wsl cannot startup with error code: Wsl/WSL_E_USER_NOT_FOUND

[localvar]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [版本 10.0.22631.4037]

WSL Version

2.2.4.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.15.153.1-2

Distro Version

Ubuntu 24.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

using wsl.exe -d Ubuntu --cd ~ -u zlx to start wsl, it works fine yesterday, but wsl cannot start today and report below error message:

<3>WSL (11) ERROR: CreateProcessParseCommon:740: getpwnam(zlx) failed 17
找不到用户。
Error code: Wsl/WSL_E_USER_NOT_FOUND

[process exited with code 4294967295 (0xffffffff)]
You can now close this terminal with Ctrl+D, or press Enter to restart.

I think I have done nothing. I also tried wsl.exe --shutdown and then start wsl with wsl.exe -d Ubuntu and it report:

C:\Users\zlx>wsl -d Ubuntu
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: CreateProcessParseCommon:711: Failed to translate C:\Users\zlx
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: CreateProcessParseCommon:757: getpwuid(0) failed 0
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Windows\system32
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Windows
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Windows\System32\Wbem
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Users\zlx\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: UtilTranslatePathList:2866: Failed to translate C:\Users\zlx\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin
Processing fstab with mount -a failed.
Failed to mount C:\, see dmesg for more details.
Failed to mount D:\, see dmesg for more details.

<3>WSL (14) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:334: getpwuid(0) failed 0
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:505: execvpe /bin/sh failed 80
<3>WSL (14) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:508: Create process not expected to return

Expected Behavior

wsl starts successfully.

Actual Behavior

wsl cannot start up.

Diagnostic Logs

No response

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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 start Ubuntu (#11725), similarity score: 0.73

Closed similar issues:

• Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/0x8000ffff (#8711), similarity score: 0.73
• wsl 启动报错 (#10213), similarity score: 0.73
• wsl2 won't start working? (#7768), similarity score: 0.73
• execvpe /bin/bash failed 117 (#9804), similarity score: 0.73

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[localvar]

logs uploaded via feedback hub.

[OneBlue]

@localvar: Based on the output it looks like your distribution might be corrupted. The pwuuid error suggests that /etc/passwd is not there or unreadable, and the execvpe error points to ELIBBAD. Unfortunately this might mean that you need to re-register your distribution from scrach.

You can try to recover your files via wsl --mount --vhd before re-registering, but when you're ready to restart the easiest would be to run: wsl --unregister ubuntu and then wsl --install ubuntu

[localvar]

Thanks @OneBlue , I will try what you suggested.

btw, do you think this related to exFAT? because I put the .vhdx file in an exFAT partition of the host machine and this is the 2nd time it suddenly cannot start in several months (but I have no idea about the error code of the 1st time now). I also run wsl on another computer for years, where I put the .vhdx file in an NTFS partition, and never met such an issue.

[OneBlue]

Unless the disk got corrupted during the move, I'd say most likely not, but it doesn't hurt to try.