n8n WSL Lab Setup

Automates provisioning of an Ubuntu WSL distribution and deploys an n8n automation instance running in Docker.

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 with WSL installed (wsl --install)
• PowerShell 7 or Windows PowerShell running as Administrator
• Internet access to download Ubuntu and Docker packages
• WSL version 0.67 or newer to support systemd

Usage

Windows 11 + WSL

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open an elevated PowerShell session in the repository root.
3. Run:

   powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build-n8nWSL.ps1

Linux workstation (Ubuntu/Debian)

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Run the helper script with root privileges:

   sudo ./build-n8nLinux.sh

   The script installs Docker when missing (apt-based systems only), creates /opt/n8n_lab/n8n_data, and launches the same n8n container configuration.

The script performs these steps:

• Creates C:\wsl\n8n_lab for artifacts and persistent data.
• Detects the latest Ubuntu LTS release and downloads the matching rootfs.
• Imports a WSL distribution named Ubuntu-n8n-server.
• Enables systemd and restarts WSL so the setting takes effect.
• Installs Docker inside the distribution and launches the n8nio/n8n container bound to port 5678.
• Mounts persistent workflow data at C:\wsl\n8n_lab\n8n_data (available inside WSL as /home/node/.n8n).

Post-Installation

• Connect to the distro with wsl -d Ubuntu-n8n-server
• Verify persistence via ls -la /mnt/c/wsl/n8n_lab/n8n_data inside WSL
• Access the automation UI at http://localhost:5678/
• Register your account and request a free Community Edition license key from n8n.io
• Apply the license key and activate it

Updating n8n

Re-run the appropriate script (build-n8nWSL.ps1 or build-n8nLinux.sh) to relaunch the container with the latest n8nio/n8n image. The bind-mounted n8n_data directory preserves workflows and credentials across upgrades.

Removal

To remove the environment:

1. Stop and unregister the WSL instance:

   wsl --shutdown
   wsl --unregister Ubuntu-n8n-server

2. Optionally delete C:\wsl\n8n_lab.

For Linux workstations, stop and remove the Docker container with docker rm -f n8n, delete the persistent directory at /opt/n8n_lab, and optionally remove Docker if it was installed exclusively for this setup.

Troubleshooting

• If the script reports failed to bind host port 0.0.0.0:5678, stop or remove any existing n8n container (including one launched by Docker Desktop) so the host port is free, then rerun the script.
• When rerunning after a failed attempt, remove the existing container inside the server distro with sudo docker rm -f n8n to avoid name conflicts.