How to install Jekyll on Windows 10 with “Windows subsystem for Linux”

I previously wrote how to install Jekyll on Windows by installing the Windows version of Ruby and then installing the gems that way. I have found another way install Jekyll via the Ubuntu version of Ruby. This is my preferred way now, as the Linux version of these tools are updated more frequently than the Windows versions.

 

1. Install Ubuntu bash on Windows

1. Enable Windows subsystem for Linux.
   Follow this short guide on how to enable it https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/install_guide
   
2. After following the steps in the guide above. Simply start the Ubuntu bash shell
   

 

2. Install Ruby & Jekyll

# Get Ubuntu up to date and install Ruby
sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential ruby-full

# update ruby gems and install Jekyll
sudo gem update –system
sudo gem install jekyll bundler

Then you can do the standard ‘jekyll new foldername` and `jekyll serve` to host it.

FYI: the error message in the screenshot about Bash on windows, no longer applies. As the Windows 10 Creators Edition resolved this issue

Advertisement