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Previously, if you wanted to work with Linux containers on Windows, your default choice was Docker Desktop. THings have changed. Microsoft has finally released Windows Subsystem for Linux Containers. (WSLC). First announced at Microsoft Build 2026, Microsoft introduced WSLC as the next stage in its Linux-on-Windows story. Like previous WSL versions, WSLC is a free component that can be updated independently of Windows through the existing WSL distribution channels,

This gives programmers a built-in way to build, run, and manage Linux containers directly through WSL. The release, delivered through the current WSL update, introduces the wslc.exe command-line tool and a Windows-native application programming interface ( API).

Wslc.exe, also available as container.exe, can build, pull, run, inspect, stop, restart, and copy files to and from Linux containers. It supports image management, port mappings, volume mounts, network creation and connection, health checks, event monitoring, and configurable shutdown timeout.

For basic workflows, the new WSLC CLI  feels familiar to Docker CLI users. E.g.

wslc run --rm -d -p 8080:80 --name web nginx

That's a lot simpler for developers who currently install Docker Desktop, Podman Desktop, Rancher Desktop, or a Docker-compatible engine inside a WSL distribution just  to launch a handful of local services. The WSLC runtime is Linux-container-only. It's not a new method for managing traditional Windows containers,

As handy as the WSLC command line is, programmers may find that its companion Windows API may be more useful. . The Microsoft.WSL.Containers API lets C#, C++, and C/WinRT applications manage container sessions, pull images, configure storage and networks, launch processes, capture standard input/output, and use GPU-enabled workload.

WSLC positions containers as something a Windows application can use internally.

A desktop development tool, for example, could package a Linux-only code-indexing daemon, database, or local AI inference server as an Open Container Initiative (OCI) image. Rather than asking customers to install and configure Docker Desktop, the application could create a bounded WSL Container session, mount a workspace, start the component, collect its logs, and stop the container after the task completes.

That's all well and good, but that's not what developers are asking for. Instead of a Windows-facing way to run Linux containers, many would prefer  to be able to  run wslc from inside a WSL distribution. After all, most WSL developers use a WSL Linux distro as their working shell and toolchain, not Microsoft PowerShell. 

Another issue is that you can't compose in WSLC. Microsoft itself admits its "top feature request for WSLc is adding compose support, and this will be our focus for our next iterations." For many programmers, their reaction to WSLC is "That's nice, wake me up when you include Compose. 

Under the hood, WSL uses the Windows Host Compute Service to create a Linux virtual machine (VM) for a WSL Container session, while a per-user wslcsession.exe process manages the session’s container work. Each session maintains its own virtual disk containing images, containers, networks, and volume. What this means in practice is developers can't assume WSLC will automatically work with their existing Docker. Pordman, what have you images. It won't without a lot of elbow grease.

That said, WSLC does bring other new and improved features to the table. These include virtiofs, which is WSL's new default file-sharing mechanism. Microsoft claims it's up to twice as fast as Windows-host file access from Linux. Initial third-party benchmarks show that virtiofm delivers the speed goods. 

It also comes with a new networking approach: Consommé networking. This routes Linux traffic through Windows. Again, this helps if you're a Windows developer first, but that's not the case with most WSL users. 

Finally, WSLC comes with Improved memory reclaim. This returns unused WSL VM memory to Windows more smoothly.

For developers working from Windows-hosted source trees, virtualized filesystems and networking have long been among the more visible rough edges of WSL tooling. If this can deliver a smoother, faster experience in practice, it could prove a real win. 

Microsoft is also framing WSLC as a manageable enterprise feature, not simply an upgrade for developers. For example, Microsoft Intune can enable or disable WSL Containers and restrict image pulls to organization-approved registries.  Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can collect container process, file, and network activity, associating it with the Windows device for investigation.

Those controls could appeal to organizations that want developers to use Linux containers locally but are wary of every managed laptop becoming an unmanaged Docker host that can pull arbitrary images from public registries. I've seen this myself in some companies, and it can become a real mare's nest. In short, rather than treating local Linux containers as an exception managed by a separate service, Microsoft is attempting to bring containers inside the Windows management plane.

All that said, I don't see WSLC replacing Docker Desktop anytime soon. In particular, WSL Containers still lacks native Compose support and doesn't provide Docker Desktop’s Kubernetes option, GUI, extensions, or broad Docker API compatibility. But it gives Windows a supported container substrate of its own, and signals that Microsoft sees Linux containers as a core local-development capability rather than an add-on supplied by third-party desktop tools.

I think WSLC is best understood as Microsoft making containers a platform primitive for Windows development. Docker Desktop remains the more complete developer product, but it's no longer the only obvious answer to the question: “How do I run a Linux container on Windows?” If Microsoft delivers broad Compose compatibility and WSLC  API gains traction, WSLC could become a real alternative to Docker Desktop and the other container services for Windows, but it's not there yet. Stay tuned for the next version. 

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