[WSL2 - Ubuntu] System's root directory does not exist...

[KozyWorks]

• Your Windows build number: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18941.1001]

• What you're doing and what's happening: Nothing special... All I did was installing WSL2 and Ubuntu from Microsoft Store.

• What's wrong / what should be happening instead: As the title says, I can't find System's root directory for Ubuntu.

As per my research the root directory should be located at

C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState

But all I see is temp (File Folder) and ext4 (Hard Disk Image File).

[Biswa96]

You can access root directory from 9P server i.e use \\wsl$ network path.

[KozyWorks]

Hi @Biswa96,

Whoa... I don't get what 9P server and what that network path are D:.....

Sorry, I'm super new to not only WSL, but also Linux environment :/

All I wanted was just checking those Ruby on Rails project files that I've created on WSL2 - Ubuntu.

[KozyWorks]

It definitely exists on WSL side of Ubuntu as shown above, but I can't locate it on Windows side :/

I've tested it on both Ubuntu (with no version name attached) as well as Ubuntu-18.04 where both from Windows Store.
(They were both 18.04 LTS version tho...)

[Biswa96]

1. Run the distribution 2. Press Win+R 3. Type \\wsl$ which opens File Explorer 4. Double click on the distribution folder.

[KozyWorks]

1. Run the distribution 2. Press Win+R 3. Type \\wsl$ which opens File Explorer 4. Double click on the distribution folder.

Wow!!! I got it!

Thank you so much @Biswa96!

I can finally check those files XD

But, I still don't get why that file directory method is not working for me... I don't see anyone else having the same issue as I do :/

[Biswa96]

Because this is not an issue. This is by-design for WSL2. Users are not supposed to use that AppData\Local\Packages path. That \\wsl$ path is also valid for older WSL1 versions. Read this blog post for more.

[KozyWorks]

Because this is not an issue. This is by-design for WSL2. Users are not supposed to use that AppData\Local\Packages path. That \\wsl$ path is also valid for older WSL1 versions. Read this blog post for more.

So, you are saying that accessing via that path is more like a cheaty way, not an intended output of the design, right?

If it is, that makes much more sense.

Thank you so much for your clarification, @Biswa96 !!

[craigloewen-msft]

Please do not access your Linux files using the Appdata folder! This is where your Linux files are (in general) stored on your disk, but accessing them with Windows tools directly from that location could cause issues.

As @Biswa96 commented, please only use the \\wsl$\ method (which we refer to as a 9P server) to access your Linux files from Windows.

[KozyWorks]

Please do not access your Linux files using the Appdata folder! This is where your Linux files are (in general) stored on your disk, but accessing them with Windows tools directly from that location could cause issues.

As @Biswa96 commented, please only use the \\wsl$\ method (which we refer to as a 9P server) to access your Linux files from Windows.

Roger that!

[Hamed-Elahi]

Because this is not an issue. This is by-design for WSL2. Users are not supposed to use that AppData\Local\Packages path. That \\wsl$ path is also valid for older WSL1 versions. Read this blog post for more.

This works. Thank you so much.

[legistek]

This is good stuff thank you. Although I had to use the pure BAT file option on Windows Server as Task Scheduler seemed to refuse to run a VBS no matter what I did.