Linux is the underlying operating system kernel, and that isn't available here. Microsoft worked with Canonical to offer a full Ubuntu-based Bash shell environment that runs atop this subsystem. While Wine allows you to run Windows applications directly on Linux, the Windows Subsystem for Linux allows you to run Linux applications directly on Windows.
It's based on Microsoft's abandoned Project Astoria work for running Android apps on Windows. This isn't a virtual machine, a container, or Linux software compiled for Windows (like Cygwin). Windows 10 offers a full Windows Subsystem intended for Linux (WSL) for running Linux software. What You Need to Know About Windows 10's Bash Shell How Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 (WSL1) Works You can now run Ubuntu, openSUSE, a remix of Fedora, and plenty of others on Windows, with more Linux distributions coming soon. The Windows Subsystem for Linux, introduced in the Anniversary Update, became a stable feature in the Fall Creators Update.
