Microsoft has released Windows Subsystem (WSL) 2.0.0 for Linux with a number of experimental new features, including a new network mode and automatic memory and disk size cleanup.

For starters, the newly added Automatic Memory Gain feature dynamically shrinks the amount of WSL virtual machine (VM) memory when used to reclaim cached memory. Another notable addition in this release is the “Sparse VHD” feature, which automatically reduces the size of the WSL Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) as described earlier.

Additionally, this WSL update introduces “network mirroring,” a new networking mode that not only provides new capabilities but also improves network interoperability. Benefits of enabling mirroring in WSL include IPv6 and multicast support, improved network compatibility for VPNs, and the ability to connect to a WSL virtual machine from a local area network (LAN) and to Windows servers from a Linux virtual machine.

WSL 2.0.0 also includes “DNS Tunneling,” a feature that changes the way WSL uses to resolve DNS queries to improve network compatibility, Microsoft’s WSL program manager Craig Lowen said Monday.

“This allows us to resolve a DNS name query without sending a network packet, allowing you to get better Internet access even if you have a VPN, custom firewall settings, or other network configurations,” Lowen said.

“This feature will improve network compatibility by reducing the likelihood of not having a network connection within WSL.”

WSL now also has a Hyper-V firewall feature that will enforce Windows Firewall rules and provide advanced firewall management options for the WSL virtual machine. Additionally, the newly introduced “autoProxy” feature allows WSL to seamlessly use proxy information from Windows, further improving network compatibility.

Some of these experimental features (like network mirroring, DNS tunneling, and Hyper-V firewall) are only available to Windows Insiders in the Release Preview Channel running Windows 11 22H2 who have installed Windows 11 build 22621.2359 (KB5030310).

A full list of all new features and bug fixes coming with WSL 2.0.0 is available on the project’s GitHub page. Today’s release comes after Microsoft announced in November that WSL was now available to Windows 10 and 11 users via the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft introduced WSL in March 2018 as a compatibility layer that allows users to run Linux binaries on Windows computers via PowerShell or the Windows 10 command line. In May 2019, Redmond was released with significantly improved file system performance and expanded support for full system call compatibility. WSL 2 achieves this by placing the Linux kernel in a simplified virtual machine (VM).

WSL 2 also introduced support for Linux applications with a graphical user interface (GUI), known as WSLg, which stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI. WSLg began rolling out Windows 10 Insiders in May 2021. Source