Run C/C++ program from Windows Subsystem for Linux in Visual Studio Code

• Preparation
• Method
  • Installation
  • Create project folders
  • Configure VS Code
  • Add source code file
  • Build the program
  • Run the program executable

I want to use VS Code to edit C/C++ code on Windows but compile and run executable on WSL through the VS Code UI. Note that this is not necessary. You can simply navigate to /mnt/c/Users/<path_to_file>, the path of the source .c file on Windows under the WSL file system, do cc xxx.c and the a.out file would be produced.

Preparation

I read this article.

Method

Installation

1. Get windows subsystem for Linux following this guide.
2. Install Visual Studio Code and the C/C++ extension.
3. In WSL, type

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt install gcc
   sudo apt-get install build-essential gdb
   

   to install gcc (compiler for C), g++ (compiler for C++), and gdb (debugger). Type

   whereis gcc
   whereis g++
   whereis gdb
   

   to verify that they are installed.

Create project folders

1. In WSL, make a directory projects and subdirectory helloworld for the sample project helloworld using

   mkdir projects
   cd projects
   mkdir helloworld
   

   This is where the executable will be placed.

2. In Windows, create a folder helloworld.

Configure VS Code

1. In VS Code, press Ctrl+Shift+P, type C/C++ and select Edit Configurations (UI). Set Compiler path to /usr/bin/gcc and IntelliSense mode to gcc-x64.
2. Open helloworld/.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json, the file should look like this

   {
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Win32",
            "includePath": [
                "${workspaceFolder}/**"
            ],
            "defines": [
                "_DEBUG",
                "UNICODE",
                "_UNICODE"
            ],
            "compilerPath": "/usr/bin/gcc",
            "cStandard": "c11",
            "cppStandard": "c++17",
            "intelliSenseMode": "gcc-x64"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
   }
   

3. In VS Code, go to View > Command Palette > Configure Default Build Task > Create tasks.json file from template > Others. In the tasks.json file that just popped up, paste the following content, replacing <linux user name> with your Linux username.

   {
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "windows": {
      "options": {
        "shell": {
          "executable": "bash.exe",
          "args": ["-c"]
        }
      }
    },
    "tasks": [
      {
        "label": "build on WSL",
        "type": "shell",
        "command": "g++",
        "args": [
          "-g",
          "-o",
          "/home/<linux user name>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out",
          "'${relativeFileDirname}/${fileBasename}'"
        ],
        "group": {
          "kind": "build",
          "isDefault": true
        },
        "problemMatcher": [
            "$gcc"
        ]
      },
      {
        "label": "run on WSL",
        "type": "shell",
        "command": "/home/<linux user name>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out",
        "group": {
            "kind": "build",
            "isDefault": true
        },
        "problemMatcher": [
            "$gcc"
        ]
        }
    ]
     }
   

   The task build on WSL builds the program and creates an executable helloworld.out. The task run on WSL runs the executable and prints the output in VS Code.

4. For debugging: In json, create a launch.json file and paste the following content, replacing <linux username> and <windows username> with your Linux and Windows usernames, respectively.

   {
     "version": "0.2.0",
     "configurations": [
       
    {
      "name": "(gdb) Launch",
      "preLaunchTask": "build on WSL",
      "type": "cppdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "/home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out",
      "args": [""],
      "stopAtEntry": true,
      "cwd": "/home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/",
      "environment": [],
      "externalConsole": true,
      "windows": {
        "MIMode": "gdb",
        "miDebuggerPath": "/usr/bin/gdb",
        "setupCommands": [
          {
            "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
            "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
            "ignoreFailures": true
          }
        ]
      },
      "pipeTransport": {
        "pipeCwd": "",
        "pipeProgram": "c:\\windows\\sysnative\\bash.exe",
        "pipeArgs": ["-c"],
        "debuggerPath": "/usr/bin/gdb"
      },
      "sourceFileMap": {
        "/mnt/c": "${env:systemdrive}/",
        "/usr": "C:\\Users\\<windows username>\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\\LocalState\\rootfs\\usr\\"
      }
    }
     ]
   }
   

Add source code file

1. In VS Code, in the folder helloworld, create a helloworld.cpp or helloworld.c file and paste the following content:

   #include<stdio.h>
   int main()
   {
    printf("Hello world");
    return 0;
   }
   

2. Save the file.

Build the program

Ctrl-Shift-B > build on WSL to build the program helloworld.cpp or helloworld.c on Windows using gcc installed in WSL and create an executable /home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out. You should see a message

> Executing task: g++ -g -o /home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out 'helloworld.c' <


Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.

Run the program executable

Ctrl-Shift-B > run on WSL to run the executable /home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out. You should see the output

> Executing task: /home/<linux username>/projects/helloworld/helloworld.out <

Hello world
Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.