What is the difference between Bash and Ubuntu terminals on Windows 10

Question

I recently installed Ubuntu for Windows and now inside the Start Menu there are 2 new items:

Bash Bash This terminal opens in:

root@myName-PC:/mnt/c/Windows/System32#

Ubuntu Ubuntu This terminal opens in:

root@myname-PC:~#

What is the difference between the two?

For example, we want to install Git and Utils, RVM (Ruby) then clone a Git project and deploy via SSH with Capistrano commands. Should that be run with Bash or Ubuntu as above?

Also, should the commands be run in system32 or C:/ folder when inside the terminal?

Thanks

Answer 1

The Bash terminal is the old style (prior to Windows 10 v1790 a.k.a. Fall Creator Update). It resides in %LocalAppData%\Lxss and is managed using lxrun.exe.

The Ubuntu terminal is the new style, downloaded from Microsoft Store. The launcher part is a Windows App (%ProgramFiles%\WindowsApp) and its data resides in %LocalAppData%\Packages.

Those are two isolated installation of Windows Subsystem for Linux and do not interfere with each other. Practically you need only one of them, so choose one at your own preference.

I personally dislike the Windows Store version as it can be easily removed, which isn't a good thing for a productivity environment.