How to boot Microsoft’s own Linux distribution: CBL-Mariner – Guide
It’s been a few years since Microsoft unveiled the second version of its Windows subsystem for Linux (aka WSL 2), and the runtime is now mature enough to run Linux applications with GUIs. The next step in the journey is none other than the Windows to Android subsystem, which will allow you to run Android apps on Windows 11. Microsoft’s love of Linux doesn’t end there, as the company has also maintained a full Linux distribution for one. time. Known as CBL-Mariner (where CBL stands for Common Base Linux), the distribution was created by Microsoft’s Linux System Group – the same team that created the Linux kernel used for WSL 2. Notably, CBL-Mariner is not a traditional user-focused Linux distribution with a sophisticated GUI. Instead, it only has the basic packages needed to support and run containers. The package management system is based on RPM, which uses dnf and tdnf (Tiny DNF). The distribution also supports an image-based update mechanism for atomic maintenance and rollback using RPM-OSTree. As for security, CBL-Mariner comes with a hardened kernel, signed updates, ASLR, compiler-based protection and tamper-resistant logs, among many others features.
How to boot CBL-Mariner using the official ISO
Although Microsoft released the operating system in 2020, the company initially did not offer precompiled ISOs. The source code is available on GitHub and people are expected to create the ISO themselves. This situation has changed recently as Microsoft now hosts official CBL-Mariner ISO builds on its server. Although experienced users can still create a bootable VHDX (or VHD) image from precompiled RPMs in the CBL-Mariner package repository, it is also possible to get the installer disk image in ISO format and easily install the operating system into a virtualization platform or on a real PC.
Step 1 – Get the ISO
The CBL-Mariner ISO is UEFI compliant and bootable on any modern x86-64 PC. The latest version of the ISO can be downloaded from the link below: If you want to build the ISO yourself, do the following: CBL-Mariner cd / tool kit sudo make iso REBUILD_TOOLS = y REBUILD_PACKAGES = n CONFIG_FILE =. / imageconfigs / full.json
Step 2 – Prepare the target platform
As mentioned earlier, CBL-Mariner is not meant to be a daily driver operating system for your PC. It would be better to install it on a hypervisor platform. On Windows, you can use Microsoft’s own Hyper-V. Oracle VM VirtualBox is another cross-platform solution that can be used on Windows, Linux and also macOS. Depending on the host operating system, you can also choose up a suitable VMware or Parallels virtualization product. In that tutorial, we will use Hyper-V for convenience. If you created a generation 2 VM, you will need to configure some additional settings:
Step 3 – Installing the OS
Now that we have prepared the platform, we are ready to install CBL-Mariner on the virtual machine.
Step 4 – Booting the Operating System
Once the installation phase is complete, the VM will reboot and subsequently start the newly installed operating system from the virtual hard disk. When prompted, login to your CBL-Mariner instance using the username and password provided through the installer application. That’s it! Now you can add additional packages like an SSH server and customize the VM instance according to your needs. For more information about your security features, take a look at CBL-Mariner’s GitHub security features List.
Final note
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