[BUG] In a new WSL environment, I cannot install Claude Code.

[xiaobai2017666]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

I reinstalled the WSL 1 version of Ubuntu 24.04 under Windows. So my system is clean. Executing curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash returns the following:

code@W10-20240815257:~/.claude/downloads$ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Setting up Claude Code...
bash: line 151: /home/code/.claude/downloads/claude-2.1.83-linux-x64: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

uname -m
x86_64

What Should Happen?

Should be able to install Claude Code successfully.

Error Messages/Logs

Setting up Claude Code...
bash: line 151: /home/code/.claude/downloads/claude-2.1.83-linux-x64: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Steps to Reproduce

code@W10-20240815257:~/.claude/downloads$ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Setting up Claude Code...
bash: line 151: /home/code/.claude/downloads/claude-2.1.83-linux-x64: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.82

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

1. [BUG] Bash installation method failure on Linux #30822

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[alphakilo7]

+1 for me

WSL1: 4.4.0-26100-Microsoft

Works on 2.1.81

Broken on 2.1.83 with Exec format error

As a workaround, the plugin/executable installation can be pinned to version 2.1.81 for WSL1 users.

[serfriz]

I am having the exact same issue with WSL1. Works on 2.1.81, broken on 2.1.83 and 2.1.84 (cannot execute binary file: Exec format error))

[meng-luo]

I encountered the same issue on WSL1. A temporary workaround is to explicitly invoke the linker to run the program:
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 ~/.claude/downloads/claude-2.1.85-linux-x64

[CMiddleton3]

I experience the same issue; the install script is hard-coded to only install the current stable version, which is broken. I must set "DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER": "1" in settings.json to stop automatic upgrades.

[lrojas94]

Same here fwiw

[nakozak]

Revert to an older working version 2.1.81:

curl -fsSL -o ~/.local/bin/claude https://storage.googleapis.com/claude-code-dist-86c565f3-f756-42ad-8dfa-d59b1c096819/claude-code-releases/2.1.81/linux-x64/claude
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/claude

Would be nice if there is a CI check so we know new versions don't break our existing setups.

[xiaobai2017666]

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
echo 'alias claude="/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 ~/.claude/downloads/claude-[version]-linux-x64"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

You can use the latest version of Claude Code under WSL1 with this method. Thanks to the original poster for providing the solution.
@meng-luo