I was excited about WSL when I first heard about it. But that excitement quickly faded when I realized most real apps, such as gcc, don't work under it. The best way to get a Linux prompt on Windows is to use Docker. Use the -v option to share your drive.
Think it'd be worth trying on wsl2 again. The first version was too slow to use, but I am loving wsl 2 now. The integration between windows and the wsl2 vm is a lot more seamless than it used to be. You can navigate the c drive from the wsl shell and also do stuff like `explorer.exe .` to open a windows folder app in the current wsl directory. The vscode integration is amazing as well. After using a mac for many years, it took me about a week to be sold on using a windows laptop from here on out.