Microsoft has implemented support for the WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) subsystem in Windows Server 2022. Initially, the WSL2 subsystem, which provides running Linux executables on Windows, was offered only on Windows for workstations, but now Microsoft has ported this subsystem to server editions of Windows. Components for WSL2 support on Windows Server are currently available for testing in the form of experimental update KB5014021 (OS Build 20348.740). In the June cumulative update, support for WSL2-based Linux environments is planned to be integrated into the main part of Windows Server 2022 and offered to all users.
To ensure running Linux executables, WSL2 abandoned the use of an emulator that translated Linux system calls to Windows system calls and switched to providing an environment with a full-fledged Linux kernel. The proposed kernel for WSL is based on the release of the Linux 5.10 kernel, which is extended with WSL-specific patches, including optimizations to reduce kernel startup time, reduce memory consumption, return memory freed by Linux processes to Windows, and leave the minimum required set of drivers and subsystems in the kernel.
The kernel runs in a Windows environment using a virtual machine already running in Azure. The WSL environment runs in a separate disk image (VHD) with an ext4 file system and a virtual network adapter. The user-space components are installed separately and are based on builds of various distributions. For example, the Microsoft Store offers builds of Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux, Kali Linux, Fedora, Alpine, SUSE, and openSUSE for installation on WSL.
Source: opennet.ru