I'm moving to a Mac, so I made myself a WSL for it
Description and use
MSL offers a WSL‑like experience on macOS with fast Linux shell access, file sharing, and experimental GUI support, but is limited to Apple Silicon and macOS 14+.
Problem
The author needed a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)‑like experience on a Mac after planning to switch from a Surface Laptop 3 to a MacBook Air.
Outcome
MSL provides a WSL‑like experience on macOS, offering fast Linux shell access, file sharing, and experimental GUI integration, while requiring Apple Silicon and macOS 14+.
Workflow
- Install MSL from the .pkg release or build from source.
- Run
msl <instance>to list available distros. - Run
msl install <distro>to download and configure a distro. - Start an instance with
msl <distro>; the shell opens automatically. - Use
msl <distro>in scripts or SSH via the auto‑generatedssh msl-<name>address. - Access macOS files inside Linux at /mnt/mac and Linux files from macOS via MSL Files.
- Optionally enable experimental GUI apps with mslgd or use the sandbox for isolation.
Evidence
I made it for one single reason. My Surface Laptop 3 is starting to show its age, and I'm planning to move to a MacBook Air in a few months. The one thing I really didn't want to give up was WSL.
Open any terminal on your Mac and type msl <instance>. You get a Linux shell right there, with no clunky VM window. From fully powered off it takes about 6 seconds, and once the instance is running it's basically instant.
Under the hood, every instance is a lightweight VM on Apple's Virtualization framework, the same idea as WSL 2.
There are twelve distros ready to download, from Alpine to Nix. Every download is checked against its published checksum before it's used.
MSL Files browsing an Ubuntu root filesystem, showing real Unix permissions and symlinks, right under your Mac folders.
mslgd is an X server that draws Linux windows as real Mac windows (NSWindow)s.
Apple silicon only, on macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
- Record date: 2026-10-27T05:26:09.374Z