1. Grab the latest release from the Releases page.

2. Place the kernel somewhere in Windows, such as in a folder in your user folder named Linux (e.g., C:\Users\natec\Linux\bzImage).

3. Open a file editor such as Visual Studio Code and type the following:

[wsl2]
kernel =

After that =, put the full path to the kernel image with all of the \ replaced with \\ (e.g. C:\\Users\\natec\\Linux\\bzImage).

It should look something like:

[wsl2]
kernel = C:\\Users\\natec\\Linux\\bzImage

4. Save this file as .wslconfig in the current user's home directory (e.g. C:\Users\natec\.wslconfig).

5. Restart WSL with wsl.exe --shutdown and check that the new image has been booted with uname -r.

To update the kernel, continuously download the latest release from the releases page or use one of the tools mentioned in this issue.