How to change default directory in Windows Subsystem for Linux

I am setting up my development environment, so I just installed Windows Subsystem for Linux and it always seems to open a fresh terminal in my Windows home directory - /mnt/c/Users/dl and I'm trying to make it default to the linux home directory - /home/dl.

I checked to see what the home directory is in the Linux subsystem in /etc/passwd and it is correctly set:

dl:x:1000:1000:,,,:/home/dl:/bin/bash

Then I came across this solution, but it doesn't seem to have any affect:

// Set starting directory
"startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu\\home\\dl\\"

I know I can just run cd ~ in my dot files (which is what I'm currently using), but I'm looking for a way where /home/dl is just the default and cd ~ isn't needed. Is this possible?

Solution

You should only change the startingDirectory for WSL (Ubuntu in this case) terminal sessions.

Open settings.json via CTRL+SHIFT+, in Windows Terminal¹
Make sure you are modifying startingDirectory under profiles/list/name: "Ubuntu"

Example below (the slashes need to be escaped):

....
{
    "guid": "{2c4de342-xxx-xxx-xxx-2309a097f518}",
    "hidden": false,
    "name": "Ubuntu",
    "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
    "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu\\home\\windows_username_in_lower_case"
},
....

Documentation about startingDirectory including default values and expected values.

Inside settings.json you will also find an explanation of the json schema which is here

¹ If you need to know how or where to edit Windows Terminal settings/preferences: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/get-started