wsl2 fail to startup with Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

[oXoSh]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [版本 10.0.26100.2894]

WSL Version

2.4.10.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.15.167.4

Distro Version

Ubuntu 22.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

start wsl

Expected Behavior

enter wsl shell

Actual Behavior

Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
(forget to save whole terminal output, sorry)

Diagnostic Logs

WslLogs-2025-02-08_19-56-00.zip

[github-actions]

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:

• WSL distro fails to start with "Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND" (#11677), similarity score: 0.81
• Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/ConfigureNetworking/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND upon executing WSL (#9840), similarity score: 0.79

Closed similar issues:

• wsl startup failed after windows update Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/MountVhd/HCS/ERROR_NOT_FOUND (#11253), similarity score: 0.80
• Catastrophic failure :Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/MountVhd/HCS/0x80070570 (#11849), similarity score: 0.80
• Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/E_INVALIDARG (#11260), similarity score: 0.79

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Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.4.10.0
Detected user visible error: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

[oXoSh]

I tried "disable 'Virtual Machine Platform' -- reboot -- enable that option again", but didn't work.

Later I tried "winget uninstall --id Microsoft.WSL" then install https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.4.8. It can enter wsl shell.

[OneBlue]

Thank you oXoSh. This issue should be fixed in the next release.

In the meantime, you can work around the issue by manually creating a C:\Windows\System32\lxss\lib folder.

[benhillis]

This should be fixed with https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.4.11.

[jcary741]

Issue still occuring in 2.4.11.0:

Failed to attach disk 'C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd' to WSL2: The system cannot find the file specified.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/MountVhd/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Rolling back to 2.4.8 as oXoSh said here worked!

[bme-cgm]

I just upgradede wsl with wsl --upgrade and now I cannot start any of my vms. They all error:
The system cannot find the file specified.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.7.10.0
Kernel version: 6.18.33.2-2
WSLg version: 1.0.73.2
MSRDC version: 1.2.6676
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.26200.8655

[dyedwiper]

This fixed it for me: #40488 (comment)

The link in the comment is for version 2.7.8.0. I used the installer for 2.7.10.0, which you can find here: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases#release-2.7.10