How to Install ownCloud on Windows WSL

Step 1Turn On WSL in Windows

Why this step matters: You need to enable WSL before you can use Linux on Windows.

First, open PowerShell as an administrator. Click the ⊞ Start button and type “PowerShell.”

🖱️ Right-click on “Windows PowerShell” and choose “Run as administrator.”

Copy and paste this command into PowerShell:

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

What happens: Windows will enable WSL. You should see a message saying “The operation completed successfully.”

Step 2Enable Virtual Machine Platform

Why this step matters: WSL 2 needs this feature to run properly.

Keep PowerShell open and run this command:

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

Note: If you’re using an older version of Windows 10 (before version 2004), use this command instead:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart

What happens next: After running the command, 🔄 restart your computer. This is important or the next step won’t work.

After your computer restarts, open PowerShell as administrator again and run this command:

wsl --set-default-version 2

What this does: It sets WSL 2 as your default version.

Step 3Install Ubuntu on Windows

Why this step matters: Ubuntu is the Linux system you’ll run inside Windows.

Open this link to download Ubuntu from the Windows Store:

Get Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – Microsoft Store

What is Ubuntu? It’s a free Linux operating system. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS gives you access to the Linux terminal and tools like bash, ssh, and git.

Click “Get” to 💿 install it. Once installed, launch Ubuntu.

What happens: Ubuntu will ask you to create a username and password. This is your Linux account (it doesn’t have to match your Windows username).

Example:

Enter new UNIX username: user
New password: (type your password)
Retype new password: (type it again)
passwd: password updated successfully

If you run into problems: Try these troubleshooting commands:

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

Step 4Install Apache Web Server

Why Apache? ownCloud needs a web server to run. Apache is the most popular one used by websites around the world.

In your Ubuntu terminal, run these commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

Flag: These commands require admin privileges (that’s what sudo means).

Useful Apache commands:

sudo service apache2 stop (stops Apache)
sudo service apache2 start (starts Apache)
sudo service apache2 restart (restarts Apache)

Test if Apache works: Open your web browser and go to:

http://localhost

What you should see: The Apache test page appears. This means Apache is working.

Step 5Install MariaDB Database

Why MariaDB? ownCloud stores all your files and settings in a database. MariaDB is a free, fast database that works great with Linux.

Run these commands:

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Flag: This command requires admin privileges.

Useful MariaDB commands:

sudo service mysql stop (stops the database)
sudo service mysql start (starts the database)
sudo service mysql restart (restarts the database)

Secure your database: Now protect your database with a password by running:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Flag: This command requires admin privileges.

Answer the questions like this:

Enter current password for root (press Enter): (just press Enter)
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: (type a strong password)
Re-enter new password: (type it again)
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

Test MariaDB: Log in to see if it works:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type your root password when asked. You should see the MariaDB prompt if everything works.

Type EXIT; to exit.

Step 6Install PHP

Why PHP? PHP is the programming language that makes ownCloud work. It connects all the pieces together.

Run this command to install PHP and all the extra parts ownCloud needs:

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-mysql php-gmp php-curl php-intl php7.4-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-gd php-xml php-cli php-zip

Flag: This command requires admin privileges.

Check if PHP installed correctly: Run this command:

php -v

What you should see: The PHP version number and details. If you see this, PHP is working.

Test PHP with a test page: Create a test file:

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

Copy and paste this into the file:

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file by pressing Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter.

Now restart Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

Open your browser and go to:

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

What you should see: A page showing all your PHP information and installed modules.

Step 7Create the ownCloud Database

What this does: This sets up a place for ownCloud to store your files and settings.

Log into MariaDB:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type your root password.

Create a new database for ownCloud:

CREATE DATABASE owncloud;

Create a user for ownCloud (replace “new_password_here” with a real password):

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

Give this user permission to use the ownCloud database:

GRANT ALL ON owncloud.* TO 'ownclouduser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Save and exit:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 8Download ownCloud

What this does: This gets the ownCloud software and puts it on your computer.

First, check ownCloud download page to see if there’s a newer version than the one used in this guide.

Download ownCloud:

wget https://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-complete-20210326.zip -P /tmp
sudo unzip /tmp/owncloud-complete-20210326.zip -d /var/www

Flag: These commands require admin privileges.

Set the correct permissions so ownCloud can work properly:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/owncloud/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/owncloud/

Flag: These commands require admin privileges.

Step 9Configure Apache for ownCloud

What this does: This tells Apache how to run ownCloud and where to find it.

Create a new configuration file:

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

Flag: This command requires admin privileges.

Copy and paste this into the file. Replace “example.com” with your real domain name or IP address:

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

</VirtualHost>

Save the file.

Enable ownCloud and required Apache features:

sudo a2ensite owncloud.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2enmod headers
sudo a2enmod env
sudo a2enmod dir
sudo a2enmod mime

Flag: These commands require admin privileges.

Restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo service apache2 restart

Step 10Finish Setting Up ownCloud

What happens: Now you can access ownCloud and create your first account.

Open your web browser and go to (replace with your IP or domain):

http://example.com

What you’ll see: The ownCloud setup page.

What to do:

• Create an admin username and password
• Enter the database details (username: ownclouduser, password: the one you created earlier, database name: owncloud)
• Click “Finish Setup”

Log in with your admin account and start using your cloud!

Summary

What you’ve done: You’ve installed a complete file storage system called ownCloud on your Windows computer using Linux (WSL). Here’s what you set up:

• WSL 2 — a Linux system that runs inside Windows
• Ubuntu — a version of Linux
• Apache — the web server that delivers ownCloud to your browser
• MariaDB — the database that stores your files and settings
• PHP — the programming language that makes ownCloud work
• ownCloud — your personal cloud storage system

Why this matters: Now you control your own cloud storage. Your files stay on your computer, not on someone else’s servers. You can access your files from any computer on your network.

Troubleshooting: If something doesn’t work, check that all the steps were completed in order. Make sure you ran all commands with admin privileges (sudo). If you still have problems, use the comment form below.