-1

I have run ROS before using a Ubuntu Virtual Machine using VirtualBox. There, ROS Kinetic is installed, so I'm guessing that's an older Ubuntu build. There we ran a few python scripts that visualize using Gazebo.

I recently installed the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Terminal for Windows on my PC, and it runs as expected. I executed the ROS Noetic Installation using

sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full (Since Ubuntu 20.04 is compatible with ROS Noetic).

This was verified by running commands such as roscore and rosnode list successfully.

Is a way to access the file system from Windows and run the ROS scripts and Gazebo as in a Virtual Machine? I'd like to edit files using Sublime Text in Windows, and then use them as scripts for a Catkin Workspace, run using the Ubuntu Terminal for Windows. I also need a way to access the root file system for the Ubuntu in my drive. There are articles saying they might exist in C:\Users\User_name\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu20.04onWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState, but for me this directory contains no files (yes, no hidden ones either).

What steps should I follow to make it work as intended?

Suprateem Banerjee
  • 428
  • 6
  • 13

1 Answers1

1

First, run far, far away from any articles that mention editing files in the %profile%\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu20.04onWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState. Even when they were stored there (in WSL1), that was a big no-no since it could corrupt the WSL1 filesystem:

The answer to your question is also in that link - You will find the files in a (safe-to-edit) \\wsl$\<distroname> network share created by WSL when it first starts up. In other words, make sure your Ubuntu WSL instance is running, then you can edit the files in it through the \\WSL$\ share.

You may also wish to check out this question, and perhaps even start a chat with that user since they have been doing ROS on WSL for a couple of months now.

NotTheDr01ds
  • 15,620
  • 5
  • 44
  • 70