2023 Multi Instance of the same WSL Ubuntu Step by Step

How to install the same wsl ubuntu linux multiple times:

We could use the Wsl import/export commands for achieving multiple copies of the same ubuntu distribution.

You need to create a folder to store the exported image file (c:\backup) and another folder for hosting ubuntu instances (c:\ubuntu).

Step 0. Make the folders:

mkdir c:\backup

mkdir c:\ubuntu

Step 1. Install the original ubuntu:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-22.04

Step 2. Export the original ubuntu to an image file

wsl --export Ubuntu-22.04 c:\backup\ubuntu2204.tar.gz

Step 3. Create a new instance from the image file

wls --import ubuntu-1 c:\ubuntu\ubuntu-1 c:\backup\ubuntu2204.tar.gz

You can find the ubuntu-1 from start menu now.
If you want to enter from powershell, you can do:

wsl -d ubuntu-1

If you ever want to uninstall an instance, you could simply do:

wsl --unregister ubuntu-1