unable to run vim-plug on WSL2

[verajosemanuel]

Cannot use PlugInstall or any other command in Vim or Neovim for WSL2. (windows 10)

Followed installing instructions but I always get a message:

E492: Not an editor command: PlugInstall

vim version and nvim version below

:version
VIM - Vi IMproved 8.1 (2018 May 18, compiled Apr 15 2020 06:40:31)
Included patches: 1-2269
Modified by [email protected]
Compiled by [email protected]
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               +cindent           +cursorshape       +file_in_path      +jumplist          +mksession         +mouse_xterm       +printer           +sound             +terminal          +virtualedit       -xim
+arabic            -clientserver      +dialog_con        +find_in_path      +keymap            +modify_fname      +multi_byte        +profile           +spell             +terminfo          +visual            -xpm
+autocmd           -clipboard         +diff              +float             +lambda            +mouse             +multi_lang        -python            +startuptime       +termresponse      +visualextra       -xsmp
+autochdir         +cmdline_compl     +digraphs          +folding           +langmap           -mouseshape        -mzscheme          +python3           +statusline        +textobjects       +viminfo           -xterm_clipboard
-autoservername    +cmdline_hist      -dnd               -footer            +libcall           +mouse_dec         +netbeans_intg     +quickfix          -sun_workshop      +textprop          +vreplace          -xterm_save
-balloon_eval      +cmdline_info      -ebcdic            +fork()            +linebreak         +mouse_gpm         +num64             +reltime           +syntax            +timers            +wildignore
+balloon_eval_term +comments          +emacs_tags        +gettext           +lispindent        -mouse_jsbterm     +packages          +rightleft         +tag_binary        +title             +wildmenu
-browse            +conceal           +eval              -hangul_input      +listcmds          +mouse_netterm     +path_extra        -ruby              -tag_old_static    -toolbar           +windows
++builtin_terms    +cryptv            +ex_extra          +iconv             +localmap          +mouse_sgr         -perl              +scrollbind        -tag_any_white     +user_commands     +writebackup
+byte_offset       +cscope            +extra_search      +insert_expand     -lua               -mouse_sysmouse    +persistent_undo   +signs             -tcl               +vartabs           -X11
+channel           +cursorbind        -farsi             +job               +menu              +mouse_urxvt       +postscript        +smartindent       +termguicolors     +vertsplit         -xfontset
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H   -Wdate-time  -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/vim-iU6mZD/vim-8.1.2269=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc   -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim        -lm -ltinfo -lnsl  -lselinux  -lcanberra -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl     -L/usr/lib/python3.8/config-3.8-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.8 -lcrypt -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -lm

:version
NVIM v0.5.0-dev
Build type: RelWithDebInfo
LuaJIT 2.1.0-beta3
Compilation: /usr/bin/cc -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/neovim-OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6-d569569c9=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 -O2 -g -Og -g -Wa
ll -Wextra -pedantic -Wno-unused-parameter -Wstrict-prototypes -std=gnu99 -Wshadow -Wconversion -Wmissing-prototypes -Wimplicit-fallthrough -Wvla -fstack-protector-strong -fno-common -fdiagnostics-color=auto -DINCLUDE_GENERATED_DECLARATIONS -D_
GNU_SOURCE -DNVIM_MSGPACK_HAS_FLOAT32 -DNVIM_UNIBI_HAS_VAR_FROM -DMIN_LOG_LEVEL=3 -I/build/neovim-OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6-d569569c9/build/config -I/build/neovim-OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6
-d569569c9/src -I/build/neovim-OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6-d569569c9/.deps/usr/include -I/usr/include -I/build/neovim-OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6-d569569c9/build/src/nvim/auto -I/build/neovim-
OqQfCc/neovim-0.5.0+ubuntu2+git202104182337-66f9dd3c6-d569569c9/build/include
Compiled by buildd@lgw01-amd64-022

Features: +acl +iconv +tui
See ":help feature-compile"

   system vimrc file: "$VIM/sysinit.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/nvim"

Run :checkhealth for more info

• Type:
  • [x ] Bug
  • [ ] Enhancement
  • [ ] Feature Request
  • [ ] Question
• OS:
  • [ ] All/Other
  • [ ] Linux
  • [ ] OS X
  • [x ] Windows
• Vim:
  • [x ] Terminal Vim
  • [ ] GVim
  • [x ] Neovim

[junegunn]

Followed installing instructions

Which command did you run?

[verajosemanuel]

Vim and NeoVim commands as documentation states:

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

and

sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
       https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'

[verajosemanuel]

SOLVED

Fix with a pretty convoluted workaround reading the:versioninfo output Seems that VIM root folder in WSL is/instead of $HOME so placed the VIM config file in there inside a folder. Chowned to my user and then voilá. PlugInstall worked.

.vim/vimrc

Then NeoVim, reading :version info the init file seems to be at

"$VIM/sysinit.vim"

Odd enough, that folder in WSL is the $HOME folder as in any other linux distribution

/home/user

So I created a file named sysinit.vim with all my configs and voilá. Working again....

[ElonDormancy]

we run curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim and get the error:curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate More details here: https://curl.haxx.se/docs/sslcerts.html So how to solve it ?

[ghost]

Thank you this worked for me too.

Had to create sysinit.vim in user\(username)\ folder. It worked

Neovim Windows 10

Edit: Although once I tried re-installing Neovim and vim-plug altogether and it worked fine without extra work.

[vnluc]

I got same issue with vim on Ubuntu (WSL) and solved as below.

1. command:

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

2. create the ~/.vimrc file if not exist

As i run vim --version we have the following output, then we know system is reading .vimrc file in home folder

system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc" user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc" 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc" user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc" defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim" fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"

then run following to create file if not yet have. cd ~; touch .vimrc

3. in the .vimrc

call plug#begin()

" Declare the list of plugins.
Plug 'tpope/vim-unimpaired'

" List ends here. Plugins become visible to Vim after this call.
call plug#end()

Key point is because we put the file in autoload folder, it only load the plugin if some function is called in the file. hence we call plug#begin() in .vimrc (mean if .vimrc empty, the vim-plug may not be loaded)

Below is from https://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/53.html

Autoload lets you delay loading code until it's actually needed. You'll take a slight performance hit overall, but if your users don't always use every single bit of code in your plugin autoloading can be a huge speedup.

Here's how it works. Look at the following command: :call somefile#Hello() ... vim will load autoload/somefile.vim....

4. restart vim

[junegunn]

call plug#begin(has('nvim') ? stdpath('data') . '/plugged' : '~/.vim/plugged')

I recommend that you keep it simple and call plug#begin without an argument unless you want to install plugins in a non-default directory. i.e. call plug#begin()

[vnluc]

thank you @junegunn , it would be more simple to call call plug#begin() only.