VSCode WSL Setup

The core components of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) are included by default in Windows 11, but you still need to enable the feature and install a Linux distribution before you can use it. [1] (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/setup/environment), [2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux)

Install/Uninstall a Unix/Linux distribution

  • WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux
  • Install Ubuntu-24.04 for now as Ubuntu-26.04 has other Windows Defender issues.
// Check the list of all available distros and versions
$ wsl --list --online
// Install a distribution
$ wsl --install Ubuntu-24.04
// Check if there is a newest version
$ wsl --update
// List your installed distributions 
$ wsl -l -v
// Uninstall a distribution when it is not necessary anymore
// $ wsl --unregister Ubuntu-24.04

Repeat the .NET installation below on this virtula machine

Install .NET sdk

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade
// Install .NET sdk
$ sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-10.0

$ dotnet tool install --global mcdg
// Under the project root folder
// create a subfolder called docs
$ mkdir docs
// create diagram and store it under docs/
$ mcdg -p ./MyProject -o ./docs/diagram.md

PlantUml Class Diagram Generator (Enterprise Standard)

Step1: Convert Project Folder to PlantUML (Install .NET Global Tool)

# // Necessary for the tool puml-gen
# $ sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-8.0
# // $ sudo apt remove --purge dotnet-sdk-8.0
$ dotnet tool install --global PlantUmlClassDiagramGenerator
$ puml-gen ./MyProject ./diagrams/full.puml -dir -allInOne -excludePaths bin,obj,Properties -createAssociation

Step2: Preview PlantUML Check the setup page

  • Current Issues
    • After install wsl Ubuntu-26.04, puml-gen still cannot be run due to the windows defender issue. Need to monitor this next year.