All WSL commands hang (including wsl --shutdown) but WSL is constantly using 30-40% CPU

[dennisameling]

Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.160]

WSL Version

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.10.102.1

Distro Version

Ubuntu 20.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

This mostly seems to be happening when the device wakes from sleep - after a system restart, I can access the WSL distro as expected

• Start a WSL distro (Ubuntu 20.04)
• See it hang
• Try to do a wsl --shutdown
• See that hang as well

Expected Behavior

• Start a WSL distro (Ubuntu 20.04)
• The command line should open

Actual Behavior

• Start a WSL distro (Ubuntu 20.04)
• The terminal hangs completely (see screenshot above)

Diagnostic Logs

Feedback Hub logs: https://aka.ms/AAh9fcl

[mmichal3]

I have this issue as well. Killing the WSL process from taskmanager recovers, but it does it again. Especially (but not only) after it comes back from sleep.

[benhillis]

Looks like something is wrong with your trace, could you please collect a trace using these instructions?
/logs

[ghost]

Hello! Could you please provide more logs to help us better diagnose your issue?

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

Thank you!

[benhillis]

Could you also share the output of wsl.exe dmesg?

Thanks!

[ghost]

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-open it.

Thank you!

[berzi]

I'm not the original poster, but I'm having a similar issue: every wsl command hangs (including wsl --shutdown), this causes problems with Docker, but because of the issues with WSL I can't even reinstall Docker itself (I initially thought it was a Docker issue but everything seems to point back to WSL).

wsl.exe dmesg also hangs so I can't post its output.

I attached the logs from collect-wsl-logs.ps1:

WslLogs-2022-08-25_08-34-21.zip

[CarlosRosuero]

Same problem here. Killing WSL from Task Manager solves the issue but is obviously not ideal.

[pontusvision]

Same here; this just started happening in the last few days; Please re-open this MSFT!

[georcon]

Same here. Need to terminate the process from task manager. This issue started after updated WSL to the Store version.

[pernsdorff]

This should not have been closed - maybe the person went on vacation (7days?)
Happens often when attempting to switch folders using VSCode. Hangs -- generally just reboot to get back to working again for a while.

Heavy CPU from vmmemwsl

Windows ARM64

[rstepinski]

Please reopen, this issue should not have been closed. This happens all the time, usually after waking the computer from sleep. Usually a simple wsl --shutdown worked after a ~30s wait, but today even this method failed as all wsl commands hang indefinitely. I need to go into task manager and shut down vmwp.exe, as otherwise the vmmem process persists even if I kill all wsl processes manually, and the wsl commands hang anyways.

This problem is really frustrating as it forces me to restart Docker and all containers, as well as my IDE, which with large projects can take some time.

[JPStrydom]

Please reopen, this issue should not have been closed. This happens all the time, usually after waking the computer from sleep. Usually a simple wsl --shutdown worked after a ~30s wait, but today even this method failed as all wsl commands hang indefinitely. I need to go into task manager and shut down vmwp.exe, as otherwise the vmmem process persists even if I kill all wsl processes manually, and the wsl commands hang anyways.

This problem is really frustrating as it forces me to restart Docker and all containers, as well as my IDE, which with large projects can take some time.

I was literally about to comment the same thing! This issues has been driving me CRAZY!!!

My wsl version is:

WSL version: 0.66.2.0
Kernel version: 5.15.57.1
WSLg version: 1.0.42
MSRDC version: 1.2.3401
Direct3D version: 1.606.4
DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows version: 10.0.22000.978

Please can we reopen and address this?

[rstepinski]

Please reopen, this issue should not have been closed. This happens all the time, usually after waking the computer from sleep. Usually a simple wsl --shutdown worked after a ~30s wait, but today even this method failed as all wsl commands hang indefinitely. I need to go into task manager and shut down vmwp.exe, as otherwise the vmmem process persists even if I kill all wsl processes manually, and the wsl commands hang anyways.

This problem is really frustrating as it forces me to restart Docker and all containers, as well as my IDE, which with large projects can take some time.

What's worse, if this happens and I forget to close my IDE before terminating WSL, when I reopen the project everything needs to be reindexed. While the entire restart process takes seconds to do and I could live with this inconvenience, indexing can take minutes, which is not inconvenient - it's infuriating. It is simply unacceptable that this issue persists and I'm absolutely blown away that this seems to be ignored on purpose.

[ddonov]

Same issue here. After coming back from sleep Vmmem brings CPU usage to 100%
wsl --shutdown hangs. Happened 3 times in a row, reboot helps.
Tried killing vmwp.exe but it crashed the OS.
WSL version: 0.66.2.0 Kernel version: 5.15.57.1 WSLg version: 1.0.42 MSRDC version: 1.2.3401 Direct3D version: 1.606.4 DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp Windows version: 10.0.22000.978

[tricodon]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.

My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

[indeed-a-genius]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.

My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

ERROR: The process "wslservice.exe" not found

[Terryfeek]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.

My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

This worked for me. Thanks a lot! Previously I would do a hard reset.

[nico-is-coding]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.
My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

ERROR: The process "wslservice.exe" not found

did you start powershell as admin?

[indeed-a-genius]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.
My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

ERROR: The process "wslservice.exe" not found

did you start powershell as admin?

yes

[ajohn25]

Same here @ddonov, when docker desktop is running and notebook awakes from sleep.
My workaround is to kill the wslservice.exe in a admin powershell: taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

ERROR: The process "wslservice.exe" not found

This workaround doesn't work for me either but wsl --shutdown does (taking a minute or so to complete)

[niekvb]

@benhillis

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-open it.

Thank you!

This is some kind of joke, right?

[hanzlahabib]

Facing same issues, Couldn't end process (vmmem) from task manager, it says access denied, also powershell command to taskkill also says process not found.

[Macmee]

+1 this issue occurs for me on a new SP9 SQ3 on 22H2 22621.755 in debian bullseye on WSL2 with the systemctl flag enabled in wslconfig.

WSL hangs when I stop a docker container. I then need to restart wsl but wsl --shutdown hangs.

only rebooting or taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe seems to fix it.

Issue should not be closed @craigloewen-msft hello friend can you help us? If there's anything I can do to share more info on how to reproduce please let me know. Thanks and big shoutout to you folks working on WSL, it TOTALLY ROCKS <3

[georcon]

To all those affected here, as this is already closed.

I can't reproduce on my work laptop, but can reproduce on both my weak, 'personal' laptops.

Work machine has 64GB Ram and personal laptops have 16GB (Yeah, I know).

Worse when multiple instances of vscode are running under WSL. If everyone here has low-ish memory, this could be the culprit.

[craigloewen-msft]

Hi folks, reopening this so it can be visible to the WSL team. It was closed automatically since we didn't get any feedback from the original author. Thanks for flagging us on it!

[fayora]

PLEASE FIX WHATEVER IS CAUSING THIS!!! There are literally DOZENS of threads online about this issue, including several on this GitHub repo! All was good in Win10, now WSL goes zombie after a sleep/hybernate and it is not even clear how to bring it back without rebooting the WHOLE SYSTEM.

[scscgit]

@benhillis Can you maybe assign someone else to this task if you aren't working on it? And have you escalated it to someone like a manager yet, or are there any experts who understand the problem? Same for related issues like

• WSL 2 consumes massive amounts of RAM and doesn't return it #4166

[kaizh102]

updated to latest wsl prerelease. issue seems to be gone now.

[kaizh102]

updated to latest wsl prerelease. issue seems to be gone now.

I said that too early, issue still present.

[mujo93]

I am having a freeze in Powershell after running wsl --shutdown command.
WslLogs-2024-08-13_21-21-25.zip

[RalfKow]

Same problem here.

[timadye]

I have been using the custom kernel that was mentioned by onereal7, following these instructions.

So far, after a month with the new kernel, I have not had another hang like the ones that previously plagued me every few days. I don't know if it really has fixed the issue, but it is very promising. I'm using Windows 10 22H2, WSL 2.2.4.0, with CentOS7 and Alma9 distros.

[faturachmanyusup]

wsl.exe dmesg

[    1.349572] clocksource: Switched to clocksource tsc
[    2.169143] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_is_feature_enabled: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.182711] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.183785] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.184162] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.184933] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -2
[    2.187688] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.188421] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.189034] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.189466] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -22
[    2.189816] misc dxg: dxgk: dxgkio_query_adapter_info: Ioctl failed: -2

[oldbuilding]

WSLg apps will randomly freeze, and CANNOT be killed. When this happens wsl --shutdown is no long effective, and requires a full restart.

It's insanely frustrating, and wastes so much time every week.

I just posted this on a similar issue; hope it helps others.

function WslRestart { Get-Service LxssManager | Restart-Service }
function WslStop { Get-Service LxssManager | Stop-Service }

function WslStart { Get-Service LxssManager | Start-Service }

function WslServiceStatus {
	tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe" | findstr LxssManager
	Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.name -like "*LxssManager*" }
	Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Service -Filter "Name='LxssManager'"
}

function WslKill {
	Write-Host "Killing wsl.exe..."
	taskkill /F /FI "IMAGENAME eq wsl.exe"
	Write-Host "Killing wslhost.exe..."
	taskkill /F /FI "IMAGENAME eq wslhost.exe"
	Write-Host "Killing wslservice.exe..."
	taskkill /F /FI "IMAGENAME eq wslservice.exe"
}

WslForceRestart is the only thing that works for me. I have it in a powershell profile. Must be run as admin. WslStop and WslRestart are both useless functions. I'm including them here just to point out that they don't work for me. And wsl --shutdown has been useless for ... maybe the last year.

function WslForceRestart {
	WslKill
	WslStart
	WslServiceStatus
}

[renatodru]

I have the same problem, I tried everything, there is no command to kill or stop this process.
Fortunately I managed to suspend it and thus freed up the CPU, but it continues to consume 21GB of memory.

[sgombai]

So if I understand right, if you use this feature on MS's multiuser operating system, then the only solution that avoids restarting the whole OS is to be an administrator on that multiuser operating system.
In 2024.
And they don't handle it as prio 1.
And they don't say they're just kidding while selling this product.

[gianluca-sabena]

I have the same problem, WSL2 freeze! And wsl --shutdown doesn't work! I use only vscode, no WSLg apps...

[alexiglesias31]

Same issue here 😞

[bennycode]

I have the same problem, WSL2 freeze! And wsl --shutdown doesn't work! I use only vscode, no WSLg apps...

Does the command taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe work for you?

[luoye00]

Same issue here from 2023 😞

[Addison-Reilly]

This issue still persists, and still makes developing on Windows completely impracticle for me. This really feels like it should be a higher priority given the push for better developer integration with windows at the moment.

[ricardo-s-ferreira-alb]

I’m facing the same issue. Everyone involved in development needs WSL in particular with java and docker images. Switching to Linux has been on my mind constantly.

[timadye]

People who still see this problem: is it the same as discussed in this comment: #6982 (comment)? I applied the workaround mentioned there and earlier in this thread (#8529 (comment)) and have not since seen the problem after 4 months. I am using Windows 10 (that problem is supposed to be fixed in Windows 11 22H2) and WSL2 without Docker (I don't know if the workaround works with Docker).

The workaround involves installing a patched WSL2 kernel as described here. As you know, the WSL2 kernel is normally the same for all your distros, so it should work for all types (I use Alma9, and occasionally ancient versions CentOS7 and Ubuntu 20.04).

[gerardnico]

Just for the lost mind as me that did not understand what was going on.

wsl is just bash. Meaning that it may start login/interactive script such as bashrc and the like.
If you have a recursion, the CPU will hit the fan and you will not be able to login.

If this is the case, just try to start bash without any.

wsl.exe -e bash --norc

If it works, you got a recursion in your login/bashrc script.

[GhostDog98]

Still experiencing... Can't even begin to explain how disruptive this is to my workflow lol.

[bgigous]

Still experiencing... Can't even begin to explain how disruptive this is to my workflow lol.

@GhostDog98 I feel like we're kindred spirits right now. I literally just found this issue an hour after your comment to complain as well.

Restarting my whole machine just to get WSL to work is super irritating, which is often what I have to do. I haven't launched any VMs of any kind since my last machine restart and I have this issue. Maintainers, please make this a priority.

[kaizh102]

Still experiencing... Can't even begin to explain how disruptive this is to my workflow lol.

@GhostDog98 I feel like we're kindred spirits right now. I literally just found this issue an hour after your comment to complain as well.

Restarting my whole machine just to get WSL to work is super irritating, which is often what I have to do. I haven't launched any VMs of any kind since my last machine restart and I have this issue. Maintainers, please make this a priority.

try this command with Powershell:
taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe

[kaizh102]

Still experiencing... Can't even begin to explain how disruptive this is to my workflow lol.

@GhostDog98 I feel like we're kindred spirits right now. I literally just found this issue an hour after your comment to complain as well.

Restarting my whole machine just to get WSL to work is super irritating, which is often what I have to do. I haven't launched any VMs of any kind since my last machine restart and I have this issue. Maintainers, please make this a priority.

if you are willing to try, read this post, try a modified kernel. for me, bzImage-5.15.153.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 link [here] worked.

[koriyyy]

same issue and even taskkill /f /im wslservice.exe doesn't work for me... The issue was posted almost 3 years ago and no one fix it???

[GhostDog98]

Somewhat ironically... the only machine I am having this issue on... is a microsoft surface 🤦‍♀
M$FT can't even make this work with sleep on their own devices lol.

[hafidm93]

got same issue at the end of 2024

[mhofman]

People who still see this problem: is it the same as discussed in this comment: #6982 (comment)? I applied the workaround mentioned there and earlier in this thread (#8529 (comment)) and have not since seen the problem after 4 months. I am using Windows 10 (that problem is supposed to be fixed in Windows 11 22H2) and WSL2 without Docker (I don't know if the workaround works with Docker).

The workaround involves installing a patched WSL2 kernel as described here. As you know, the WSL2 kernel is normally the same for all your distros, so it should work for all types (I use Alma9, and occasionally ancient versions CentOS7 and Ubuntu 20.04).

This should be quoted as solution / workaround in the original report! It absolutely works. I had been suffering from hangs when sleeping / hibernating and using the patched kernel solved it. Anyone still reporting experiencing this issue, find your matching kernel with the patch and configure wsl2 to use it. If you're still having issues after that, it may be a separate problem.

[scscgit]

Too bad this isn't a solution for users who aren't willing to install an untrusted kernel binary build, provided by a random user, on their system :( Btw. @mhofman, you didn't report whether it also works with Docker.

[mhofman]

Docker works perfectly. I looked at how that binary was created, and it's the CI system that generated it from the original commit of the kernel that my version of Windows was using, with a single commit reverted, so I didn't bother recreating it.