Accessing WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) files from PowerShell and Vice Versa

To access WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) files from PowerShell, you can do so through the special \\wsl$\ network path or by navigating directly to the WSL distribution's file system mounted under your user profile. Here are the two main ways:

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1. Using the \\wsl$ Network Path (Recommended)

This gives you access to the Linux file system in a user-friendly way.

cd "\\wsl$\Ubuntu-20.04\home\<your-username>"

Steps:

1. Open PowerShell.

2. Use cd to navigate to your Linux home directory via the \\wsl$ path.

3. Replace Ubuntu-20.04 with your actual WSL distro name (wsl -l shows a list).

4. Replace <your-username> with your Linux username.

You can also explore this path in File Explorer:

• Open Run (Win + R)

• Type: \\wsl$\Ubuntu-20.04

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2. Access via AppData (Not Recommended for Writing)

You can access the raw WSL filesystem from this hidden path:

cd "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages"

Then navigate to the folder:

...\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_<random>\LocalState\rootfs\

⚠️ Warning: Avoid editing files here directly as it may cause corruption. This is intended for internal use.

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Access Windows Files from WSL

If you want to do the reverse—access Windows files from inside WSL:

cd /mnt/c/Users/YourWindowsUsername/Desktop

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Check Installed Distros

Run this in PowerShell to list installed WSL distros:

wsl -l