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The new Windows subsystem for Linux architecture: a deep dive - BRK3068

3 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this talk2 months2019–2023 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN points to it as the authoritative source for how WSL2 works and why Microsoft rebuilt it.

A Microsoft Build 2019 session in which the WSL team explains the new WSL 2 architecture, which runs a real Linux kernel alongside Windows on a hypervisor. It covers faster file performance, Linux file access from Windows and better application support.

“the Build talk where WSL2 was introduced is pretty in-depth and does a great job of talking about the motivation” (HN, 2020)

2 recommendations · 4 citations · Talks · advanced · partly dated

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@filmgirlcw Jun 2019 Recommends
on HN thread Microsoft's Linux Kernel
It’s happening at the hypervisor level, and in this case it’s Type 1, so I guess you could but I don’t know how. My ops colleagues are hanging their heads at me right now. You can learn more about the architecture of WSL2 in this video from Build [this video]
Explains the WSL2 architecture.
@mikepurvis Jan 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Wine 5.0
If you're interested, the Build talk where WSL2 was introduced is pretty in-depth and does a great job of talking about the motivation. See starting around this point: [this video]
In-depth talk on WSL2 motivation.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@pjmlp Jun 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Microsoft's Linux Kernel
WSL2 does use 9P, here is the BUILD session about it. "The new Windows subsystem for Linux architecture: a deep dive - BRK3068" [this video]
Build session confirming WSL2 uses 9P.
@sandGorgon Jan 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Ending Support for macOS and Linux
[this video] WinNT Kernel and Linux Kernel are running on top of Hypervisor platform side-by-side .... not one-in-the-other.
Shows NT and Linux kernels running side-by-side on hypervisor.
@lower May 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Initial Impressions of WSL 2
> It seems the obvious way to do this was to have SMB mounts on either side and optimize the hell out of the already existing SMB implementations on both OSes to get the performance close enough to disk. That's basically what they're doing, only that it's not SMB but 9p protocol servers. Here is a video where they discuss the WSL2 architecture. The link is time-stamped to go to an overview picture of the architecture. [this video]
Discusses WSL2 architecture with overview diagram.
@FatalException Apr 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Searchable Linux Syscall Table for x86 and x86_64
The WSL2 architecture video lists two motivators from WSL1 based on number of Github issues. One of them being file performance and the other syscall compatibility with some specific examples being the ptrace syscall and Docker compatibilty. [this video] The HN submission for the youtube video also has discussion about the same topics. [link]
Lists motivators from WSL1: file performance and syscall compatibility.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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