Thank you, @craigbuckler. After much hassle and troubleshooting (long story there) was finally able to get to Windows 10 2004, which eventually allowed me to install WSL2. The improvement is amazing, particularly in terms of performance. So, that’s my path now.
I have most of this all worked out now, but have a problem setting up debugging from within VS.Code (as described here). But I am making slow but sure progress.
Thank you again.