Running JetBrains Rider in WSL 2

Intro

Want to run JetBrains Rider in your WSL environment? I recently navigated this process and want to share my insights. With WSL2’s support for GUI apps, this is now possible, though not without some hurdles.

Download Rider EAP

Here’s how to start:

Download the tar installation file for the Linux EAP version in Windows.
Extract the files to /opt using these commands:

mv /mnt/c/Users/nojaf/Downloads/JetBrains.Rider-2023.3-EAP7-233.11799.22.Checked.tar.gz ~/
sudo tar -xvzf ~/JetBrains.Rider-2023.3-EAP7-233.11799.22.Checked.tar.gz -C /opt

Launching Rider

Launch Rider with the rider.sh script:

/opt/JetBrains\ Rider-233.11799.22/bin/rider.sh

Troubleshooting

Rider didn’t launch for me:

$ /opt/JetBrains\ Rider-233.11799.22/bin/rider.sh
CompileCommand: exclude com/intellij/openapi/vfs/impl/FilePartNodeRoot.trieDescend bool exclude = true

Start Failed
Internal error. Please refer to https://jb.gg/ide/critical-startup-errors

kotlinx.coroutines.JobCancellationException: Parent job is Cancelling; job=UndispatchedCoroutine{Cancelling}@1f4fb181
Caused by: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /opt/JetBrains Rider-233.11799.22/jbr/lib/libawt_xawt.so: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.load(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries$NativeLibraryImpl.open(NativeLibraries.java:388)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:232)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:174)
        at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2394)
        at java.base/java.lang.Runtime.load0(Runtime.java:755)
        at java.base/java.lang.System.load(System.java:1953)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.load(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries$NativeLibraryImpl.open(NativeLibraries.java:388)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:232)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:174)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.findFromPaths(NativeLibraries.java:315)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:285)
        at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2403)
        at java.base/java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:818)
        at java.base/java.lang.System.loadLibrary(System.java:1989)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit$2.run(Toolkit.java:1388)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit$2.run(Toolkit.java:1386)
        at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.loadLibraries(Toolkit.java:1385)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.initStatic(Toolkit.java:1428)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.<clinit>(Toolkit.java:1397)
        at com.intellij.util.ui.StartupUiUtil.isWaylandToolkit(StartupUiUtil.kt:189)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.SplashManagerKt$showSplashIfNeeded$newJob$1.invokeSuspend(SplashManager.kt:89)
        at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:108)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:584)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:793)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:697)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:684)

-----
Your JRE: 17.0.9+7-b1087.3 amd64 (JetBrains s.r.o.)
/opt/JetBrains Rider-233.11799.22/jbr

Also, a UI exception occurred on an attempt to show the above message
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class java.awt.Toolkit
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.<clinit>(Component.java:628)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.StartupErrorReporter.showMessage(StartupErrorReporter.java:111)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.StartupErrorReporter.showMessage(StartupErrorReporter.java:61)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.StartupUtil.lockSystemDirs(main.kt:627)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.StartupUtil.access$lockSystemDirs(main.kt:1)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.StartupUtil$lockSystemDirs$1.invokeSuspend(main.kt)
        at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:106)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:584)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:793)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:697)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:684)
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError: Exception java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /opt/JetBrains Rider-233.11799.22/jbr/lib/libawt_xawt.so: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory [in thread "DefaultDispatcher-worker-10"]
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.load(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries$NativeLibraryImpl.open(NativeLibraries.java:388)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:232)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:174)
        at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2394)
        at java.base/java.lang.Runtime.load0(Runtime.java:755)
        at java.base/java.lang.System.load(System.java:1953)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.load(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries$NativeLibraryImpl.open(NativeLibraries.java:388)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:232)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:174)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.findFromPaths(NativeLibraries.java:315)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.NativeLibraries.loadLibrary(NativeLibraries.java:285)
        at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2403)
        at java.base/java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:818)
        at java.base/java.lang.System.loadLibrary(System.java:1989)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit$2.run(Toolkit.java:1388)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit$2.run(Toolkit.java:1386)
        at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.loadLibraries(Toolkit.java:1385)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.initStatic(Toolkit.java:1428)
        at java.desktop/java.awt.Toolkit.<clinit>(Toolkit.java:1397)
        at com.intellij.util.ui.StartupUiUtil.isWaylandToolkit(StartupUiUtil.kt:189)
        at com.intellij.platform.ide.bootstrap.SplashManagerKt$showSplashIfNeeded$newJob$1.invokeSuspend(SplashManager.kt:89)
        at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33)
        at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:108)
        ... 4 more

I encountered an error related to libXrender.so.1. It turns out I was missing some rendering packages, which I resolved by installing Nautilus:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nautilus

While Nautilus isn’t the direct solution, it installs necessary dependencies.

JetBrains Rider EAP in WSL2

Resource Management

Running Rider in WSL2 can be resource-intensive. To improve performance, I configured WSL to use more memory:

[wsl2]
memory=16GB

Why not use Gateway?

I’ve had limited success with Gateway for basic tasks. I prefer the current setup because the experience is more or less the same as having Rider in Windows.

Conclusion

Running JetBrains Rider in WSL2 is feasible and, for me, effective. Whether it’s suitable for daily use remains to be seen, but it’s a promising option for developers.

Happy coding,

Florian

Photo by Ellie Pourreza on Unsplash