ESP32 Development on WSL2 Link to heading

win11 wsl-5.10.60.1 have firstly support usbip feature, it can attach usb device to wsl. The offical post Connecting USB devices to WSL has a brief introduction.

Get latest kernel Link to heading

Building your own USB/IP enabled WSL 2 kernel have a clear instruction. Or get latest kernel through updates by steps blow.
Install Windows 11, open Windows Update – join Windows Insider Program (Beta channel) – install updates, reboot machine
Windows Update – Advanced Options – check the option “Receive updates for other Microsoft products” – Back – Check for updates
Reboot or shutdown WSL2 images
start a new WSL2 image e.g. with Ubuntu 20 LTS, check that you have kernel 5.10: uname -a. It does not work on 4.x kernel from normal WSL2

Attach usb to wsl2 Link to heading

install https://github.com/dorssel/usbipd-win/releases on Windows
in Linux – sudo apt install linux-tools-5.4.0-77-generic hwdata
in Linux – visudo
in Linux – prepend path Defaults secure_path=”/usr/lib/linux-tools/5.4.0-77-generic:
connect ESP device with FTDI in Windows PowerShell (administrator) type: usbipd wsl list
search for 5-3 Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge Not attached
type in Windows: usbipd wsl attach -b 5-3 -d Ubuntu
type in Linux: lsusb can see Silicon Labs CP210x UART Bridge

Install cp120x dirver on wsl2. Link to heading

some board don’t need this step. My board usb serial chip is cp1202, and the dirver need to installed manully. Main referenced from Building your own USB/IP enabled WSL 2 kernel

# Update resources and Install prerequisites
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install build-essential flex bison libssl-dev libelf-dev libncurses-dev autoconf libudev-dev libtool

# Clone kernel that matches wsl version
uname -r
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel.git
cd WSL2-Linux-Kernel
git checkout linux-msft-wsl-5.10.60.1

# Copy current configuration file
cp /proc/config.gz config.gz
gunzip config.gz
mv config .config

# enable usb serial features
sudo make menuconfig
# Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Serial Converter support -> USB Serial Console device support + USB Generic Serial Driver + USB CP210x family of UART Bridge Controllers
sudo make -j 8 && sudo make modules_install -j 8 && sudo make install -j 8
cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /mnt/c/Users/<user>/usbip-bzImage

# Create .wslconfig file and add a reference to the created image with the following notes
vi /mnt/c/Users/<user>/.wslconfig
# [wsl2]
# kernel=c:\\users\\<user>\\usbip-bzImage

reboot system

Connect ttyUSB device Link to heading

After attached usb to wsl, you can use dmesg command to determine whether the driver works. The correct echo should look like this:

[ 1309.073610] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using vhci_hcd
[ 1309.153533] vhci_hcd: vhci_device speed not set
[ 1309.223539] usb 1-1: SetAddress Request (2) to port 0
[ 1309.290634] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=10c4, idProduct=ea60, bcdDevice= 1.00
[ 1309.290638] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1309.290641] usb 1-1: Product: CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
[ 1309.290711] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Silicon Labs
[ 1309.290714] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 0001
[ 1309.301652] cp210x 1-1:1.0: cp210x converter detected
[ 1309.308748] usb 1-1: cp210x converter now attached to ttyUSB0

The last line indicates the corresponding serial port device name ttyUSB0.
My environment still have permission problems, and I solved them with reference to Cannot open /dev/ttyUSB0: Permission denied

sudo su
//type your password
cd /
cd dev
chown username ttyUSB0

Finally I can communicate with esp32.

cd examples/get-started/blink
idf.py build flash monitor

If an error occurs in the process, it may be solved by restarting the system.