Linux – Open file behavior using Ranger in Windows Subsystem for Linux

rangerwindows-subsystem-for-linux

I am using Microsoft Windows ([Version 10.0.15063]) subsystem for Linux and observe an unexpected behavior when opening files using Ranger file manager in bash.

For example, I have ~/.config/rifle.conf set to open .txt extensions in Sublime Text 3:

ext txt = "/mnt/c/Program Files/Sublime Text 3/sublime_text.exe" "$@"

When I hit enter to open an existing text file that contains data, Sublime does open the file, but there is no actual text/data in the file displayed in Sublime. I can close the file and open using Windows file explorer and the text is there.

Interestingly, the path Sublime sees is 'C\mnt\c\path\to\my\file.txt'.

Is this some issue with Windows not being able to see /mnt? I'd love to be able to use Ranger as my file manager on WSL, has anyone seen this behavior and possibly discovered a fix? Thanks all!

Best Answer

As laktak explained, WSL will not translate the file path from Unix pathing to Windows pathing. I just wrote a Gist on how I handle this, reproduced below:

Make sure you have WSL with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update installed. Ranger uses rifle as a file handler and you need its config file, rifle.conf. If you dont have it (should be in ~/.config/ranger/rifle.conf), run the command ranger --copy-config=rifle, then edit the resulting file.

To run Windows applications from Ranger, we will use cmd.exe /C start "" <file>, which works after the Fall Creators Update. We will solve the pathing issue by using sed to translate the path.

Add below code to your rifle.conf and you will be able to run Windows applications for the chosen file extensions.

ext docx?|xlsx?|pptx?|pdf = echo "$@" | sed -e 's;/mnt/\(.\);\1:;' -e 's/.*/"&"/' -e 's:/:\\:g' | xargs cmd.exe /C start ""

start should be able to run applications associated with file extensions implicitly, but if for some reason it doesnt work, you can also explicitly tell start which executable to run. Just remove the "" and add one of excel, winword, powerpnt, AcroRd32.exe, etc. Note that in this case you will need one line in rifle.conf for each application. As an example:

ext docx? = echo "$@" | sed -e 's;/mnt/\(.\);\1:;' -e 's/.*/"&"/' -e 's:/:\\:g' | xargs cmd.exe /C start winword
ext xlsx? = echo "$@" | sed -e 's;/mnt/\(.\);\1:;' -e 's/.*/"&"/' -e 's:/:\\:g' | xargs cmd.exe /C start excel

Additional Reading

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Linux – How to access UNC paths using the Windows Subsystem for Linux

In the latest Windows release "Fall Creators Update" it is possible to mount UNC paths, or any other filesystem that Windows can access, from within WSL.

You can do this with the mount command as usual, with the filesystem "drvfs" provided by WSL:

sudo mount -t drvfs '\\server\share' /mnt/share

Single quotes are useful around the UNC path so that you don't have to escape the backslashes. You can mount on an arbitrary directory; I've used /mnt/share as an example here, but any empty directory will do.

All files will show up with full a+rwx 777 permissions. The real access rights will be checked when you try to access a file, and you can get an error at that point even if it looks like the operation should succeed. Every readable file will be treated as executable.

For locations that require credentials you have three options:

Prior to mounting, navigate to the location using Windows' File Explorer and authenticate. WSL will inherit your credentials and permissions. This is the easiest way for a one-off.
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Use the Windows Credential Manager to set up a stored credential. I've never done this one.

I understand that Samba proper can be made to work under WSL as well, but since the host provides the same functionality I would use the built-in version from Windows when it's available. smbclient is primarily for FTP-style access to SMB servers and retrieving/putting individual files, and it should work when appropriately configured as usual.

Linux – SSH linux subsystem windows 10

You need the April 2018 update to Windows:

Starting in Windows Insiders Build 17046, WSL supports background tasks (including daemons). In the past, if you opened WSL and started sshd, httpd, screen, or tmux you needed to have a console window open to keep those tools running. But, starting with 17046, these processes will continue running in the background even after the last console window has been closed.

The April update is build 17133.1 and includes this change.

Alternatively, you can continue to use an earlier version and just leave the window open, or use the third-party wabash tool to pretend you did.

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