How to Install Moodle on Windows WSL

Enable WSL in Windows

To install Moodle on Windows using WSL, you first need to turn on the Windows Subsystem for Linux. This lets Windows run Linux programs directly.

What to do: Open PowerShell as an administrator. Click Start, then type PowerShell. Right-click Windows PowerShell and select “Run as administrator.”

Now run this command:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

You should see a success message like this:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19042.844

Enabling feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

Enable Virtual Machine Platform

For your Moodle setup to work with WSL 2 on Windows, you must turn on the Virtual Machine Platform feature. This allows WSL 2 to run properly.

Run this command from the same PowerShell window:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

If you’re using Windows 10 version 2004 or older, use this command instead:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart

After running these commands, restart your computer. This lets all the changes take effect. If you don’t restart, the next command won’t work.

After restarting, open PowerShell as administrator again. Run this command to set WSL 2 as the default version:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Install Ubuntu on 🪟 Windows 10

Next, you’ll install Ubuntu on your Windows 10 computer to get the Linux environment needed for Moodle within WSL. Ubuntu provides essential tools like a Linux terminal.

Open this link to download Ubuntu 20.04 from the Windows Store:

Get Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – Microsoft Store

Ubuntu gives you a Linux terminal and command-line tools like bash, ssh, git, apt, and many more.

Click the Get button and install it. After installing, launch Ubuntu from WSL.

Ubuntu will ask you to create an account. Follow the prompts:

Installing, this may take a few minutes.
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: user
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-19041-Microsoft x86_64)

1 update can be installed immediately.
0 of these updates are security updates.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable

Great! Ubuntu is now installed.

If you run into problems, try these commands:

wsl --set-default-version 1
bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto start

Install Apache HTTP Server

Moodle needs a web server to work, so we’ll install the Apache HTTP Server on your Ubuntu WSL. Apache handles requests from web browsers to show your Moodle site.

Run these commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

You can use these commands to control Apache:

sudo service apache2 stop
sudo service apache2 start
sudo service apache2 restart

To check if Apache is working, open your browser and go to:

http://localhost

You should see an Apache test page.

Install MariaDB Database Server

Moodle keeps all its information, such as course details and user accounts, in a database, so you need to install MariaDB Server on WSL. MariaDB is a popular choice for storing Moodle data.

MariaDB is open-source, fast, and secure. Most Linux systems use it.

Run this command:

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

You can use these commands to control MariaDB:

sudo service mysql stop
sudo service mysql start
sudo service mysql restart

Now secure your database by setting a root password. Run this command:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Answer the questions like this:

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press Enter

Set root password? [Y/n]: Y

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

To verify MariaDB is working, log in with this command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type your root password when asked. You should see:

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 46
Server version: 10.3.29-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 Ubuntu 20.04
Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]>

Great! MariaDB is installed.

Install PHP and Related Modules

Moodle is built with PHP, so you must install PHP and all the required modules on your WSL system. These tools allow Moodle to run correctly.

Run this command to install PHP and all required modules:

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-imagick php-imap php-json php-ldap php-common php-pgsql php-ssh2 php-sqlite3 php-xml php-soap php-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php7.4-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip

To check if PHP is installed correctly, run:

php -v

You should see something like:

PHP 7.4.3 (cli) (built: Oct 6 2020 15:47:56) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.3, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

You can also test PHP by creating a test file. Run this command:

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Type this content:

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. Restart Apache, then open your browser and go to:

http://example.com/phpinfo.php

You should see a PHP information page.

Create Moodle Database

Moodle needs its own database to store all your course and user information securely, so you’ll create one in MariaDB on WSL. This database will hold Moodle’s content.

Log into MariaDB with this command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Create a database called moodle:

CREATE DATABASE moodle;

Create a database user called moodleuser:

CREATE USER 'moodleuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Give the user full access to the moodle database:

GRANT ALL ON moodle.* TO 'moodleuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Save your changes and exit:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Moodle

To get Moodle running on your Windows WSL setup, you’ll download the latest Moodle files. We’ll use git to get the files from their official source.

First, install git and curl:

sudo apt install git curl

Go to the Apache directory and download the latest Moodle version:

cd /var/www/
sudo git clone -b MOODLE_39_STABLE git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git moodle

To see the latest Moodle versions, check this link:

page

Now set the correct permissions so Moodle can work:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/moodledata
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/
sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/moodledata

Configure Apache

You need to tell Apache how to handle requests for Moodle by creating a special configuration file on your WSL server. This file tells Apache where to find Moodle’s files.

Create a new Apache configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/moodle.conf

Copy and paste this configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/moodle

<Directory /var/www/moodle/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Save the file. Then enable the new site and restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite moodle.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo service apache2 restart

Launch Moodle

Once everything is set up, you can launch Moodle on your Windows WSL installation by going to a specific web address in your browser. This will start the Moodle setup wizard.

Open your browser and go to:

http://example.com

The Moodle installation wizard should open.

First, choose your language:

Next, confirm the Moodle directories:

• Moodle directory: The folder with Moodle’s code
• Data directory: Where Moodle stores files users upload

Choose your database type. MariaDB is what we installed:

Enter your database details:

• Database name: moodle
• Username: moodleuser
• Password: The password you created

Continue through the installer. Check that everything meets the requirements.

Create your main admin account. This person will control the entire site. Use a strong password and a real email address:

Once done, Moodle is ready to use:

Summary

You’ve now successfully installed Moodle on Windows using WSL, from turning on features to getting it ready. This guide covered enabling WSL, installing Ubuntu, Apache, MariaDB, PHP, and finally setting up Moodle.

1. Enabled WSL 2 on Windows
2. Installed Ubuntu Linux on your Windows machine
3. Installed Apache web server
4. Installed MariaDB database
5. Installed PHP and required modules
6. Created a Moodle database and user
7. Downloaded Moodle from GitHub
8. Configured Apache for Moodle
9. Ran the Moodle installation wizard

Moodle is now running on your Windows computer. You can use it to create courses, manage students, and deliver online education.