How to install Ubuntu Bash on Windows 10 natively, without using dual boot

1. Assure you have the latest Windows 10 release. 
2. Open PowerShell as administrator. 
3. Run this command:
   Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux 
4. Restart when prompted. 
5. Download your choice of WSL from the Windows Store, e.g. Ubuntu 
6. Click on Ubuntu from the Start window to install it. 
7. Enter new username and password. 
8. End. 

Detailed explanation:

1- First, assure that your Windows 10 is up to date

You can do this by clicking on WIN + i,
and then select Update & Security,
then press Check for Updates.

2- Now, open PowerShell as an administrator 

The easiest way is to open PowerShell is to press the WIN + x key combination. From there you can select to open PowerShell as an administrator.

3- Enable  the Windows optional feature shown below

At the PowerShell terminal type the following command:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux 

Reference: docs.microsoft.com

4- Restart the computer when prompted

Let it run. Then, restart the computer when the restart message is displayed in the terminal.

5- Download Ubuntu from the Windows Store

After the computer starts, log in and visit the Windows Store to download Ubuntu or other Linux distros if available.

The download is free, but you still need to log into your Microsoft account to download Ubuntu.

6- Open Ubuntu 

To start Ubuntu, open the Windows Start window and click on the Ubuntu icon.

Installation will start.

7- Create a terminal user account

Next, you will be asked to create a username and enter a password. This is the main Ubuntu user, but you can add other users later.

You'll find more about users in the following URL: docs.microsoft.com

8- Enjoy it

When the installation ends, you may play with it or just write exit to close the Bash terminal.

Next time you want to use Bash, click on the Ubuntu icon again.

I hope this helps,
Tony de Araujo

About the author

Further research and updates

a) Running Ubuntu shell from within PowerShell

Once WSL is installed, you can also access the Linux shell by typing wsl ENTER from within PowerShell.
To exit, type exit ENTER.

• Official Guide for future reading : Windows Subsystem for Linux Installation Guide for Windows 10

b) Upgrading to WSL 2

At the time of this post, WSL 2 is only available with Windows build 18917 or higher.

Unless you have joined the Windows Insider Program, you will not have this Windows version yet.

To verify which Windows build you currently have, press the key combination WIN i.
Then, click System, and at the bottom, select About.
You will see your current Windows version and build number in there.

If your build is 18917 or higher, read the instructions in the following official URL to install WSL 2 . You can use both versions WSl and WSL 2 in your system and toggle from one to the other.

• How to upgrade to WSL 2: 
  docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-install
• What exactly is WSL 2? devblogs.microsoft.com

c) Visual Studio Code users

If you use Visual Studio Code, you may want to visit the following VSC page for some tips on how to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as your full-time development environment right from VS Code:

• code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/wsl

Best of luck,

Tony