VSCode remote also works equally well via "remote SSH" to your VirtualBox Setup. I still use the virtualbox setup because I feel it has advantages compared to WSL:
- I don't need to enable Hyper-V, which hijacks virtualization and disables other softwares (like VirtualBox) from using it. In fact, when you enable WSL/Hyper-V, your windows itself boots as a kind-of-VM from a Hyper-V root, so WSL is just an additional VM inside that cage.
- Services run normally, since it's a normal linux box. No need to "service docker start" on every WSL boot.
- Easier to image/snapshot/transfer to another box or even another operating system, as VirtualBox runs in other OSes.
And you get the same native VSCode experience. Try it out (VSCode+Remote SSH to Vbox), you'll enjoy just the same as VSCode+WSL
One tip that I have is: Set a secondary NIC in your VirtualBox VM to a 'host only network' and use 'virtio-net' instead of the default emulated Intel Pro1000 cards. Much better performance since it's essentially a virtual device with unbounded speed. With the virtio-net device, even remote X11 becomes a real possibility with windows apps like VcXsrv. I'm a Pycharm user (and Pycharm unfortunately has meager support for remote, where VSCode shines) and I use it graphically like this -- there's still some input lag tho, but it's quick enough for me.
There are other benefits to me and I'm not missing anything by moving to WSL.
VirtualBox still works if I need to access something off my old VMs, it's just dog slow for some reason using Hyper-V on my system.
I haven't needed to restart docker after booting WSL. Maybe I will, but hasn't happened yet.
The WSL vm feels much more performant to me. It supports dynamic memory allocation and in the new 2.0 release I believe it can free memory. This is really nice in general but particularly on laptops with less RAM.
Resource sharing seems.. Just easier. I like the default drive and network sharing. Both seem to work fast and I don't have to do anything with them..
I can still run multiple VMs if I need to with Hyper-V.
There is a level of integration that is pretty nice. I like typing "code ." in the WSL term and having it just launch VSCode in Windows and be connected. The WSLg system seems really nice for any software I might run that doesn't support remote hosts.
For me, it's all upsides and no real downsides to just running WSL.
- I don't need to enable Hyper-V, which hijacks virtualization and disables other softwares (like VirtualBox) from using it. In fact, when you enable WSL/Hyper-V, your windows itself boots as a kind-of-VM from a Hyper-V root, so WSL is just an additional VM inside that cage.
- Services run normally, since it's a normal linux box. No need to "service docker start" on every WSL boot.
- Easier to image/snapshot/transfer to another box or even another operating system, as VirtualBox runs in other OSes.
And you get the same native VSCode experience. Try it out (VSCode+Remote SSH to Vbox), you'll enjoy just the same as VSCode+WSL
One tip that I have is: Set a secondary NIC in your VirtualBox VM to a 'host only network' and use 'virtio-net' instead of the default emulated Intel Pro1000 cards. Much better performance since it's essentially a virtual device with unbounded speed. With the virtio-net device, even remote X11 becomes a real possibility with windows apps like VcXsrv. I'm a Pycharm user (and Pycharm unfortunately has meager support for remote, where VSCode shines) and I use it graphically like this -- there's still some input lag tho, but it's quick enough for me.