Windows 10 – Fix Bash Not Working After Update

bashwindows 10windows-10-v1607windows-subsystem-for-linux

Today I reset Windows 10. I first activated Windows a year ago. I recently created a bootable USB flash drive using Windows 10 Media Creation Tool (I have Windows 10 pro). After the installation I went into Settings → Update and Security, there was only the Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607.

After installing and rebooting the PC, I open a command prompt, input the bash command, but nothing happens. How do I fix it? Or did I do something wrong?

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Best Answer

The Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) is still in its beta stage. This feature doesn't come pre-built, so you need to enable it. For this firstly you need to switch to developer mode.

To enable the new Developer features, do the following:

Tap on the Windows-key, type Settings and load Settings - Modern application when the search results are displayed. Switch to Update & Security > For developers to display the new features. There you may Enable "developer mode".

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Then enable Bash in Windows features.

Go to Turn on/off Windows features and select Windows Subsystem for Linux from the list. Once you have done that restart your PC.

Then search for Bash or open your cmd and type bash. Now it will ask you to download the Windows subsystem for Linux. Press "y". It will take some time to download the necessary files. Once it's finished, Bash on Ubuntu on Windows will prompt to create a default Linux user on first run. This user:

  • Does not need to have the same username as the Windows signed-in user and is treated as a distinct entity from the Windows user account.
  • Will be prompted for a new password. The password will be used for Linux commands such as sudo and not used by any system outside of WSL.
  • Will be automatically added to the sudo group.
  • Will be signed-in automatically for every Bash instance.
  • Will not require a password when launching WSL.

Each Windows user has a unique WSL instance. This means all changes made within the WSL environment are unique to that Windows user. This includes Bash users created with the adduser command.

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