I've blogged before on how to easily move WSL distributions between Windows 10 machines with import and export. I recently did a full fresh install of Windows 11 and wanted to bring my existing highly customized Ubuntu installation along with me. You can tar up (zip up) the user-mode parts of your WSL2 distributions like this:wsl --export Ubuntu-20.04 c:TempUbuntuBackup.tarThe part after --export is the distribution name that you can see from running wsl --list -v. The last argument is a full path and filename for the archive you want created.Next, on the machine you've moved to, you'll do the reverse. Notice that I've changed the Distro name here, and you can if you want. Remember also that you can have as many Linux Distros installed as you want.wsl --import Ubuntu c:Linux c:TempUbuntuBackup.tarThe Linux file system is stored in a VHDX (virtual hard drive), usually deep in AppData/Local/YadaYada, but this import is an opportunity for me to store it in C:Linux which will also make it easier to do maintenance on like Compact-VHD which shrinks your WSL2 disks.Here's the weird part. When you import a WSL2 distro manually, running that distro on the new machine will end up logging you in as root. It's forgotten that I'm "scott."There's a lot of ways to fix this that involve the registry or passing in arguments to wsl, but I just want it to work when I run "wsl" or "wsl -d distroname."Run your distro, and then edit /etc/wsl.conf and add a [user] section like this:[user]default=scottThis is the ideal way to set your WSL distro's default user for imported tars because it's stored inside the Linux file system and the setting will stick around when you export/import later on. Hope this helps!Sponsor: Lob APIs ensure your addresses are deliverable and everything you send arrives at the right place. Add address autocompletion and verification in minutes using React, Vue or Javascript - Try for free!© 2021 Scott Hanselman. All rights reserved.     

I had a hard drive die recently so I decided to do a full fresh reinstall of Windows, this time a fresh Windows 11 from a downloaded ISO burned to a USB stick. It was a solid install and everything worked out of the box. I used it for a few days and had no issues, but while poking around I noticed in the Device Manager that there were dozens of Base System Devices that were banged out. Like a TON. I'd like to get that fixed, so I went to Windows Update but WU said everything was cool. Since a lot of stuff moved and was redesigned in Windows 11 I went looking for "Windows Update Optional Updates" and it took me a while to find it, even though it's listed right there on Windows Update in Settings. Click on Advanced Options. Here you can control things like your Windows Update active hours so it doesn't reboot when you don't want it, etc. Here you'll see a bunch of Optional Updates. I had like 33 of them. Here's what it looks like when you have a bunch of updates pending. These are Chipset and Motherboard updates. I did have to select each of these checkboxes and select Install at the end, but once they were done, I had no banged out (yellow exclamation point) devices in Device Manager. Hope this helps! Sponsor: Lob APIs ensure your addresses are deliverable and everything you send arrives at the right place. Add address autocompletion and verification in minutes using React, Vue or Javascript - Try for free!© 2021 Scott Hanselman. All rights reserved.     

Last December, Gaurav was on Azure Friday with Scott Hanselman to introduce a new Azure service: Azure Purview. He showed how Azure Purview scans and map all your data—no matter where it is. Azure Purview is now generally available, and Gaurav is back to show what's new and what's on the roadmap.[0:00:00]– Introduction[0:00:30]– Azure Purview overview[0:05:40]– Key GA Announcements[0:18:40]– Roadmap[0:19:05]– Wrap-upWhat is Azure Purview?Quickstart: Create an Azure Purview account in the Azure portalIntroduction to Azure Purview learning moduleAzure Purview documentationCreate a free account (Azure)

Award for longest blog post title ever? Andrey Muzychenko has a great github repository where they decompiled the 25 year old Space Cadet Pinball application from Windows 95/XP and then recompiled it for Linux (and really any platform now that it's portable code!). NOTE: Because this is a decompilation/recompilation, it doesn't include the original data files. You'll need those from a Windows XP disk or ISO that you'll need to find yourself. I recently did a YouTube where I showed that Windows 11 runs Graphical Linux Apps out of the box with WSLg. Here, they've taken a Windows 95 32-bit app and decompiled it from the original EXE, done some nice cleanup, and now it can be recompiled to other targets like Linux. So, could I go Windows 95 -> Linux -> Windows 11 -> WSL -> WSLg and run this new native Linux executable again on Windows? If you don't think this is cool, that's a bummer. It's an example of how powerful (and fun) virtualization has become on modern systems! I just launched WSL (Ubuntu) and installed a few things to compile the code:sudo apt-get install libsdl2-image-devsudo apt-get install libsdl2-mixer-devsudo apt install gcc clang build-essential cmakeThen I cloned the repo under WSL and built. It builds into bin and creates a Linux executable. NOTE: Place compiled executable into a folder containing original game resources (not included).I am a digital hoarder so I have digital copies of basically everything I've worked on for the last 30 years. I happened to have a Windows XP virtual disk drive from a VM from years ago that was saved on my Synology.I was able to open it and get all the original resources and wav files.Then I copy all the original resources minus the .exe and then run the newly built Linux version...and it magically pops out and runs on Windows...as a graphical Linux app. Amazing! Have fun!Sponsor: Make login Auth0’s problem. Not yours. Provide the convenient login features your customers want, like social login, multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, passwordless, and more. Get started for free.© 2021 Scott Hanselman. All rights reserved.     

Sarah Young joins Scott Hanselman to discuss updates to Azure Sentinel automation and how you can use it to accelerate and streamline threat response for your security operations.[0:00:00]– Introduction[0:02:41]– Azure Sentinel automation rules[0:06:15]– Automating responses with playbooks [0:09:30]– Playbook templates [0:12:56]– Wrap-upAutomate incident handling in Azure Sentinel with automation rulesAutomate threat response with playbooks in Azure SentinelSecurity Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) in Azure SentinelAzure / Azure Sentinel GitHub repoCreate a free account (Azure)

David de Matheu joins Scott Hanselman to show how the Azure Communication Services UI Library enables you to add communications capabilities to your applications with only a couple lines of code plus composable components and turn-key composites. [0:00:00]– Overview[0:00:49]– General concepts[0:05:54]– Azure Communication Services UI Library storybook[0:12:22]– Demo[0:19:43]– Wrap-upAzure Communication ServicesAzure Communication Services UI Library storybookAdd Calling Communications to your Application with Two Lines of CodeAzure Communication Services documentationCreate a free account (Azure)

Lior Kamrat joins Scott Hanselman to show how Azure Arc-enabled data services bring Azure data solutions – such as SQL Managed Instance and PostgreSQL Hyperscale – to your own infrastructure and how to modernize your data layer using Azure services, outside of Azure.[0:00:00]– Introduction[0:01:14]– Overview and architecture[0:04:22]– Demo: Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance deployment flow[0:14:00]– Demo: Azure Arc-enabled data services operations[0:23:34]– Wrap-upWhat are Azure Arc-enabled data services?Azure Arc JumpstartJumpstart ArcBox - OverviewManage hybrid infrastructure with Azure Arc learning pathCreate a free account (Azure)

This is an exciting month for organizations using Azure reservations – you can now scope your reservations to a management group for even more savings. You'll also find a new cost view optimized around the products and services you use, new previews in Cost Management Labs for scheduled emails and better multitasking, as well as 7 new savings opportunities and video and documentation updates. Read on for the details and let us know what you think!