wsl --install fails on freshly installed Windows 11 and wsl --update breaks WSL about wsl HOT 12 CLOSED

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Open similar issues:

• WSL --install Failing on Fresh Windows 11 Install (#9453), similarity score: 0.95

Closed similar issues:

• WSL Not working after windows 11 updates (#7379), similarity score: 0.87
• wsl stops working after update in windows 11 as well as windows 10 (#7864), similarity score: 0.86
• Since updating to Windows 11 WSL fails to start (#7512), similarity score: 0.86
• WSL won't launch after upgrading to Windows 11 (#7711), similarity score: 0.83

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from wsl.

This issue is a partial duplicate of #9453 and #10882 but I decided to keep it open as it includes steps to reproduce the problem on a fresh copy of Windows 11 without the involvement of any third party software.

from wsl.

Can you please collect WSL logs of this issue? /logs

And also can you try installing the latest WSL release by downloading the msi from the 'releases' page: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases and manually installing it?

from wsl.

I collected as you asked logs during the various steps. I include short comments on the state of the system before each log.

not installed: windows subsystem for linux, VirtualMachinePlatform, kernel
attempt wsl --install -d Ubuntu
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-00-53.zip

after
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
and restart
attempt wsl --install -d Ubuntu
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-05-34.zip

now wsl_update_x64 installed in addition
attempt wsl --install -d Ubuntu
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-07-44.zip

subsequent Remove-AppxPackage -Packag "MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux_2.0.14.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"
note: ubuntu was already installed once before
attempt wsl --install
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-11-11.zip

wsl now works
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-12-34.zip

this logs were collected during update attempt (--update) which resulted in "catastrophic failure" (this is new)
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-13-29.zip

invocation of wsl --status after failed update attempt
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-15-08.zip

after Remove-AppxPackage -Package "MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux_2.0.14.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"
wsl works again
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-16-07.zip

rebooted and repeated wsl --update
this time no "catastrophic failure" msg occured but wsl --status still results in
Class not registered
Error code: Wsl/CallMsi/REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG
WslLogs-2024-02-09_20-18-15.zip

from wsl.

Not sure what is going on... As mentioned I back than had this problem on a freshly installed Windows 11 machine. To be more precise Windows 11 was actually reinstalled (reset this pc -> remove everything -> cloud). I also tried reinstalling from the recovery environment instead of the cloud download, but both resulted into the same problem.

Installing WSL was not the only problem as I for instance I couldn't access Windows Defender from the Security Center. After finding no fix for the Windows Defender problem I downloaded the Microsoft Surface recover image which brought me back to Windows 10 and from there updated to Windows 11 followed by a final reset this PC and install from cloud step. Now I'm back where I was before in terms of Windows 11 version
OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version 10.0.22631 Build 22631
but this time I was able to install WSL without any problems.

from wsl.

I am experiencing exact the same beahvior. I did a PC Reset via Cloud Install. After finishing Install I tried to configure wsl as mentioned above an came across the same error:

Class not registered
Error code: Wsl/CallMsi/REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG

I tried the fast line by directly uninstalling the via

Remove-AppxPackage -Package "MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux_2.0.14.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"
and then
wsl --install
and then reboot.

The interesting part here is that the system shows the "Updates are underway" Screen, and after an automatic reboot, the Updates (the freshly activated WSL components) are being rolled back leaving me with a broken WSL.

Sidenote: I did another Clean-Install like above but with leaving WSL as is and instead activated Hyper-V Feature. After a reboot the same install and rollback behavior appears.
Maybe that there a deeper problem within here.

My Device is a Surface Laptop Studio 2 (1.Gen).

from wsl.

@aheinzel: Thank you for sharing all the logs. Based on the wsl --install logs it looks like the store is failing to download the WSL app.

Can you try manually installing the latest MSI package and see if that solves your issue ?

from wsl.

Just in case: On Windows 10, same issue, receipts from here did help:

uininstall everything related to WSL (WSL, WSL Updates in Features And Apps)
uninstall all linux apps (AKA ubuntu, etc)
uninstall Rancher Desktop (in my case)

Reboot

In admin PowerShell:
Remove-AppxPackage -Package "MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux_2.0.14.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"
Dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Reboot

wsl --update --inbox
wsl --shutdown

Reinstall RancherDesktop (my case)

It finally works again.

from wsl.

@OneBlue: Sorry I no longer have the machine available in this state. I know this is terrible timing, but that machine is my daily driver and I needed a working setup again.

from wsl.

Maybe I can give some assistance. My System was left in the "Class not registered"-State. So I tried your approach by installing the msi-Package as provided. WSL now works for me:

> wsl --version
WSL version: 2.0.14.0
Kernel version: 5.15.133.1-1
WSLg version: 1.0.59
MSRDC version: 1.2.4677
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows version: 10.0.22631.3155

from wsl.

Ok thank you @aheinzel. I'll close this for now. Feel free to reopen if this happens again.

from wsl.

I had the exact same issue as the author of this. As suggested by @OneBlue, I solved it by installing the MSI package of the WSL app published on GitHub, and everything is okay, but the lack of wsl commands remains.
Furthermore not only wsl --install, but also wsl --update is broken; in this case it download the app from the store, but the WSL app itself is broken: it cannot be opened via the "Open" button from the store, it doesn't show up any icon in the start menu, and from the settings app page it appears to have a size of only 8 KB. The same scenario appears when the WSL store app is installed manually.
I haven't done any further research, but it seems like the WSL store app isn't installing properly

from wsl.