Flutter Development Setup for WSL2 + Windows Android Studio (Complete Guide)

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Abdullah Yasir

If you love using WSL2 for development but also need Android Studio on Windows — this guide is for you.

This setup runs Flutter (via FVM) natively inside WSL2, while all Android tools (SDK, Studio, emulators) stay on Windows.

After a lot of trial and error, I documented this configuration that works perfectly — Flutter builds, devices connect, and Gradle behaves nicely.

Overview

We’ll be combining the best of both worlds:

WSL2 (Ubuntu) → Flutter, FVM, Java, Gradle
Windows → Android Studio, Android SDK, emulators
Wrapper scripts → To bridge WSL2 and Windows SDK tools seamlessly

Environment Configuration (`~/.bashrc`)

Android SDK (on Windows)

Your Android SDK lives here:


/mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk

Set the following environment variables:

ANDROID_HOME and ANDROID_SDK_ROOT → point to that SDK path
Add Android tools (cmdline-tools, emulator) to your PATH

Java (WSL2 native — recommended)

We’ll use OpenJDK 17 installed inside WSL2:


JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64

Add its bin folder to your PATH.

Flutter (via FVM)

Add your FVM-managed Flutter to PATH and set the Dart PUB_CACHE:


~/fvm/default/bin

Wrapper Scripts (`~/bin/`)

Since WSL2 can’t directly execute .exe files from Linux PATH, we’ll create small bash wrapper scripts to call the Windows versions transparently.


~/bin/adb       → wraps adb.exe
~/bin/aapt      → wraps aapt.exe
~/bin/aapt2     → wraps aapt2.exe
~/bin/zipalign  → wraps zipalign.exe

Java wrappers are not needed — we’re using native WSL2 Java.

Android SDK Build Tools

We’ll make Windows executables appear Linux-friendly.

Go to:


/mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/build-tools/36.1.0/

Then copy and symlink the essential build tools as shown below.

Flutter Configuration

Tell Flutter to use WSL2’s Java:

flutter config --jdk-dir "/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64"

Project files will still reference the Windows SDK path (which is fine).

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Step 1 — Install Prerequisites

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y openjdk-17-jdk openjdk-17-jre
java -version

Step 2 — Install FVM and Flutter

Install FVM (see docs):

fvm install stable
fvm global stable

Step 3 — Configure `~/.bashrc`

Append the following block:

# --- Android SDK + Flutter Development (WSL2 with Windows Android Studio)

# User bin (for wrappers like adb)
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

# Android SDK (Windows)
export ANDROID_HOME=/mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk
export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$ANDROID_HOME

# WSL2 native Java (OpenJDK 17)
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

# Add Android tools
export PATH="$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin"
export PATH="$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator"

# Flutter (FVM)
export PATH="$HOME/fvm/default/bin:$PATH"
export PUB_CACHE="$HOME/.pub-cache"
export PATH="$PATH:$PUB_CACHE/bin"

Step 4 — Create Wrapper Scripts

mkdir -p ~/bin

cat > ~/bin/adb << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
exec /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb.exe "$@"
EOF

cat > ~/bin/aapt << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
exec /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/build-tools/36.1.0/aapt.exe "$@"
EOF

cat > ~/bin/aapt2 << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
exec /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/build-tools/36.1.0/aapt2.exe "$@"
EOF

cat > ~/bin/zipalign << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
exec /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/build-tools/36.1.0/zipalign.exe "$@"
EOF

chmod +x ~/bin/adb ~/bin/aapt ~/bin/aapt2 ~/bin/zipalign

Step 5 — Copy Android Build Tools

cd /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/build-tools/36.1.0/
cmd.exe /c "copy aapt.exe aapt"
cmd.exe /c "copy aapt2.exe aapt2"
cmd.exe /c "copy zipalign.exe zipalign"
cmd.exe /c "copy aidl.exe aidl"

Step 6 — Create ADB Symlink

ln -s ~/bin/adb /mnt/c/Users/<your_windows_username>/AppData/Local/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb

Step 7 — Configure Flutter

flutter config --jdk-dir "/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64"

Step 8 — Reload and Verify

source ~/.bashrc
flutter doctor -v

Project Configuration

`android/local.properties`

Make sure it uses Windows path format:

sdk.dir=C:\\Users\\<your_windows_username>\\AppData\\Local\\Android\\Sdk

Expected `flutter doctor` Output

Component	Status	Notes
Flutter		Fully functional
Android toolchain		Minor warnings are fine
Chrome		Optional (for web)
Linux toolchain		Optional (for desktop)
Android Studio		“Not installed” — totally normal (it’s on Windows)
Connected devices		Works fine
Network resources		All good

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         WSL2 (Ubuntu)               │
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐      │
│  │ Flutter (FVM)             │      │
│  │ Java (OpenJDK 17)         │      │
│  │ Gradle                    │      │
│  └───────────────────────────┘      │
│            ↓                        │
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐      │
│  │ Wrappers (~/bin/)         │      │
│  │ - adb, aapt, aapt2, etc   │      │
│  └───────────────────────────┘      │
│            ↓                        │
└────────────┼────────────────────────┘
             ↓
┌────────────┼────────────────────────┐
│    Windows Host                     │
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐      │
│  │ Android SDK               │      │
│  │ Android Studio            │      │
│  │ Emulators/Devices         │      │
│  └───────────────────────────┘      │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Files Modified or Created

File	Purpose
`~/.bashrc`	Environment config
`~/bin/adb`, `~/bin/aapt`, etc.	Wrapper scripts
`android/local.properties`	Windows SDK path

Troubleshooting

Problem: JAVA_HOME invalid
Solution:

java -version
flutter config --jdk-dir "/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64"

Problem: flutter command not found
Solution:

fvm list
source ~/.bashrc

Problem: ADB not finding devices
Solution:

adb kill-server && adb start-server

Problem: Gradle build fails
Solution:

flutter clean
rm -rf android/.gradle

Problem: Could not find or load main class GradleWrapperMain
Solution:

source ~/.bashrc

That’s it!

Your Flutter + WSL2 setup is now fully functional.
No more Gradle confusion or path issues — just smooth, native Flutter builds in WSL2 with Android Studio staying comfortably on Windows.