Configuring Wsl2 for Vagrant and Virtualbox on Windows

Introduction

I have recently moved back to using Windows as the new Apple M1 and M2 chips are not compatible with running vagrant and virtualbox. As someone who likes to run labs locally without breaking the bank spending a lot on Apple hardware. I had to find alternatives and being a Mac user since 2018, I was overwhelmed with options available in Windows ecosystem. I came across Lenovo’s Thinkpad Z16 which is a very close competitor to build quality of a macbook. So I purchased it over Christmas before the GST(Goods Service Tax) hikes in Singapore.

This is a quick blog entry to note down the steps I had gone through to refer back to later in case I need to set it up again.

Setting up a new machine and automating tasks

Installing vagrant from wsl2

Below are the steps in order. Do note that vagrant versions installed on both Windows Native and WSL2 has to be same for this to work.

• Enable WSL2 from additional window feature.
• Install vagrant in wsl2 distro.
• Check for the version of vagrant installed by running vagrant -v in your wsl2.
• Install vagrant in windows powershell via winget or choco or scoop.
  • For winget we can install specific version of vagrant by running winget install vagrant -v <version-number>.
• Install virtualbox in windows.
• For one last time, check for the version of vagrant installed by running vagrant -v in powershell and WSL2. Ensure they are the same version.
• If not, go directly to source URL to download the same versions of windows msi and linux package to install locally. https://releases.hashicorp.com/vagrant
  • Windows installation will end with *.msi and Ubuntu would be *.deb.
• Add these environment variables to either .bashrc or .zshrc

echo 'export VAGRANT_WSL_ENABLE_WINDOWS_ACCESS="1"' >> ~/.bashrc 
# Wsl2's mnt gets updated as of 31/7/2023. Check this path again if you are not able to run vagrant
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/c/Program Files/Oracle/VirtualBox"' >> ~/.bashrc

echo 'export VAGRANT_WSL_ENABLE_WINDOWS_ACCESS="1"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/c/Program Files/Oracle/VirtualBox"' >> ~/.zshrc

This should set everything up to run vagrant with virtualbox from wsl2 in Windows.

A note on using vagrant with wsl2

You will need to run the vagrant operations like vagrant up commands on the windows file system and not within the WSL2 file system.

The path to the user’s home directory in windows would be something like below

/c/Users/<username>

Source

• https://developer.hashicorp.com/vagrant/docs/other/wsl