Copy Files from Windows to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

I have enabled developer mode and installed Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

My home directory can be found under %localappdata%\Lxss\home\<ubuntu.username>\, i have created a sub-directory called Pictures such that the full path should be

on windows: C:\Users\<windows.username>\AppData\Local\lxss\home\<ubuntu.username>\Pictures

on bash: /home/<ubuntu.username>/Pictures

if i create a file from bash using the command touch hello.txt i can freely see this file in the windows UI and copy it to my Desktop. However, if i create a new text file from the windows UI and save it in C:\Users\<windows.username>\AppData\Local\lxss\home\<ubuntu.username>\Pictures, even if i restart bash or windows, the file is not visible when i do ls -l.

Why can't bash see files created from the Windows side in it's own home directory?

EDIT Using /mnt/c is not a solution, i am trying to understand why it doesn't see those files and if there is a remedy to that so that it will be able to see UI created files, rather than trying to use the terminal to copy-paste or move files over.

You should be able to access your windows system under the /mnt directory. For example inside of bash, use this to get to your pictures directory:

cd /mnt/c/Users/<windows.username>/Pictures

Hope this helps!

You should only access Linux files system (those located in lxss folder) from inside WSL; DO NOT create/modify any files in lxss folder in Windows - it's dangerous and WSL will not see these files.

Files can be shared between WSL and Windows, though; put the file outside of lxss folder. You can access them via drvFS (/mnt) such as /mnt/c/Users/yourusername/files within WSL. These files stay synced between WSL and Windows.

For details and why, see: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2016/11/17/do-not-change-linux-files-using-windows-apps-and-tools/