Prerequisites for Windows Installation

Requires Windows 10 or more recent

Installing necessary Windows softwares

Install Docker Desktop

In order to use Splash you will need Docker to create containers. However Docker only works in Desktop mode on Windows, but don’t worry: it’s really easy to set-up and will work perfectly with WSL2.

  1. Download and execute Docker Desktop setup

  2. Press next at every step and do not change anything (this will enable Virtualization)

  3. Docker may ask you to restart your computer; after rebooting, Docker may tell you that WSL2 installation is incomplete: simply follow the steps indicated by Docker

Docker Desktop is now installed; we will change some of its settings later.

Configure WSL2

We must then enable certain properties in order for our Windows Linux Subsystem to work.

  1. Launch Windows Powershell as administrator

  2. Type in the following command:

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

    This will enable WSL on your system

  3. We will now enable Virtual Machine Platform. You first need to check your Windows version.

    Type in winver in the Start menu.

    For version 2004 type in this command;

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

    For versions 1903 & 1909 enter this one:

    Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart

  4. Finally, set WSL2 as your default version:

    wsl --set-default-version 2

Install Ubuntu for Windows

As Lookyloo is not natively working on Windows, it is preferable to install Ubuntu from the Microsoft store.

You can now launch Ubuntu from the Start menu; this will finish the installation. Follow the steps indicated in the shell.

Once that’s done, close the Ubuntu shell and open PowerShell as administrator.

Run the command wsl.exe --set-version Ubuntu 2 and then run → wsl -l -v. You should see VERSION 2 on the Ubuntu line.

Docker Settings

You might need to change these settings before continuing:

  1. Open Docker Desktop and click the Settings icon

  2. In the General tab, tick Use the WSL 2 based engine

  3. Go to the tab Resources > WSL Integration and tick Enable integration with my default WSL distro and activate the slider next to Ubuntu (you may need to refresh first).

  4. Click Apply and restart at the bottom right

When using your Ubuntu shell, do not install Lookyloo in a Windows path. This will cause communication problems between Redis and your Lookyloo instance. Do everything as if you were on a regular Linux OS. tl;dr: don’t go in /mnt/ to install things

You are now ready for the installation of Lookyloo!

If something didn’t work, you can check the Troubleshooting section down below.

Troubleshooting

Enable Hypervirtualization

To allow Windows to virtualize a Linux environment and to run Docker properly, you will need to enable Hyper-V in your UEFI/BIOS and in Windows itself. It can happen that Docker did not enable it automatically, so here is some help.

BIOS/UEFI Steps

  1. Reboot your machine

  2. Before the Windows logo displays, press the specified key on the screen to enter your system’s BIOS (sometimes referred to as setup).
    If you can’t find it, try pressing F1/F2/F10/Delete/Escape or restart your computer directly to UEFI

  3. Once you’re in, look for something like Intel Virtual Technology or SVM for AMD CPUs. Enable this option.

  4. You can now Save and Exit your BIOS (this will restart your computer automatically).

If you have trouble with any of the steps above, press the Windows key and type in dxdiag. The System Model line gives you the model of your motherboard which helps you getting information about how to enter your BIOS and also where the Virtualization setting is located.

Enabling Hyper-V in Windows

  1. Press the Windows key and type in Turn Windows Features on or off

  2. Look for the setting called "Hyper-V" and tick it if it’s not enable yet. Click "OK"

Good job! You have now enabled virtualization on your system.