Quick Tip - Customizing WSL Starting Directory
Hi, I’m Alvin! I write about tech, and love sharing what I learn. If you have any questions or suggestions, please reach out - I'm always up for a quick chat.
If you’re using WSL like I am on Windows 11 - you most likely have run into the issue where launching WSL from the applications menu was starting you at /mnt/c/windows/system32:
If you need to customize this to work in your home directory, you can customize it in the properties of the application.
First, you need to open the file location - since this is a shortcut:
Once there, right click and hit properties:
Finally, in the “Start in” field, type in ~/:
Once you click apply, and you most likely will need to approve as an administrator, you can start a new WSL session and you’ll be in your home directory:
🎉🎉🎉 You’re now starting in the default directory when launching WSL.
References
WSL starting in /mnt/c/windows/system32
https://superuser.com/questions/1732336/wsl-starting-in-mnt-c-windows-system32
