WSL 2 kernel file is not found - Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux - Catastrophic failure

[jbyrnescu]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4529]

WSL Version

2.0.0.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

not running a kernel

Distro Version

No distro - wsl not running

Other Software

This problem started with installing podman.

Repro Steps

GAINWELL+jbyrne@GWT-94QB9K3 MINGW64 ~/git
$ podman machine inspect
[]
Error: podman-machine-default: VM does not exist

GAINWELL+jbyrne@GWT-94QB9K3 MINGW64 ~/git
$ podman machine init
Error: vm "podman-machine-default" already exists on hypervisor

GAINWELL+jbyrne@GWT-94QB9K3 MINGW64 ~/git
$ wsl --list --running
There are no running distributions.

GAINWELL+jbyrne@GWT-94QB9K3 MINGW64 ~/git
$ wsl --status
Default Distribution: podman-machine-default
Default Version: 2

WSL automatic updates are on.

The WSL 2 kernel file is not found. To update or restore the kernel please run 'wsl --update'.

GAINWELL+jbyrne@GWT-94QB9K3 MINGW64 ~/git
$ wsl --update
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Catastrophic failure

Expected Behavior

wsl --update should install wsl because it's having problems. I've turned on and off the software in the control panel and rebooted with these settings however this has not seemed to help.

Actual Behavior

See error output of commands above.

Diagnostic Logs

No response

[github-actions]

Logs are required for review from WSL team

If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
Otherwise please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

How to collect WSL logs

Download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

The scipt will output the path of the log file once done.

Once completed please upload the output files to this Github issue.

Click here for more info on logging
If you choose to email these logs instead of attaching to the bug, please send them to [email protected] with the number of the github issue in the subject, and in the message a link to your comment in the github issue and reply with '/emailed-logs'.

View similar issues

Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it!

Open similar issues:

• Unable to run WSL: Catastrophic Failure (#11319), similarity score: 0.79

Closed similar issues:

• Error on WSL 2 Update. (#11403), similarity score: 0.76
• wsl 2 fails to update properly from 2.0.x to 2.0.3 & 2.0.4: Error: 0x8007019e The Windows Subsystem for Linux has not been enabled. (#10607), similarity score: 0.74
• install wsl catastrophic failure (#11311), similarity score: 0.74
• Can't update WSL2 (#10527), similarity score: 0.74

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[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any author activity for the past 7 days. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file it as a new issue.

Thank you!