PWstudio CPU version - Windows 11 (WSL2) installation guide

Applies to: Windows 11

Before you start, we strongly recommend reading Read this before installing PWstudio first to get the big picture.

Method 1:

Follow Microsoft's official guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

Method 2: You can also install it graphically:

If you prefer a graphical interface, you can install it from the Microsoft Store:

a. Open the Microsoft Store;

b. Search for “Ubuntu 24.04 LTS”;

c. Click “Get” or “Install”.

Pick either of the two methods above — you don't need to do both. Once installed, the first time you open the Ubuntu app it will ask you to set up a Linux username and password. Set these up normally, and remember to note them down — you may need them later.

The Docker installation steps for the CPU version are the same as for the GPU version — just jump straight over there.

Click the link to jump to the Install Docker section: Go to "Install Docker", follow the guide up through that section, then come back to this page.

Click the link to jump to the Import the image section: Go to "Import the image" and follow the guide through to the end.

Starting the PWstudio CPU container with wslc

The section below is an alternative way to start the PWstudio CPU container using wslc (the container tool built into WSL) — it's a different path from steps 2 and 3 above. Pick one path and follow it through — don't do both. If you've already completed the install by following steps 2 and 3 above, you can skip the rest of this page.

All the commands below are run in PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell as administrator: search for PowerShell in the Start menu, right-click it, and choose “Run as administrator”

1. Update to the WSL pre-release build: run the following command

wsl --update --pre-release

1. Restart the WSL service: after the update finishes, run this command to apply the change

wsl --shutdown

1. Verify that wslc is available: close and reopen your terminal (PowerShell or Windows Terminal)

wslc --version

If you see output with a version number (e.g. 2.9.3.0), you're good to continue to the next step.

Installation instructions: click the link, Installing the server.py service on Windows, and follow the guide to set up the license service before moving to the next step.

wslc pull ccr.ccs.tencentyun.com/lxkt/qflowcpu:latest

This step downloads the PWstudio CPU image, which is fairly large — depending on your network speed it may take anywhere from a few minutes to over ten minutes, so please be patient.

In PowerShell:

wslc run -d --name qflowcpu `
  -v $env:TEMP\pwmat:/var/tmp/pwmat_host_secret:ro `
  --ulimit memlock=-1:-1 --ulimit stack=-1:-1 --shm-size=128G `
  -e SELINUX=disabled -p 80:80 -p 81:81 -p 2297:2297 -p 5010:5010 `
  --hostname=mstation ccr.ccs.tencentyun.com/lxkt/qflowcpu:latest

In cmd:

wslc run -d --name qflowcpu ^
  -v %TEMP%\pwmat:/var/tmp/pwmat_host_secret:ro ^
  --ulimit memlock=-1:-1 --ulimit stack=-1:-1 --shm-size=128G ^
  -e SELINUX=disabled -p 80:80 -p 81:81 -p 2297:2297 -p 5010:5010 ^
  --hostname=mstation ccr.ccs.tencentyun.com/lxkt/qflowcpu:latest

Pick one of the two blocks above depending on which terminal you're using — don't run both. If there's no error, it will usually print a long string of characters (the container ID), meaning the container has started.

Jump to: 5. Logging into the container, uploading/downloading files and follow the guide to the end. If you don't yet know how to log in with an SSH tool, read the MobaXterm beginner tutorial first.