# owu/wsl-dashboard

A GUI manager for WSL featuring a modern UI — a lightweight, low‑memory, high‑performance dashboard to manage WSL instances.  Install, list, start, stop, unregister, and configure your WSL distros​ from one place.

Repository: https://github.com/owu/wsl-dashboard
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/wsl-dashboard
Homepage: https://www.wslui.com
Language: Rust
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: dashboard, gui, rust, slint, usbipd, wsl, wsl2, http-proxy, management, port-forwarding, auto-start, rootfs
Last push: 2026-08-25T00:14:52+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 82/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 16
- inputs: {"age_days": 227, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 9, "gap_med": 8.0, "n_releases_24m": 17}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3608, forks 182 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:11.524925+00:00)

## What it is
WSL Dashboard is a native Windows GUI application built with Rust and Slint for managing Windows Subsystem for Linux instances. It provides instance lifecycle control, distribution installation and migration, USB device sharing via usbipd-win, port forwarding, disk mounting, and scheduled tasks in a lightweight (~10-38MB) desktop dashboard.

## Use cases
- manage wsl distros from a gui instead of command line
- start stop and unregister wsl instances with one click
- forward ports to wsl and create firewall rules automatically
- attach usb devices to wsl2 with usbipd graphically
- move or clone a wsl distro to another disk
- mount a physical disk or vhdx file in wsl
- schedule cron-like tasks inside wsl on windows
- install a linux distro from rootfs or local files

## When to choose
- you want a lightweight native alternative to Electron-based WSL managers
- you need GUI access to advanced WSL operations like VHDX migration, disk mounting, and USB passthrough
- you want port forwarding and firewall setup without manual netsh commands
- you prefer a portable tool with no installation and low memory footprint

## When to avoid
- you are not on Windows or do not use WSL2
- you only need to run a single WSL distro and are comfortable with wsl.exe commands
- you expect distribution through the Microsoft Store - the official version is only on GitHub

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: gui, developer-tools, configuration-management, scheduling, networking, file-system
- domain: developer-tools, windows, cross-platform
- platform: windows, rust
- tags: wsl, wsl2, usbipd, port-forwarding, slint, distro-management, system-tray, rootfs, virtualization, automation, desktop

## Member repositories
- owu/wsl-dashboard (main) score 82

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:11.524925+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:33:41.403799+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/owu/wsl-dashboard (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:11.524925+00:00, sha 941f74272a7f)
  - homepage: https://www.wslui.com (fetched 2026-08-29T09:26:59.276078+00:00, sha 8015c55b0c6e)
  - site_page: https://www.wslui.com/features (fetched 2026-08-29T09:26:59.285286+00:00, sha 76162a57aa8e)
  - site_page: https://docs.wslui.com (fetched 2026-08-29T09:26:59.287161+00:00, sha 68c402df910c)
  - site_page: https://www.wslui.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T09:26:59.288782+00:00, sha ede9fb3772dd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.