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How to Install Magento 2 & WordPress on WSL2 with Docker and Devilbox

We believe that this setup is the easiest and the fastest way to start developing your first Magento Extension or WordPress project on Windows.

In this article, we will show you how to install Docker and Devilbox in Ubuntu for WSL2. Once our development environment is ready, we can begin installing Magento 2 and WordPress inside a docker container.

Step 1. Check if your Windows 10 is updated to version 2004, Build 19041, or later

We need to make sure that our Windows 10 is updated to Build 19041 or later to use WSL 2.

Open windows terminal by typing “cmd” in Windows Search Box and pressing Enter
Check your windows version.

ver

You can also check the Windows version by typing “winver” in the Windows search box:

As you can see, our Windows 10 Build is “18363”. This means we have to update Windows to Build 19041 or higher. To do so, type “check for updates” in Windows Search Box. Then click on the “Check for updates” button to download and install the latest updates. You may need to do this process a couple of times until you reach the desired version.

Please note: Sometimes windows updates will get stuck and won’t update automatically. It may be easier to go to Microsoft website and download the latest update from the website directly in such cases.

After downloading the Windows Update tool, launch it and proceed with the update.

After you are done with the update, recheck your Windows version. Just type the “winver” in the Windows search box to see your build number:

Step 2. Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2)

Now we need to enable the WSL. We can do this via GUI or PowerShell.

To enable WSL using Windows Interface:

Enter “Turn Windows features on or off” in the Search Box:

In the new window, check two checkboxes:
- Virtual Machine Platform
- Windows Subsystem for Linux

Alternatively, you can enable the WSL from the Windows shell. Open PowerShell as an administrator, and type the following command:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

Enable Window’s Virtual Machine Platform:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Now you need to restart your computer. After it restarted, you can use Windows GUI to check if the new features were added. Just type the “Turn Windows features on or off” in the Search Box and see if the two checkboxes listed above are checked.

Step 3. Install Ubuntu for WSL 2

Open Microsoft Store on your computer and search for “Ubuntu.”

Install Ubuntu and launch Ubuntu shell

Provide your new root user and password

Step 4. Install the New Windows Terminal (optional)

Microsoft recently released a new Windows Terminal. It’s a new central location where you can access the traditional cmd line, PowerShell, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

You can install it directly from Microsoft Store.

Here is how it looks after installing:

You can switch to Ubuntu shell by clicking on the top menu dropdown and selecting your Linux distribution.

Step 5. Enable WSL 2 for Ubuntu

Now, let’s check which WSL version is used for Ubuntu. Open windows terminal and type the following command:

wsl -l -v

If you don’t see “2” next to Ubuntu, run the following command:

wsl --set-version  Ubuntu-20.04 2

If you receive a message that WSL 2 requires you to update its kernel, just follow this link to download and update the kernel.

After you finish updating the kernel, re-run the same command again:

wsl --set-version  Ubuntu-20.04 2

Also, let’s set WSL 2 as your default version:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Finally, let’s see if everything went well:

wsl -l -v

Now you should have WSL enabled for your Ubuntu.

Step 6. Install Docker and Docker-Compose in Ubuntu

Open the Linux (Ubuntu) terminal and type the following commands to update the list of packages and install available upgrades:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install build-essential

2. Install GIT

Most likely, GIT will be already installed in your Ubuntu, but just to make sure, type the following command:

sudo apt install git

The next global setting helps you avoid issues with checkouts. As files that you have not edited may appear modified due to line ending differences (Ubuntu vs Windows).

git config --global core.autocrlf input

3. Install Docker

Note: you can learn more info about the Docker installation in the official Docket documentation.

Begin Installation:

Update local database

sudo apt update

Allow accessing the Docker repositories over HTTPS

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

For security purposes add Docker’s GPG Key

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Verify that you now have the key with the fingerprint 9DC8 5822 9FC7 DD38 854A E2D8 8D81 803C 0EBF CD88, by searching for the last 8 characters of the fingerprint.

sudo apt-key fingerprint 0EBFCD88

You should see similar output:

pub rsa4096 2017-02-22 [SCEA]
9DC8 5822 9FC7 DD38 854A E2D8 8D81 803C 0EBF CD88
uid [ unknown] Docker Release (CE deb) <docker@docker.com>
sub rsa4096 2017-02-22 [S]

Use the following command to set up the stable Docker repository:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable"

Update the list of packages again and install Docker CE

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

4. The next step is to add your Ubuntu user to the docker group.

Devilbox does not recommend running the following command under root user (see more info in the official Devilbox documentation)

docker-compose

Create the docker group.

sudo groupadd docker

Add your user to the docker group.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Run the following command to activate the changes to groups:

newgrp docker

Now, let’s start our docker service for the first time

sudo service docker start

Run the hello-world image.

docker run hello-world

Please note: If you experience any issues during this process, check the article from docker documentation.

Now log out and log back in so that your group membership is re-evaluated.

5. Install Docker-compose:

For more instructions about Docker compose installation, go to the Install Docker Compose documentation.

First, find the latest stable version of the docker-compose binary from the Compose repository release page on GitHub.

In our case, the latest version is 1.28.5:

Download the docker-compose tool. Make sure to replace your latest release version with the number 1.28.5 below:

sudo curl -L 
"https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.28.5/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Make it executable

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Check if it’s installed correctly

docker-compose --version

Step 7. Install & Configure DevilBox in Ubuntu

Install Devilbox (you may also check the installation article of the official Devilbox documentation)

Open the Ubuntu shell and type the following commands:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/cytopia/devilbox

2. Create the main configuration file (.env)

cd devilbox
cp env-example .env

3. Set config values in the Devilbox environment file

id -u
id -g

This should return you two values. In our case, we’ve got “1000” for user id and user group.

Edit main configuration file

vi .env

Set your user id and group id values in the env file:

NEW_UID=1000
NEW_GID=1000

Save changes.

4. Start Devilbox containers

docker-compose up

Please note, do not expect to see any type of “success message” on the terminal screen. Once you see no movement, you are good to go to the next step

5. Open http://localhost/ in your browser and you should be able to see the Devilbox Intranet

Step 8. Launch Our First Website on Devilbox

Launching your first website is also described in the official Devilbox manual, however, there are a couple of important details concerning WSL that you will not find there.

Create a project directory:

cd ~/devilbox/
mkdir -p ~/devilbox/data/www/mytest/htdocs

2. Open http://localhost/vhosts.php in your browser, and you should be able to see the list of Devilbox virtual hosts.

3. Stop Devilbox containers

Press CTRL+C in Ubuntu Terminal or run the following command:

docker-compose stop

Then remove containers:

docker-compose rm -f

4. Create a new DNS entry by editing the Hosts file

Typically, you would create a DNS entry on Ubuntu since Docker and Devilbox are installed there. However, with WSL, this process is slightly different. During the Ubuntu startup process, the Ubuntu hosts file is automatically synchronized with the Windows hosts file. Therefore, make sure to add your new DNS entries in the Windows file first and then restart Ubuntu to synchronize files. Or simply add the same entries in both OS.

Let’s add a new DNS entry in Windows:

Press the Windows key.
Type Notepad in the search field.
In the search results, right-click on Notepad and select “Run as Administrator”.
From Notepad, open the following file:

c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

5. Add the following line on the bottom of the file:

127.0.0.1 mytest.loc

Where the “mytest.loc” is our website URL

6. Select File > Save to save your changes.

Here is how your Windows hosts file may look like after the new DNS entry was added:

5. Synchronize Ubuntu hosts file with Windows

There will be many cases when we need to restart Ubuntu. Unfortunately, Ubuntu won’t reboot once we close all bash windows. You can restart Windows to reboot Ubuntu or restart the following Windows service – “LxssManager”.

Close all existing WSL console sessions
Reboot the “LxssManager” service:
- Type the “services” in the Windows search box and hit enter:
- Find “LxssManager” in the list, right-click and select “Restart” from the context menu.

6. Open a new Ubuntu session and check your /etc/hosts file to see if the DNS entries were synchronized successfully:

cat /etc/hosts

7. Edit the main configuration file

cd ~/devilbox/
vi .env

Then set the IP address of docker services on Windows machine (big thanks to user Amida for your help on this). Find “LOCAL_LISTEN_ADDR” setting, and replace it with the following:

LOCAL_LISTEN_ADDR=127.0.0.1:

Save changes.

8. Create an index file

Open Ubuntu terminal and type the following command:

echo "<?php echo 'hello world';" > ~/devilbox/data/www/mytest/htdocs/index.php

9. Start Devilbox containers

sudo service docker start
docker-compose up

10. Now head back to http://localhost/vhosts.php in your browser and you should be able to see “OK” message next to “mytest.loc” host.

Open http://mytest.loc/ to see a “Hello World” message

Congratulations! Your first website on Devilbox is running successfully.

11. Automatically start the Docker daemon on Login (Optional step)

The WSL doesn’t launch at Windows boot, but only when the user establishes a login session. So without any real “system start”, the init.d or systemd startup doesn’t happen. The following commands help to start the docker service on each login.

Edit sudoers on Ubuntu

sudo visudo

Add the following line by changing the “UserName” to your Ubuntu username.

UserName ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/service docker *

Edit your user startup scripts

vi ~/.profile

Add the following lines:

# start docker service
sudo service docker start

Now, each time you log in to Ubuntu, you will be prompted for your password, and the Docker service will start.

Step 9. Install Magento 2 on Devilbox

The official Devilbox documentation is located here. Feel free to use it as your main guide. We will add only a slight change to the installation process.

Note:

This tutorial provides instructions on how to install Magento 2.3.6 with Docker. If you need a newer version of Magento, please follow the updated guide – to Install Magento 2.4.x with Docker and Devilbox.

First, it’s important to make sure that our configuration file meets all Magento 2.3 system requirements. The following configuration will be set in the environment file:

Apache v2.4
PHP v7.3
MariaDB v10.4

Stop Devilbox containers if they are running

Press “CTRL+C” in Ubuntu Terminal or

docker-compose stop

Then remove all containers:

docker-compose rm -f

2. Edit the main configuration file

cd ~/devilbox/
vi .env

Comment out the Nginx web server line and uncomment Apache

HTTPD_SERVER=apache-2.4
#HTTPD_SERVER=nginx-stable

Comment out the PHP7.4 and uncomment PHP7.3

PHP_SERVER=7.3
#PHP_SERVER=7.4

Optionally, you can disable xdebug to speed up your webserver

PHP_MODULES_DISABLE=oci8,PDO_OCI,pdo_sqlsrv,sqlsrv,rdkafka,swoole,xdebug

Save changes.

3. Create DNS records in Windows & Ubuntu

In the terminal, edit the Ubuntu hosts file:

sudo vi /etc/hosts

Add this line and save changes:
127.0.0.1 my-magento.loc

In Windows, open Notepad as administrator and edit the following file:

c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

Add the same line as in Ubuntu and save changes:
127.0.0.1 my-magento.loc

4. Enter the PHP Docker container

Start Devilbox containers

sudo service docker start
docker-compose up

Open a new tab in the Windows terminal and enter the following

cd ~/devilbox/
./shell.sh

5. Create new Virtual Host directory

cd /shared/httpd
mkdir my-magento

6. Install Magento 2

We will be installing the latest stable 2.3.x version of Magento using composer v1.x.

cd my-magento
git clone https://github.com/magento/magento2
cd magento2
git checkout 2.3.6
composer-1 install
composer-1 update

Symlink webroot

cd /shared/httpd/my-magento/
ln -s magento2/ htdocs

Create MySQL Database

mysql -u root -h 127.0.0.1 -p -e 'CREATE DATABASE my_magento;'

* Please note: in default Devilbox configuration, the Mysql root password is not set. Just hit “enter” when asked for a password.

7. Set file permissions.

cd /shared/httpd/my-magento/htdocs
find var generated vendor pub/static pub/media app/etc -type f -exec chmod g+w {} +
find var generated vendor pub/static pub/media app/etc -type d -exec chmod g+ws {} +
chmod u+x bin/magento

8. Run Web Installer

Go to http://my-magento.loc in your browser and follow the installation steps.

Make sure to enter the following information during installation:

Database Server Host: 127.0.0.1
Database Server Username: root
Database Server Password: (leave it empty)
Database Name: my_magento

After completing a few simple steps, the Magento will be installed successfully.

Step 10. Install WordPress

This is going to be the last step in our tutorial. Installation of WordPress is also described in the Devilbox documentation.

Create DNS records in Windows & Ubuntu

In the terminal, edit the Ubuntu hosts file:

sudo vi /etc/hosts

Add this line and save changes:
127.0.0.1 my-wp.loc

In Windows, open Notepad as administrator and edit the following file:

c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

Add the same line as in Ubuntu and save changes:
127.0.0.1 my-wp.loc

2. Enter the PHP Docker container

Start Devilbox containers

sudo service docker start
docker-compose up

Open a new tab in the Windows terminal and enter the following

cd ~/devilbox/
./shell.sh

3. Create a new Virtual Host directory

cd /shared/httpd
mkdir my-wp

4. Install WordPress in Devilbox

cd my-wp
git clone https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress wordpress.git

Symlink webroot

cd /shared/httpd/my-wp/
ln -s wordpress.git/ htdocs

Create MySQL Database

mysql -u root -h 127.0.0.1 -p -e 'CREATE DATABASE my_wp;'

* Please note: in the default Devilbox configuration, the Mysql root password is not set. Just hit “enter” when asked for a password.

5. Run Web Installer

Go to http://my-wp.loc in your browser and follow the installation steps. Just make sure to enter 127.0.0.1 as the database host during installation.

After completing a few simple steps, the WordPress will be installed successfully.

We hope you found this article useful. Please comment and share. Thanks for reading!