WSL2: Improve rendering at high DPI for graphical applications

Graphical Linux applications in WSL2 too small?

In Windows 11, the new Linux environment (WSL2) can now also run graphical programs. These are displayed in a separate window and can be used like normal Windows programs.

However, there are problems with devices that use a high resolution, such as my Microsoft Surface Pro 7.

The Linux applications were displayed with the native resolution by default, not with the Windows scaling. The display was thus very small and barely legible.

Configure High DPI for Linux Applications for Windows Subsystem for Linux

For the configuration, we create a file named “.wslgconfig” in the following folder:

c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\WSL\

Admin rights are necessary for access. To do this, we best start an editor with admin rights. In the file we insert the following lines:

[system-distro-env]
WESTON_RDP_DISABLE_FRACTIONAL_HI_DPI_SCALING=false

Done! Now we have to restart the Linux subsystem. For this we open a Powershell, also with admin rights. With the following command, we restart the Linux subsystem:

wsl --shutdown

If we now start the GUI application again, it will scale like our Windows applications.

8 comments

  1. I got it to work by the following:
    1. As administrator wsl –shutdown
    2. as user create / edit file .wslgconfig in your c:\users\name\
    In that file put the following lines:
    [system-distro-env]
    WESTON_RDP_DISABLE_FRACTIONAL_HI_DPI_SCALING=false
    WESTON_RDP_FRACTIONAL_HI_DPI_SCALING=true

  2. Chris Bruner solution worked, make sure that you replace c:\users\{YOURNAMEHERE}\.wslgconfig

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