Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

MinGW-w64 VS Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Compare MinGW-w64 VS Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and see what are their differences

MinGW-w64 logo MinGW-w64

The project's goal is to deliver runtime, headers, and libs for developing 64 bit (x64), as...

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) logo Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Learn more about how the Windows Subsystem for Linux works.
  • MinGW-w64 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-18
  • Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17

MinGW-w64 videos

Set Up C++ With Visual Studio Code (VS Code) on Windows 10 mingw-w64 (Easiest)

More videos:

  • Review - Creating a C/C++ Hello World Program in ReactOS With MinGW-W64 and Code::Blocks

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) videos

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Tutorial & How To

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MinGW-w64 and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL))
SSH
100 100%
0% 0
Web And Application Servers
Server Management
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using MinGW-w64 and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) seems to be a lot more popular than MinGW-w64. While we know about 121 links to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), we've tracked only 7 mentions of MinGW-w64. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MinGW-w64 mentions (7)

  • I have tried so many times to make windows recognize the java and c compilers using environment variables and it's not working. windows is not recognizing the compilers
    Download and install the MinGW-w64 GCC for Windows: https://mingw-w64.org/. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Updating CLion Compiler to use C++ Modules
    Looking at the Compiler Support page on cppreference.com, it shows GCC version 11 as having partial support for modules. I went to mingw-w64.org website and saw they had MinGW-w64-builds with version 12.1.0/10.0.0, so I figured I'd download and install that, which is where I am having issues. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Discussion Thread
    If I wanted to build and run a MASM syntax Win32 assembly program on Linux, I would indeed probably use jwasm to assmble but then I would use mingw-w64 to link (despite the name, it supports 32-bit and 64-bit, it's more up-to-date than pure 32-bit mingw), and then run using WINE. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • I'm having problems installing Raylib for Go
    I finally got the Mingw-w64 for my pc, and of course, I got Golang and all. I have been working with it and (for the most part) has been working alright! But when I try used Go get, nothing weird happens but the compiler still tell me this :. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How legit is the compiler and how likely can a compiler be malware and how hard it is to be detected?
    However, what is preventing you from getting the thing from its website, http://mingw-w64.org/ ? Source: about 3 years ago
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Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) mentions (121)

  • Attempted to setup windows-linux dual boot on my PC and screwed it all up - please help
    Dual boot is ssooo previous decades. Let me introduce you to WSL, Windows Subsystem for Linux, now you can run Linux (including GUI) seamlessly from within windows. No dual boot, no sacrifice to security with legacy boot, no restarting to use apps and tools from the other OS, use windows and Linux truly side by side. Source: 10 months ago
  • Discussion Thread
    You can ease into it by using Windows Subsystem for Linux. It's quite good at this point. Source: 11 months ago
  • Linux or Windows for coding??
    You can probably get by with wsl. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Connecting python to a scanner
    SANE is Linux-only so it will likely only work on Windows inside of the WSL. Source: about 1 year ago
  • How I installed OctoPrint in WSL and Connected to my Ender 6
    To start with installing OctoPrint within WSL, you will need to install or already have WSL installed. If you do not have WSL installed, navigate to the Microsoft Store (If you're not sure where to find this, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about ). Source: about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing MinGW-w64 and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), you can also consider the following products

MinGW - MinGW ("Minimalistic GNU for Windows") is a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and...

SSH of Windows' Linux subsystem - Installation instructions for the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 10.

MSYS2 - A Cygwin-derived software distro for Windows using Arch Linux's Pacman

Laragon - All in one web server.

PowerShell - Download WMF. Windows Management Framework contains the latest versions of PowerShell, DSC, WMI, and WinRM for older versions of Windows. PowerShell Module Browser. Search for PowerShell modules and cmdlets.

XAMPP - XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server that is primarily used when locally developing web applications.