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I want to explore the Linux systems programming course by University of Colorado and for that I need to install Linux as a VirtualBox VM on windows as it has a snapshot feature which lets the user restore the progress in case of a crash. The reason for using WSL instead of VB is to save the space, as I think that WSL would not require 200 GB of space as required for VB.

Also, I want to try out bizarre things which might corrupt the WSL or make the kernel panic but I still want to make sure that this does not damage the windows.

VirtualBox snapshot feature

VirtualBox storage space requirements

Source: https://github.com/cu-ecen-aeld/aesd-assignments/wiki/Virtualbox-Environment-Setup

A.L
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lousycoder
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2 Answers2

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I would first establish whether WSL is a usable substitute for your project. You will not have a proper desktop environment, which is the reason it has a smaller distributable size.

You can comfortably run most Linux distributions with around 30 or less gigabytes, so it is highly likely that the course is recommending that size for a reason (perhaps there are supplementary components required down the line). As a result, using WSL may save you little space anyways.

Should you wish to continue, WSL supports exporting and importing snapshots of your distribution, using the following commands:

wsl --export <Distribution Name> <FileName>
wsl --import <Distribution Name> <FileName>

See this answer and the Microsoft documentation page.

wildkoala
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WSL does not support snapshots at this time. You would need install Hyper-V, VirtualBox, or another hypervisor to do snapshotting and reverting easily.

Keltari
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