Running Modelio in WSL (Ubuntu 24.04)

Why? It may run much faster ;)

This guide explains how to install and run Modelio Open Source in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) with GUI support (WSLg).

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 (21H2+) or Windows 11
• WSL 2 with Ubuntu installed
• WSLg enabled (comes by default with recent WSL versions)

Step 1: Download Modelio

mkdir -p ~/Downloads && cd ~/Downloads
wget -O modelio.deb 'https://github.com/ModelioOpenSource/Modelio/releases/download/v5.4.1/modelio-open-source-5.4.1_amd64.deb'

Step 2: Install Modelio

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/modelio.deb

This will likely fail with a dependency error for libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37.

Step 3: Fix Webkit Compatibility (Ubuntu 24.04)

Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) uses libwebkit2gtk-4.1 instead of the older 4.0 version that Modelio requires. Create a symlink workaround:

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37
sudo ldconfig

Then force-configure the package:

sudo dpkg --configure --force-depends modelio-open-source5.4

Step 4: Run Modelio

/usr/lib/modelio-open-source5.4/modelio

The Modelio window should appear on your Windows desktop with "(Ubuntu)" in the title bar.

Troubleshooting

WSL Network Issues

If apt update fails but direct downloads work, your network may be blocking apt repositories. You can still download .deb packages directly using wget.

No GUI Window Appears

1. Ensure WSLg is working:

   sudo apt install x11-apps
   xclock

2. Update WSL (requires admin):

   wsl --update
   wsl --shutdown

Missing Dependencies

If you have working apt, you can install dependencies with:

sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37

Notes

• Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) in WSL 2
• Modelio version: 5.4.1
• The webkit symlink is a workaround; some features may not work perfectly
• For Ubuntu 22.04 or earlier, libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 is available via apt directly

References

• Modelio Releases
• WSLg Documentation