With the search in Windows 11, Microsoft not only shows search results of the installed programs or files, but also the search results on the web that are opened via the Microsoft Edge. If you want to hide the web search results in the Windows 11 search, the web search function can be disabled.

To do this, open a command prompt (cmd) and insert the following line, and finally execute the command with the Enter key.

REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v "DisableSearchBoxSuggestions" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

The output appears: The operation completed successfully.

Now right-click on Start, or open the Task Manager with the Windows+X key and go to the “Processes” column under “Microsoft Windows Search Indexer” right-click over Windows Search choose stop.

If you want, you can of course also restart the computer.

Search in Windows 11 is now limited to the installed programs or files. If you now call up search, searching in web are no longer available.

The registry key DisableSearchBoxSuggestions has the values:

• 0 = web search results are displayed.
• 1 = web search results are not displayed.

  In Windows 10, the key with the value 1 leads to the complete disabling of local and web search functions.

Windows Subsystem for Linux with new features for Windows 11 and Windows 10 – that’s how it’s done

Microsoft previously shipped Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) with Windows 10 by adding from windows features, but with Windows 11 it is also available as a preview via the Store. This version is now officially available, also for Windows 10. WSL 2 offers new interesting features such as the rendering support for graphical desktop apps and the integration of Init-system – systemd.

WSL 2 runs as a Hyper-V virtual machine. This is a change from the bridged network adapter used in WSL 1. This means that WSL 2 uses a NAT service for its virtual network.

WSLg 2 can be installed from the store, the Cumulative Update November 2022 must be installed in Windows 10 from 21H1, and in Windows 11 KB5020030 or KB5019157 and in Windows Server 2022 KB5020030. WSL from the Store is also available for Windows Server 2022, although the Store app isn’t available here.

The latest WSL release can be downloaded from GitHub.

C:\> wsl.exe --install --web-download

Confirm the Windows Account Control with Yes, now WSL is installed from the store. The prompt to create a Linux user appears. This user can be arbitrary and does not have to match the Windows logon.

After rebooting, the installation continues. The installation ends with information about the version and link notes for documentation and support.

WSL can also be obtained from the store.

According to Microsoft, the store version will become the standard in the future. This is also reflected in the fact that only this version gets new features, which is also revealed by the fact that the update option is only available here.

C:\> wsl.exe --update

The recently released WSL 1.0 integrates support for WSLg, for graphical desktop applications under Linux into Windows, so that a separate installation of the MSI packages for WSL is no longer necessary, and it is no longer limited to Windows 11, but also available for Windows 10. In addition, there is the possibility to activate systemd.

The installed WSL version with the different WSL components shows the following command.

C:\> wsl --version
wsl --version
WSL-Version: 1.0.0.0
Kernelversion: 5.15.74.2
WSLg-Version: 1.0.47
MSRDC-Version: 1.2.3575
Direct3D-Version: 1.606.4
DXCore-Version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows Version: 10.0.22621.819

Now you can install a Linux distribution, the much used Ubuntu can also be obtained from the store.

Alternatively, WSL can be installed completely along with Ubuntu, from a command prompt with Administrator privilege.

C:\> wsl --install -d Ubuntu

After rebooting, the installation continues. You will be asked to enter a username and password to log in Linux. This user can be arbitrary and does not have to match the Windows logon.

To upgrade an existing WSL installation without WSLg to the latest version of WSL that includes WSLg, then run the update from an elevated command prompt wsl --update

  Note that WSLg is only compatible with WSL 2 and does not work for the WSL distribution configured for WSL in mode 1. Make sure the Linux distribution is configured to run in WSL 2 mode, if does not, you can switch to WSL 2.

Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI Apps

WSLg is the abbreviation for Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI. The purpose of the project is to enable support for running Linux GUI applications (X11 and Wayland) on Windows in a fully seamless integrated desktop experience.

WSLg allows Linux GUI applications to fit natively and naturally on Windows. From integration into the Start menu to display in the taskbar, with Alt-Tab functionality, to applying copy and paste in Windows and Linux applications, WSLg enables seamless desktop integration with cross-workflow using Windows and Linux applications.

WSLg requires WSL in version 2 mode, which is what this tutorial does. The currently installed distribution and the configured WSL version can be listed with the following command, in an elevated command prompt.

C:\> wsl --list -v
  NAME          STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu        Running         2
  kali-linux    Stopped         2

If you are running version 1 mode, switch to version 2 as follows, which may take a while.

C:\> wsl --set-version ubuntu 2

After that, the computer must be restarted.

Now you only need some GUI apps, via the start menu you will find the Ubuntu icon, or you open the Windows Terminal (wt.exe) in which you will also find Ubuntu in the launcher.

Desired GUI apps can now be obtained from the Bash-Terminal.

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install nautilus -y
$ sudo apt install gedit -y
$ sudo apt install x11-apps -y
$ sudo apt install vlc -y
$ sudo apt install nemo -y
$ sudo apt install mc -y
$ sudo apt install geary -y

If your preferred browser is Google Chrome, it can be installed with the following lines.

cd /tmp
sudo wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb 
sudo apt install --fix-broken -y
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Although Firefox has overtaken Google Chrome in number of users, it is still very popular in the Linux world due to the Mozilla Foundation’s privacy-friendly features. The Linux version can also be easily installed with apt from the Ubuntu repository with apt install firefox

Once these GUI apps are installed, you can find the apps in the Start menu under All apps with the name of the distribution.

The GUI apps can also be launched using the commands in the terminal window.

• nautilus
• xclock
• gedit
• geary
• google-chrome
• nemo
• mc

Sources Link: github.com/microsoft/wslg

Hint!

The VS Code WSL extension allows to save project files in the Linux file system using the Linux command line tools, but also to create, edit, debug or run a project in a web browser in VS Code on Windows, and without using Performance degradation associated with Linux and Windows file systems.