The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update
by Brett Howse on May 25, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Command Line and Windows Subsystem for Linux
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) has dramatically changed the development opportunities on Windows, and has become very popular. Microsoft has updated it continuously as well, bringing requested features and updates to really improve the experience. With the April Update, there’s once again some nice additions to Linux support on Windows.
What was once a somewhat arduous task, installing Linux distros on Windows now is something that’s moved to the Store, and for the April Update, there’s a couple of new distros available. Kali Linux is now an option, as well as the very popular Debian GNU/Linux. For those that want to run multiple distros, Windows 10 supports having multiple versions installed and running simultaneously.
Likely a very vocal request, background tasks were previously available but would end if the console window was closed. With the April Update, that’s no longer the case.
The WSL team has now brought Unix sockets to Windows as well, so you can communicate over these sockets between Windows and WSL.
People that do Linux admin will be aware of OpenSSH, and Microsoft has brought both a the OpenSSH client and server to Windows. The client is enabled by default, and the server is an on-demand feature as it likely should be.
Both Tar and Curl commands have also arrived in Windows 10’s command line interface, and Microsoft has created a new tool called wslpath to let you easily convert paths between Windows and Linux.
You can now do Linux permissions on files, with the new permission added as metadata to the file, and case sensitivity is now an opt-in feature, although to start an argument, case sensitivity is one of the most annoying features of Linux.
Console Applications Now Supported as UWP
There’s often no easier solution to a problem than a quick console application, but before the April Update, there was no way to distribute these apps through the Store. With the April Update, Console UWP is now supported, so developers can ship and update through the store just like any other UWP app.
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stephenbrooks - Saturday, May 26, 2018 - link
5 *minutes* longer? The last two updates took 3 hours+ to install on my PC and laptop, requiring multiple restarts. These updates are huge.Jimios - Saturday, May 26, 2018 - link
It's time to invest in an SSD then. ;)stephenbrooks - Saturday, May 26, 2018 - link
My laptop's only drive is an SSD. Didn't seem to improve things much.jabber - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
I times the 1803 update on my rig from clicking 'Restart' to getting back to my desktop...took 15 minutes.Kaggy - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Had to reinstall graphics drivers cause it went low res after update. Same issue when I did the 1709 update.bigi - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
It f'd up my box so bad instantly that I had to re-image.damianrobertjones - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
I blame your box and what you did to the default install.Bezukhov - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
My mother's computer updated to 1803 a few days ago. The only problem she had was some drive named E: showed up and immediately informed her that it was low on space. Easy enough to fix, I just removed the drive letter via the command prompt. Now my PC is updating, I'll see ho0w that goes.ikjadoon - Friday, May 25, 2018 - link
Happened on three of our systems, too. No clue. But incredibly annoying for end-users as you’d get a “running out of disk space” notification every 5 minutes.Seems like this one was absolutely rushed more than the last two.
0ldman79 - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
Ironically this one was also delayed by a month or so.