Cannot start WSL: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/MountVhd/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

[Hai-Ren]

Solution

1. Download the installer from https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/download/2.7.3/wsl.2.7.3.0.x64.msi
2. Right click on the installer -> show more options -> repair

Roll back also works but is not required

---

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.8246]

WSL Version

2.7.3.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.6.114.1-1

Distro Version

Ubuntu 22.04

Other Software

• Visual Studio Code 1.109.2 with WSL extension
• CERN ROOT (C++ Data Analysis Framework), version 6.26
• WSLg (GUI support for WSL)

Repro Steps

The issue started after an abrupt crash, and now the broken state is permanent for any WSL2 operation.

1. I was running a C++ plotting task using CERN ROOT inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 22.04) via VS Code Remote.
2. The ROOT drawing failed to render, ROOT exited unexpectedly, and VS Code immediately lost connection to WSL.
3. I opened a new Windows PowerShell and ran wsl. It failed with Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
4. I rebooted the Windows host machine completely and ran wsl again. The same error persists.
5. Attempted to bypass the broken distro by installing a brand new WSL2 instance: wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04. This ALSO fails with the exact same HCS error.
6. Switched default version to WSL1 (wsl --set-default-version 1) and ran the install command again. The installation SUCCEEDED and WSL1 works perfectly.

Troubleshooting steps I have already taken (None of these worked for WSL2):

• Verified the VHDX file exists, is on an NTFS drive, and the folder is NOT compressed.
• Checked diskpart and verified the original ext4.vhdx file is not corrupted.
• Unregistered the old distro and tried wsl --import-in-place.
• Completely cleared old configurations by deleting the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss.
• Windows Settings -> System Components -> Windows Subsystem for Linux -> Advanced options -> Repair & Reset.
• Turned off "Virtual Machine Platform", "Hyper-V" (via script for Home Edition), and "Windows Subsystem for Linux" in Windows Features, rebooted, turned them back on, and rebooted.
• Ran sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth.

Expected Behavior

After a crash or a host machine reboot, WSL2 should be able to restart normally. Even if the specific distro's VHDX was locked or corrupted, I should be able to create and install a brand new WSL2 instance (e.g., Ubuntu-24.04) without the Host Compute Service (HCS) blocking the VM creation.

Actual Behavior

WSL2 is permanently broken on the host machine. Any attempt to start an existing WSL2 instance or install a new one results in the following HCS error. Only WSL1 is functional.

Terminal output when trying to start WSL:
The system cannot find the file specified.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Terminal output when trying to install a new WSL2 distro:
Installing, this may take a few minutes...
The system cannot find the file specified.
Error code: Wsl/InstallDistro/Service/RegisterDistro/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Diagnostic Logs

WslLogs-2026-05-11_05-53-27.tar.gz

[github-actions]

No logs.etl found in the archive. Make sure that you ran collect-wsl-logs.ps1 as administrator and that the logs.etl file is in the archive.

Diagnostic information

.wslconfig found
Detected appx version: 2.7.3.0
No logs.etl found in archive.
Error while parsing the logs. See action page for details

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Issue was edited and new log file was found: https://github.com/user-attachments/files/27574743/WslLogs-2026-05-11_05-53-27.tar.gz
.wslconfig found
Detected appx version: 2.7.3.0
Detected user visible error: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
Found evidence of disk failing to attach. Error: 0xC0000034, Path: C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd

[nickbotica]

I found rolling back (reinstalling) 2.6.3 resolved this for me. https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.6.3

[chemwolf6922]

Hi @Hai-Ren Could you please check if the file C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd and C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\modules.vhd exist on your system? If so, could you please provide their file hash with these commands?

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd"
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\modules.vhd"

And share the file's acl with these commands:

Get-Acl "C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd" | Format-List
Get-Acl "C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\modules.vhd" | Format-List

[Hai-Ren]

Hi @chemwolf6922,

Thank you for your response!

I just checked my system. While the directory C:\Program Files\WSL\tools does exist, both system.vhd and modules.vhd are completely missing from the WSL folder.

To manually restore the missing files, I downloaded the latest offline installer (wsl.2.7.3.0.x64.msi) from the GitHub releases page and attempted to run it.

However, the installation failed silently. A dialog box popped up saying "Please wait while Windows configures Windows Subsystem for Linux", but before the progress bar could finish, the window just closed automatically without any error message.

I checked the directories again, and both system.vhd and modules.vhd are still missing.

[chemwolf6922]

Hi @Hai-Ren , you may try these steps to restore wsl (won't loss distro data)

1. Disable WSL in Windows features.
2. Reboot.
3. Enable WSL in Windows features.
4. Reboot.
5. Reinstall WSL from the msi.

[Hai-Ren]

I found rolling back (reinstalling) 2.6.3 resolved this for me. https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.6.3

Huge thanks to @nickbotica! Rolling back to 2.6.3 worked perfectly for me too.

@chemwolf6922, just to confirm, my issue is now resolved. The 2.6.3 installer successfully deployed the missing .vhd files, whereas the 2.7.3 installer was failing silently. Thank you both for the help!

[brhahlen]

@chemwolf6922 I tried your options, but that didn't work.
I also rolled back to 2.6.3 and everything now works again.

[twuyts]

Rollback to 2.6.3. fixed it for me as well.
To rollback, I downloaded and installed the .msi from https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.6.3

[davidpullin-rldatix]

Had an issue today myself. Same problem. wsl was working. Laptop reported low power issues and then Windows hibernated. wsl broken after. Rollback to 2.6.3 worked (https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.6.3)

[chemwolf6922]

Hi, for anyone hitting this problem. Could you please try collect and share the installer log via these steps? Thanks.

• Download this script: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/blob/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1
• Run the script in admin PowerShell. Wait until the Log collection is running line shows up.
• Run the 2.7.3 installer.
• End the log collection by hitting any key in the PowerShell window.
• Share the generated .tar.gz / .zip file here.

[foinf]

Same. Rolling back to 2.6.3 fixed it. Files are intact after rollback.