do, there will always be some weird platform detection or line termination that pops up somewhere." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47301059)) "I've been met with friction and weird quirks in the interaction between them every time I have tried to use it myself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47851469)) - Not a full VM or hardware passthrough (2 comments): "You can't run a proper VM there though, something like a normal distro with systemd, KDE Wayland session and etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46117101)) "the shared filesystem is incredibly slow, there is no hardware passthrough support out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48256893)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Wine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wine.md): 329 recommend - [WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wsl2.md): 115 recommend - [Cygwin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cygwin.md): 25 recommend - [WinApps](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winapps.md): 19 recommend - [Rosetta](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rosetta.md): 18 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-subsystem-for-linux/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).