Open your Linux folder in Windows Explorer

Did you know it is possible to use the Windows Explorer program and navigate in your Linux filesystem?

An easy way to open your current folder in Windows Explorer is to call the explorer.exe binary.

So, for example, in your Linux console, open any existing folder like cd ~/repositories/blog and then, just run explorer.exe ..

So, yes, it's possible to call any Windows program (like the calculator (calc.exe)) by typing its name followed by .exe. If the program is in the PATH it will start. You can go one step further and let Windows pick the right program for a given file type; see Starting the default associated Windows program on WSL.

The final . means current folder so explorer.exe . will open the current folder in Windows Explorer.

It sounds crazy, doesn't it? Windows will then convert the Linux /home/christophe/repositories/blog folder to \\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\christophe\repositories\blog (in the Windows style) and open it. That address is called a UNC (UNC stands for Uniform Naming Convention).

Now, I can use Windows explorer to manage files / folders like I have for decades on Windows.

WSL localhost is not accessible​

https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/discussions/7742#discussioncomment-6069601.

It can happen, on your Windows 11 computer, that the folder will not be opened and you will get the error: \wsl.localhost is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

It is not a permission problem but something to modify in your Windows registry.

In Windows, click on Start - Run and run regedit, the Windows registry editor.

Search for the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order, edit the ProviderOrder key and add the P9NP value to the list. Do the same for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder.

When done, please reboot your computer.