Windows 10 Now Has Arch Linux Along With Ubuntu, SUSE And Other Complete Linux Distros On Microsoft Store
Microsoft has been steadily making its latest Operating System (OS) Windows 10 Linux-friendly. The routinely updated OS recently included several components that are needed by Linux. Now Microsoft has added another complete Linux distribution, commonly known as a ‘Distro’ for Windows 10. Arch Linux is a full-fledged Linux Distro that should run comfortably on 32-bit and 64-bit PCs.
Windows 10 now has complete native support for Linux kernel. This means users interested in running Open Source Linux will not have to struggle with getting their desired OS up and running within a Windows environment. However, not resting after adding the ability to natively run Linux, Microsoft has gone ahead and announced the availability of Arch Linux, one of the many professional OS distributions, on Microsoft Store. Essentially, a complete Linux distribution is now available as an app for Windows 10.
Incidentally, Microsoft offers quite a few other Linux distros as downloadable apps on the app repository. Arch Linux’s inclusion is noteworthy because it is primarily aimed at professionals. Although general users can try out the Linux distro, it is not meant for beginners.
Running Arch Linux within Windows 10 is fairly simple. However, it won’t run on PCs running Windows 10 in S Mode. Windows 10 users have to first exit the S Mode. Thereafter, users need to enable the ‘Windows Subsystem for Linux’ setting in Windows 10. The setting is available in ‘Windows Features’, which is accessible through the taskbar. Some users could see a Beta tag, but that shouldn’t be a concern. After downloading the Arch Linux from Microsoft App Store, users can simply initiate the launch by entering “archlinux” in cmd.exe or launch Arch Linux from the start menu.
Arch Linux is a fairly seasoned distribution. It is as popular as Ubuntu, Mint, SUSE, and Fedora. First released way back in 2002, Arch Linux is a general purpose Linux distro. It has been designed to run smoothly both on 32-bit as well as 64-bit PCs.
Interestingly, the distro follows a “rolling release” update model. In simple words, new packages are installed daily. Several popular distributions follow the scheduled update release model. Incidentally, the distro gets monthly update ISO images as well. Some of the other popular Linux distros currently available on Microsoft Store include Ubuntu, openSUSE, etc.
