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VSCode Remote: Connect to WSL2 from another machine

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remote-wsl.md

VSCode Remote: Connect to WSL2 from another machine

Do you want to do remote development on your WSL2 container in Visual Studio Code? Read this.

Proxy jump method

On the host set up OpenSSH for Windows
Run wsl --update to make sure you are running the latest WSL
Open WSL and install another SSH server inside WSL with sudo apt-get install openssh-server
Now run sudo systemctl enable --now ssh to automatically start ssh when WSL starts.
On the remote machine run ssh -J windows_user@windows_ip wsl_user@localhost to see if the proxy jump will work

If you see the bash prompt it works. You can add it to the ~/.ssh/config file on the remote machine.

Host remote-wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyJump windows_user@windows_ip
  StrictHostKeyChecking no

Now connect with ssh remote-wsl.

Credit

ajihyf's comment

Default shell method

Change your OpenSSH shell

SSH to your Windows host (SSH Server must be installed in Windows Features)

ssh user@windowshost

Start Powershell

powershell

Run this command to switch SSH from CMD to WSL

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\WINDOWS\System32\bash.exe" -PropertyType String -Force

Test

ssh user@windowshost

You should now see WSL2 instead of CMD

Connect from VSCode

At this point you can connect to your Win10 host with Remote SSH in VSCode with your Windows username and pw. But you'll actually start and connect to WSL2.

Install the Remote - SSH extension
Add a new SSH target and connect with your Windows host, username and password (you will automatically log in as the Linux user)

Credit

The workaround was inspired by: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/the-easy-way-how-to-ssh-into-bash-and-wsl2-on-windows-10-from-an-external-machine

Author

mattbell87 commented Jun 28, 2022

This looks like the solution I'm needing right now.

Not familiar with this level of registry stuff in windows. Does this persist across reboots?

Is there a way to still access CMD, either externally via SSH or internally from the WSL instance, should I need it? I occasionally will need to run commands from CMD in windows in my development work.

It does persist across reboots and you can access Windows programs from WSL, eg if your type powershell.exe you'll get a PowerShell prompt.

mckamyk commented Jun 28, 2022 •

edited

Loading

This looks like the solution I'm needing right now.
Not familiar with this level of registry stuff in windows. Does this persist across reboots?
Is there a way to still access CMD, either externally via SSH or internally from the WSL instance, should I need it? I occasionally will need to run commands from CMD in windows in my development work.

It does persist across reboots and you can access Windows programs from WSL, eg if your type powershell.exe you'll get a PowerShell prompt.

Well, I ended up trying it out, but I'm not sure its what I want. Because Windows's SSH daemon is whats brokering the VSCode client, the file system scope is from Window's FS. I've a lots of performance issues running linux binaries on Window's FS, because its translating through a some kind of quasi-network share between the Linux VM and Windows FS. When connected this way, I'm not able to mount VSCode on folders that are inside the Linux VM it appears.

I'm setting up an SSH tunnel from my remote machine, where the tunnel has windows point to the Linux's SSH server, and VS code is connecting to that.

# the -t argument dumps you into default shell on default distro
ssh winUser@winIp -t "C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe"
# to get IP of VM, e.g. 172.18.222.18
ip a
# make sure sshd is started, listening on non-22. e.g. 2222
sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -D

# back on the local machine, leave this running...
ssh winUser@winIp -L 2244:172.18.222.18:2222

# use this as the SSH command on the Remote - SSH host config
ssh wslUser@localhost -p 2244

This way VSCode is mounted inside the VM natively with better IO performance.

q815101630 commented Sep 11, 2022

One small issue I faced is that when I connected to a Windows host and applied the command, it will not immediately work because VScode would still try to connect to a Windows Powershell next time.
What I did is delete the corresponding remote.SSH.remotePlatform entry in the user setting file. Now it works. Thank you

vbrozik commented Oct 6, 2022 •

edited

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In this AskUbuntu answer Access WSL2 Ubuntu's application on hosted machine's network there is a nice solution how to make a TCP port from WSL2 accessible over network. You can run a ssh daemon inside WSL2, make it accessible and connect over SSH as to a usual Linux machine.

It does not need the additional unnecessary SSH encryption and running sshd on the Windows host. It uses a simple TCP proxy netsh interface portproxy.

wsl_win_proxy() {
    wsl_ip="$(ip route | grep -oP '^.*src \K[0-9\.]+')"
    wsl_port="8080"

    win_ip="0.0.0.0"
    win_port="8080"

    rule_name="Inbound TCP ${win_port}"
    win_get_fw_rule_cmd="Get-NetFirewallRule | Where { \$_.DisplayName -eq '${rule_name}' }"
    win_new_fw_rule_cmd="New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName '${rule_name}' -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort ${win_port}"

    if ! netsh.exe interface portproxy show all | grep -q -P "${win_ip}\s+${win_port}\s+${wsl_ip}\s+${wsl_port}"
    then
        powershell.exe Start-Process -Verb runAs -FilePath "netsh.exe" \
            -ArgumentList "interface","portproxy","add","v4tov4",\
                    "listenport=$win_port","listenaddress=$win_ip",\
                    "connectport=$wsl_port","connectaddress=$wsl_ip"

        if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]
        then
            echo "Port proxy '${win_ip}:${win_port} > ${wsl_ip}:${wsl_port}' is created."
        else
            echo "Port proxy '${win_ip}:${win_port} > ${wsl_ip}:${wsl_port}' failed."
        fi

        if ! powershell.exe ${win_get_fw_rule_cmd} | grep -q "$rule_name"
        then
            echo "Open PowerShell as Admin and create the following firewall rule:"
            echo -e '\033[1;33m'"$win_new_fw_rule_cmd"'\033[0m'
        fi
    fi
}
wsl_win_proxy

awohaoa commented Oct 22, 2022 •

edited

Loading

I'm only able to use this to remote in once: after that, subsequent connection attempts result in The file cannot be accessed by the system. Connection to [local IP address] closed. until I reboot the Windows host. I can't connect with VSCode SSH Remote at all.

@jimjam-slam I have the same problem as one, did you solve it?

awohaoa commented Oct 22, 2022 •

edited

Loading

Hello @mattbell87,
I'm having a problem with ssh connections, but I'm not sure what's causing it.
Here is my connection log

C:\Users\mems>ssh -v [email protected]
OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.6p1, LibreSSL 3.4.3
debug1: Reading configuration data C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/config
debug1: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/config line 1: Applying options for 192.168.1.72
debug1: Authenticator provider $SSH_SK_PROVIDER did not resolve; disabling
debug1: Connecting to 192.168.1.72 [192.168.1.72] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk-cert type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_xmss type -1
debug1: identity file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_xmss-cert type -1
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.6
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.6
debug1: compat_banner: match: OpenSSH_for_Windows_8.6 pat OpenSSH* compat 0x04000000
debug1: Authenticating to 192.168.1.72:22 as 'mems'
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts2: No such file or directory
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen __PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_known_hosts: No such file or directory
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen __PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_known_hosts2: No such file or directory
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ssh-ed25519
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: [email protected] MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: [email protected] MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY received
debug1: Server host key: ssh-ed25519 SHA256:9YTeeXvvXZv+IRjWZ5VFdzJ9R4NkEeXbqrJWe6lnEQo
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts2: No such file or directory
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen __PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_known_hosts: No such file or directory
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen __PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_known_hosts2: No such file or directory
debug1: Host '192.168.1.72' is known and matches the ED25519 host key.
debug1: Found key in C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts:1
debug1: rekey out after 134217728 blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: rekey in after 134217728 blocks
debug1: pubkey_prepare: ssh_get_authentication_socket: No such file or directory
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
debug1: Will attempt key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_xmss
debug1: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO received
debug1: kex_input_ext_info: server-sig-algs=<ssh-ed25519,[email protected],ssh-rsa,rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512,ssh-dss,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,[email protected],[email protected]>
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
debug1: Trying private key: C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/id_xmss
debug1: Next authentication method: keyboard-interactive
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
debug1: Next authentication method: password
[email protected]'s password:
debug1: Authentication succeeded (password).
Authenticated to 192.168.1.72 ([192.168.1.72]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting [email protected]
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: pledge: filesystem full
debug1: ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_INPUT is supported. Reading the VTSequence from console
debug1: ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING is supported. Console supports the ansi parsing
debug1: client_input_global_request: rtype [email protected] want_reply 0
debug1: client_input_hostkeys: searching C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts for 192.168.1.72 / (none)
debug1: client_input_hostkeys: searching C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts2 for 192.168.1.72 / (none)
debug1: client_input_hostkeys: hostkeys file C:\\Users\\mems/.ssh/known_hosts2 does not exist
debug1: client_input_hostkeys: no new or deprecated keys from server
debug1: ssh_get_authentication_socket: No such file or directory
The file cannot be accessed by the system.
debug1: client_input_channel_req: channel 0 rtype exit-status reply 0
debug1: client_input_channel_req: channel 0 rtype [email protected] reply 0
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
Connection to 192.168.1.72 closed.
Transferred: sent 2032, received 2688 bytes, in 0.1 seconds
Bytes per second: sent 25999.3, received 34392.8
debug1: Exit status 0

Author

mattbell87 commented Oct 22, 2022

@awohaoa looks like it is authenticating correctly, but it's not running your default shell correctly. Maybe open regedit and go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH, make sure the app in DefaultShell is something that runs and stays open.

awohaoa commented Oct 23, 2022 •

edited

Loading

@awohaoa looks like it is authenticating correctly, but it's not running your default shell correctly. Maybe open regedit and go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH, make sure the app in DefaultShell is something that runs and stays open.

Hi ,@mattbell87
I have checked regedit and I found that I have set the default shell to bash.

But I found that it still calls cmd.exe instead of bash

[12:52:03.686] SSH Resolver called for "ssh-remote+192.168.1.72", attempt 5, (Reconnection)
[12:52:03.687] SSH Resolver called for host: 192.168.1.72
[12:52:03.688] Setting up SSH remote "192.168.1.72"
[12:52:03.689] Using commit id "fad3a77833b9249158dfd88477114a06435e46a2" and quality "insider" for server
[12:52:03.691] Install and start server if needed
[12:52:07.269] Running script with connection command: ssh -T -D 58369 "192.168.1.72" bash
[12:52:07.271] Terminal shell path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe
[12:52:08.399] > [email protected]'s password:�]0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe�
[12:52:08.399] Got some output, clearing connection timeout
[12:52:08.400] Showing password prompt

By the way,here is my wsl2 version information, I am not sure if it is related to this version

PS C:\Users\mems> wsl.exe --version
WSL Version： 0.70.0.0
Kernel Version： 5.15.68.1
WSLg Version： 1.0.45
MSRDC Version： 1.2.3575
Direct3D Version： 1.606.4
DXCore Version： 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
WindowsVersion： 10.0.22621.674

joelhampe commented Dec 15, 2022

I'm only able to use this to remote in once: after that, subsequent connection attempts result in The file cannot be accessed by the system. Connection to [local IP address] closed. until I reboot the Windows host. I can't connect with VSCode SSH Remote at all.

@jimjam-slam I have the same problem as one, did you solve it?

I started seeing this as well. Turns out it was from upgrading to WSL in the MSFT store. As noted here there is a known issue with that version and the fix is to uninstall the store version. That fixed it for me.

https://superuser.com/questions/1714736/cannot-run-wsl2-over-ssh-on-windows-11

FarisHijazi commented Dec 29, 2022

I'm only able to use this to remote in once: after that, subsequent connection attempts result in The file cannot be accessed by the system. Connection to [local IP address] closed. until I reboot the Windows host. I can't connect with VSCode SSH Remote at all.

@jimjam-slam I have the same problem as one, did you solve it?

I started seeing this as well. Turns out it was from upgrading to WSL in the MSFT store. As noted here there is a known issue with that version and the fix is to uninstall the store version. That fixed it for me.

https://superuser.com/questions/1714736/cannot-run-wsl2-over-ssh-on-windows-11

THANK YOU!! this is what I was looking for

JeffreyLin39 commented Jan 15, 2023

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

thelastfantasy commented Jan 23, 2023

Maybe need to run this command after OpenSSH Server installed (with Administrator Command Prompt).
net start sshd

sungkim11 commented Jan 23, 2023

I came to a realization that the only way to do this reliably is via the use of third party services like Tailscale.

okamototomoyuki commented Jan 26, 2023

I am being repeatedly prompted to enter a password in VSCode.
Each time I input it, the following message appears.
What can I do to resolve this issue?

[18:02:36.830] Got password response
[18:02:36.830] "install" wrote data to terminal: "**********"
[18:02:36.883] > 
> 
[18:02:37.446] > c87f957e6d36: running
> Acquiring lock on /home/MYUSER/.vscode-server/bin/784b0177c56c607789f9638da7b
> 6bf3230d47a8c/vscode-remote-lock.MYUSER.784b0177c56c607789f9638da7b6bf3230d47
> a8c
> Installation already in progress...
> If you continue to see this message, you can try toggling the remote.SSH.useFloc
> k setting
> c87f957e6d36: start
> exitCode==24==
> listeningOn====
> osReleaseId==ubuntu==
> arch==x86_64==
> tmpDir==/tmp==
> platform==linux==
> unpackResult====
> didLocalDownload==0==
> downloadTime====
> installTime====
> extInstallTime====
> serverStartTime====
> c87f957e6d36: end
> 
[18:02:37.446] Received install output: 
exitCode==24==
listeningOn====
osReleaseId==ubuntu==
arch==x86_64==
tmpDir==/tmp==
platform==linux==
unpackResult====
didLocalDownload==0==
downloadTime====
installTime====
extInstallTime====
serverStartTime====

[18:02:37.446] Server installation process already in progress - waiting and retrying
[18:02:37.765] "install" terminal command done
[18:02:37.766] Install terminal quit with output: 
[18:02:38.453] Running script with connection command: ssh -T -D 54675 "IPADDRESS" bash
[18:02:38.461] Terminal shell path: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
[18:02:38.905] > 
[18:02:38.905] Got some output, clearing connection timeout
[18:02:39.470] > MYUSER@IPADDRESS's password:
[18:02:39.470] Showing password prompt

okamototomoyuki commented Jan 27, 2023

[18:02:37.446] Server installation process already in progress - waiting and retrying
[18:02:37.765] "install" terminal command done
[18:02:37.766] Install terminal quit with output: 
[18:02:38.453] Running script with connection command: ssh -T -D 54675 "IPADDRESS" bash
[18:02:38.461] Terminal shell path: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
[18:02:38.905] > 
[18:02:38.905] Got some output, clearing connection timeout
[18:02:39.470] > MYUSER@IPADDRESS's password:
[18:02:39.470] Showing password prompt

I apologize, this error was resolved by deleting the '.vscode-server' folder.
However, it does not work after the following command.
Does anyone know what the problem is?

[09:07:37.119] > scp: /home/MYUSER/.vscode-server/bin/784b0177c56c607789f9638da7b6bf3230d47a8c
> : No such file or directory
> 
[09:07:37.455] "Copy server to host" terminal command done
[09:07:38.464] > 
[09:07:41.399] > 
[09:07:44.481] > 
[09:07:47.551] > 
[09:07:50.622] > 
[09:07:53.402] >

astanziola commented Mar 12, 2023

Hi everyone! I've got all the tricks in place and I can open the wsl form remote.

By the way, if someone still gets the "Access is denied" problem when trying to open the wsl from an ssh session, this worked for me: microsoft/WSL#4920 (comment)

However, when I try to connect the remote extension it doesn't manage to connect to the remote machine. It connects instead if the default terminal is cmd or powershell, rather than wsl / bash.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem?

Interestingly, before connecting, the remote extension doesn't ask if the system is a Windows or Linux machine, so perhaps it assumes is Windows and then somehow fails because it finds another terminal?

elfmimi commented Mar 21, 2023 •

edited

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I'm not yet fully convinced myself, but you only need to change remote.SSH.remotePlatform for your Windows host to Linux.
What I mean is that you don't have to change DefaultShell .
~~Then Remote-SSH will recognize the situation and automatically launches wsl before making handshake with vscode-server.~~
Then Remote-SSH will connect to Windows host with something like ssh -t {hostname} bash . This will effectively launch wsl by executing C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe .
At least that it how I understand it. ~~You may also need WSL extension installed, not sure.~~
You need either of wget or curl installed in your wsl env.

jorlow commented Jul 13, 2023 •

edited

Loading

I got access denied. Instead I just ran openssh within wsl2 on port 2222 and did this from within powershell.

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 listenport=2222 connectaddress=127.0.0.1 connectport=2222

I then just ssh to port 2222 and it's forwarded to the wsl2 version of openssh.

ajihyf commented Nov 16, 2023

Latest WSL2 has systemctl support and can automatically map sshd's connection to the Windows host. No need to redirect port.

Make sure Windows OpenSSH works.
In windows, run wsl --update to make sure use latest WSL.
In WSL, run sudo apt-get install openssh-server to install ssh and sudo systemctl enable --now ssh to automatically start ssh when WSL starts.
Run ssh -J windows_user@windows_ip wsl_user@localhost to login to ssh
If step 4 works, add the following content to .ssh/config

Host wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyJump windows_user@windows_ip
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null

Connect to wsl remote in VSCode 🎉🎉🎉

flackend commented Feb 28, 2024 •

edited

Loading

Latest WSL2 has systemctl support and can automatically map sshd's connection to the Windows host. No need to redirect port.

Make sure Windows OpenSSH works.

In windows, run wsl --update to make sure use latest WSL.

In WSL, run sudo apt-get install openssh-server to install ssh and sudo systemctl enable --now ssh to automatically start ssh when WSL starts.

Run ssh -J windows_user@windows_ip wsl_user@localhost to login to ssh

If step 4 works, add the following content to .ssh/config
Host wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyJump windows_user@windows_ip
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null
Connect to wsl remote in VSCode 🎉🎉🎉

This ☝️ ☝️ ☝️ ☝️ Thank you @ajihyf so much!

So much simpler than the other solutions out there.

astiwana commented Mar 6, 2024

Thanks a lot, works perfectly!

rakete1 commented Mar 22, 2024

Latest WSL2 has systemctl support and can automatically map sshd's connection to the Windows host. No need to redirect port.

Make sure Windows OpenSSH works.

In windows, run wsl --update to make sure use latest WSL.

In WSL, run sudo apt-get install openssh-server to install ssh and sudo systemctl enable --now ssh to automatically start ssh when WSL starts.

Run ssh -J windows_user@windows_ip wsl_user@localhost to login to ssh

If step 4 works, add the following content to .ssh/config
Host wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyJump windows_user@windows_ip
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null
Connect to wsl remote in VSCode 🎉🎉🎉
This ☝️ ☝️ ☝️ ☝️ Thank you @ajihyf so much!

So much simpler than the other solutions out there.

Can confirm. This is working like a charm for me as well.

sqsvp commented Mar 22, 2024 •

edited

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How I proceed with connection to WSL2 on remote host.

I've set up OpenSSH server on Windows remote host.
From vscode on local machine i connected to remote Windows host.
While connecting to remote host using SSH select Windows operating system.
After succesful connection to remote Windows host press Ctrl-Shift-P on keyboard, write WSL in opened bar and select WSL: Connect to WSL using Distro in New Window...
Distros of remote Windows host will be listed in dropdown menu.
Select your distro in dropdown menu
Connection to remote WSL distro will start in new window.

Result of connection to remote WSL through ssh

I think it's worth mentioning that I do not have Debian WSL distro on my local machine. This is WSL distro of remote Windows host.

LRKasri commented Apr 4, 2024

Latest WSL2 has systemctl support and can automatically map sshd's connection to the Windows host. No need to redirect port.

1. Make sure Windows OpenSSH works.

2. In windows, run `wsl --update` to make sure use latest WSL.

3. In WSL, run `sudo apt-get install openssh-server` to install ssh and  `sudo systemctl enable --now ssh` to automatically start ssh when WSL starts.

4. Run `ssh -J windows_user@windows_ip wsl_user@localhost` to login to ssh

5. If step 4 works, add the following content to `.ssh/config`

Host wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyJump windows_user@windows_ip
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null

6. Connect to `wsl` remote in VSCode 🎉🎉🎉

This works so well for me, thanks a lot!!

jhanschoo commented May 14, 2024

You don't necessarily need these things anymore. It's possible to use Remote-Tunnels together with the WSL extension on the remote.

vbrozik commented May 14, 2024

@jhanschoo I guess you are referring to VS Code. The solutions here show the generic approach which do not require you to use VS Code.

jhanschoo commented May 23, 2024

Thanks, I nevertheless think it's important to note easy solutions when they exist that involve VSCode considering that the topic of the Gist is wrt VSCode. I'm personally aware of the more generic situations but don't use them due to the effort.

lioujheyu commented Jul 25, 2024

IT in my company block vscode remote tunnel (by blocking all the msft remote tunnel servers) saying it evades proxy setting. Guess it is the same for many others so the generic way is still very relevant even for vscode

jhanschoo commented Jul 26, 2024 •

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Ironically, I've ended up mainly using the ProxyJump method today as well, because I have been making extensive use of an extension that launches a server and the extension on the client VSCode instance listens to localhost on the client environment. This works alright when

The Remote-SSH extension is in use, connected to within WSL and ports are forwarded from WSL through the SSH connection, managed by the extension.
The WSL extension is in use, and the ports are forwarded by WSL to the Windows host (despite showing stuff in the Ports pane, the WSL extension actually does not do any forwarding on its own).

But an issue is encountered when WSL-extension-in-Remote-SSH-extension (or Remote-Tunnels) is used, in which case

The server residing in WSL is exposed to the host Windows WSL automatically.
Requests made either to localhost on the client environment, or (iirc) to localhost on the host environment seem to fail to reach the WSL environment intermittently. This was observed by amateurish wireshark monitoring on all three environments. There seems to be a pattern that may be reproducible, but I did not pursue this further.

jackbuehner commented Apr 25, 2025

The ProxyJump method shared here is great, but it is missing the ability to start WSL if it is not already running. If we use ProxyCommand instead of ProxyJump, we can ensure that WSL always starts when we connect. Building on ajihyf's solution:

In your ssh config (e.g., %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\config on Windows), add:

Host wsl
  HostName localhost
  User wsl_user
  ProxyCommand ssh windows_user@windows_ip "wsl.exe --distribution wsl_distribution --exec bash -c \"netcat %h %p\""
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null

ProxyCommand does the following:

Connects to the windows host (windows_user@windows_ip)
Starts wsl.exe with the specifed distribution (wsl.exe --distribution wsl_distribution)
Executes bash within WSL (--exec bash -c )
Uses netcat to create a bidirectional network pipe between the client and WSL host (netcat %h %p)
- %h becomes the value of HostName and %p becomes the value of Port.

This is also works if you use a tool like 1Password to manage your SSH and GPG keys. Expand for an example.

In this is example, I use ForwardAgent to forward SSH requests to the 1Password SSH Agent. I have create an SSH key for my GIS Workstation computer and added the public key to my authorized keys on Windows and Ubuntu 24.04 (in WSL). I have also saved the public key to ~/.ssh/gis_workstation_jack.pub so that SSH does not try to use every SSH key I have in 1password, which may result in a "too many authentication failures" error.

Host "GIS Workstation (Windows 11)"
  HostName windows_ip
  User jbuehner7
  ForwardAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gis_workstation.pub
  IdentitiesOnly yes

Host "GIS Workstation (Ubuntu 24)"
  HostName localhost
  User jackbuehner
  ForwardAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gis_workstation.pub
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  StrictHostKeyChecking no
  UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null

  # start wsl and then connect with ssh
  ProxyCommand ssh windows_ip "wsl.exe --distribution Ubuntu-24.04 --exec bash -c \"netcat %h %p\""

I find this helpful because it allows me to connect to my WSL instance on my desktop PC from my laptop without needing to remotely log in to my desktop PC first and manually start WSL.

mattbell87/remote-wsl.md

VSCode Remote: Connect to WSL2 from another machine

Proxy jump method

Credit

Default shell method

Change your OpenSSH shell

Test

Connect from VSCode

Credit

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