[snailscale]

For anyone curious (as I was) the basic difference is that WSL1 implemented the Linux syscall table directly whereas WSL2 actually runs Linux on top of some virtual drivers (hypervisor).

[mbilker]

WSL 2 runs a full Linux kernel under Hyper-V. There are some out-of-tree or staging drivers included in Microsoft's Linux kernel derivative and they publish their kernel sources at https://github.com/microsoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel.

[dangerboysteve]

i routinely upgrade my WSL2 kernel. Now on 6.6.87.1. Personally, I love WSL2.

[marshray]

Note that in recent versions of Windows, typically the bulk of Windows now runs under a hypervisor (i.e., "in a VM") as well: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/de...