Update Packages and Install Essentials

Update the Package Manager

You must be at a WSL2 bash prompt (devuser@...). Run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

When prompted for [sudo] password for devuser:, enter the password you created during user creation (no characters will show)
Wait for completion — may take several minutes

Expected: Command finishes without E: error lines at the end.

Install Essential Packages

Still in WSL2 bash:

sudo apt install -y build-essential curl wget git unzip ca-certificates

Expected: Ends with Setting up... messages and returns to the prompt with no errors.

What each package provides:

Package	Purpose
`build-essential`	GCC compiler, make, and other build tools required for compiling native extensions
`curl`	Command-line tool for transferring data via HTTP/HTTPS (used by many install scripts)
`wget`	Alternative download tool, useful for fetching files and installers
`git`	Version control system for cloning repositories and managing source code
`unzip`	Extracts ZIP archives (required by AWS CLI installer and other tools)
`ca-certificates`	Root CA certificates for verifying HTTPS connections

Verify

Run these in two different shells:

1. PowerShell — open a new PowerShell window (Start → PowerShell). wsl --list --verbose does not run inside Ubuntu.

wsl --list --verbose

Expected:

  NAME              STATE           VERSION
* docker-desktop    Running         2
  Ubuntu-26.04      Running         2

Ubuntu-26.04 (or your distro name) must show Running and VERSION 2
docker-desktop may also appear — that is normal after Docker Desktop install
The * default may point to docker-desktop instead of Ubuntu — that is fine

2. WSL2 bash — use the Ubuntu window from above (devuser@...$):

dpkg -l build-essential curl wget git unzip ca-certificates | grep "^ii"

Expected — six lines starting with ii:

ii  build-essential 12.12ubuntu2      amd64        Informational list of build-essential packages
ii  ca-certificates 20260223          all          Common CA certificates
ii  curl            8.18.0-1ubuntu2.1 amd64        command line tool for transferring data with URL syntax
ii  git             1:2.53.0-1ubuntu1 amd64        fast, scalable, distributed revision control system
ii  unzip           6.0-29ubuntu1     amd64        De-archiver for .zip files
ii  wget            1.25.0-2ubuntu4   amd64        retrieves files from the web

Version numbers may differ slightly — all six packages must show ii.

If any package is missing (no ii line), re-run:

sudo apt install -y <missing-package-name>