Download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft (free) – put this somewhere easy to locate, like the Mac Desktop ( here and here are additional Windows 10 ISO links from MSFT if needed).

Download VirtualBox from Oracle (free) – install this as like any other app.

The rest is just a matter of following the simple instructions, and soon you’ll have Windows running in MacOS X in no time. To get started, you’ll first need to download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft and get VirtualBox. Downgrading to WSL 1 does not really work for me either, due to various compatibility and performance issues.Setting up Windows 10 to run on the Mac is quite simple and requirements are basic enough, though the more resources the computer has the better the overall experience will be. So unfortunately, despite all the great advantages of WSL 2, it is not to a viable solution, because I often need to run VirtualBoxes and every time deinstalling the 'Virtual Machine Platform' and rebooting the computer before I can do this is just too cumbersome. What I find particularly problematic is that there is no official statement of Microsoft or Oracle that they recognize the issue and are working on it, I cannot find any dedicated tickets for this on either side.

Other people are reporting similar problems with WSL 2 and VirtualBox, e.g. So it looks like that WSL 2 currently cannot coexist with VirtualBox, at least not with the current version 6.1.12 which I am using. The problem manifests itself in very slow performance, core dumps and screen staying black after booting e.g. Installing 'Windows Hypervisor Platform' as mentioned by did not change anything for me. If you want to use WSL 2, you need to install the 'Virtual Machine Platform' feature - but as soon as you do that, VirtualBox does not work properly any more. This is a duplicate of #536, but that issue is closed and I see no way to reopen it. Worse yet, the only way I could manage to get VB working again was to restore to before installation of WSL2 and reinstall ('Repair') VirtualBox. This happens despite the VM being configured to use HyperV and with HyperV enabled in Windows Features.

Running Windows 10 version 2004 and VirtualBox 6.1, enabling WSL2 causes Ubuntu/VB to boot to a blank rectangular screen with rapidly blinking cursor. This lets applications use the Hyper-V architecture for their emulation such as the Google Android Emulator, and VirtualBox 6 and above which are both now compatible with Hyper-V.

Running ubuntu on windows 10 virtualbox