WSL2 DNS issues

[OmegaRogue]

• Your Windows build number:
  Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.264] (desktop)
  Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.264] (laptop)

• What you're doing and what's happening:
  on wsl2 on my desktop PC, name resolution seems to always fail (i've had it working in the past)
  on my laptop, wsl2 name resolution works fine
  on my desktop:

  • sudo apt-get update

    Err:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
      Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    Err:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
      Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
    Err:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease
      Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    Err:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease
      Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    Reading package lists... Done
    W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/InRelease  Temporary failure   resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal-updates/InRelease  Temporary   failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    W: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal-backports/InRelease    Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'
    W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal-security/InRelease    Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
    W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
    

  • ping -c 4 google.com

    ping: google.com: Temporary failure in name resolution
    

  • ping -c 4 172.217.23.174 (the ip i get from ping google.com in cmd)

    PING 172.217.23.174 (172.217.23.174) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=10.9 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=9.72 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=8.60 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=4 ttl=54 time=7.85 ms
    
    --- 172.217.23.174 ping statistics ---
    4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3006ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 7.850/9.260/10.865/1.141 ms
    

• What's wrong / what should be happening instead:
  on my laptop:

  • sudo apt-get update

    Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
    Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease [88.7 kB]
    Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [88.7 kB]
    Hit:4 http://download.mono-project.com/repo/debian wheezy InRelease
    Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease [74.6 kB]
    Hit:6 https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable InRelease
    Hit:7 https://download.jitsi.org stable/ InRelease
    Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages [948 kB]
    Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main Translation-en [322 kB]
    Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages [724 kB]
    Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [55.3 kB]
    Get:12 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/restricted Translation-en [13.8 kB]
    Get:13 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages [1075 kB]
    Get:14 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe Translation-en [334 kB]
    Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main Translation-en [229 kB]
    Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/restricted amd64 Packages [45.7 kB]
    Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/restricted Translation-en [11.4 kB]
    Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/universe amd64 Packages [666 kB]
    Get:19 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/universe Translation-en [221 kB]
    Get:20 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/multiverse amd64 Packages [7596 B]
    Get:21 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/multiverse Translation-en [2824 B]
    Fetched 4909 kB in 4s (1389 kB/s)
    Reading package lists... Done
    

  • ping -c 4 google.com

    PING google.com (172.217.23.174) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from fra15s22-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.23.174): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=10.1 ms
    64 bytes from fra15s22-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.23.174): icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=9.69 ms
    64 bytes from fra15s22-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.23.174): icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=11.4 ms
    64 bytes from fra15s22-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.23.174): icmp_seq=4 ttl=54 time=8.50 ms
    
    --- google.com ping statistics ---
    4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 8.501/9.952/11.462/1.059 ms
    

  • ping -c 4 172.217.23.174 (the ip i get from ping google.com in cmd)

    PING 172.217.23.174 (172.217.23.174) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=10.6 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=8.54 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=9.20 ms
    64 bytes from 172.217.23.174: icmp_seq=4 ttl=54 time=8.16 ms
    
    --- 172.217.23.174 ping statistics ---
    4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3005ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 8.163/9.133/10.620/0.935 ms
    

[vyas0189]

I am having the same issue.

[AntonyLeons]

editing the /etc/resolv.conf file, add
nameserver 1.1.1.1
and disable auto generation of the file in /etc/wsl.conf

[vyas0189]

editing the /etc/resolv.conf file, add
nameserver 1.1.1.1
and disable auto generation of the file in /etc/wsl.conf

This didn't work for me.

[OmegaRogue]

editing the /etc/resolv.conf file, add
nameserver 1.1.1.1
and disable auto generation of the file in /etc/wsl.conf

That doesn't work for me because i need to use my routers dns because i use that instead of using IPs

[12101111]

I made DNS work by disabling Windows firewall

[lukee1234]

I made DNS work by disabling Windows firewall

tried this too, but didn't work, that's not the problem

[gerardojbaez]

Yet another important issue with WSL 2 and no word from the team. I guess the best and most stable approach right now is to just use a full Linux distribution.

[roonie007]

+1

[milianj]

+1

[SamuZad]

I'm having the same issue (not using a proxy, or vpn btw). After endless searching, none of the suggested workarounds (turning off firewall, manually overwriting the configuration files) found in other threads resolved the issue, so I had to revert do WSL 1..

It baffles me that an issue that impairs functionality to this degree has not been acknowledged, let alone fixed 2-3 months after "release".

[scyto]

editing the /etc/resolv.conf file, add
nameserver 1.1.1.1
and disable auto generation of the file in /etc/wsl.conf

This didn't work for me.

Then this is not your issue, you likely have a firewall issue or some other weird networking scenario like VPN clients mucking it up.

The auto populated IP in the resolv.conf should point to the virtual host adapter IP.
This doesn't seem to do DNS resolution (at least it doesn't in the current insider builds), unclear if that is a bug or intentional (it is annoying).

On a fresh WSL install you should always be able to ping say 8.8.8.8 - if you can't ping you don't have a DNS issue you have a networking issue to track down.

[scyto]

I'm having the same issue (not using a proxy, or vpn btw). After endless searching, none of the suggested workarounds (turning off firewall, manually overwriting the configuration files) found in other threads resolved the issue, so I had to revert do WSL 1..

It baffles me that an issue that impairs functionality to this degree has not been acknowledged, let alone fixed 2-3 months after "release".

Sounds like you have an networking issue not a DNS issue - could you ping external IPs?

[SamuZad]

I'm having the same issue (not using a proxy, or vpn btw). After endless searching, none of the suggested workarounds (turning off firewall, manually overwriting the configuration files) found in other threads resolved the issue, so I had to revert do WSL 1..
It baffles me that an issue that impairs functionality to this degree has not been acknowledged, let alone fixed 2-3 months after "release".

Sounds like you have an networking issue not a DNS issue - could you ping external IPs?

The behaviour as follows.

In WSL 1 I can do the following:

• I can ping google.com (and get 216.58.214.206 back)
• I can ping the IP of google.com (so 216.58.214.206)
• I can curl google.com

In WSL 2 the results are as follows:

• I cannot ping google.com (ping: google.com: Temporary failure in name resolution)
• If I try to ping the IP directly I get something like: 4 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 3085ms
• I cannot curl google.com

[JohnnyQuest1983]

Then this is not your issue

Incredibly unhelpful.

It is the issue for many people, it is the same in issue trackers/forums/etc across the internet.

The WSL instance cannot resolve domain names. Editing resolv.conf to point to a functioning nameserver "works" for the duration of the session, but as soon as the distro is rebooted resolv.conf is regenerated using WSL's original template. Because etc/resolv.conf is actually a symlink to run/resolvconf/resolv.conf

Steps that have worked for me:

1. Boot your distro.
2. cd ~/../../etc
3. Create wsl.conf, however you see fit. sudo vim wsl.conf, sudo touch wsl.conf and edit it later, whatever.
4. Add these lines to wsl.conf:
   [network]
generateResolvConf=false
5. exit or in Windows cmd wsl --terminate [YourDistroName]
6. Boot your distro.

At this point, thanks to wsl.conf, run/resolvconf should no longer exist and will never be created again.

7. cd ~/../../etc
8. sudo rm resolv.conf - this deletes the existing symlink file.
9. Create a new resolv.conf, however you see fit. sudo vim resolv.conf, sudo touch resolv.conf and edit it later, whatever.
10. Add this line to resolv.conf:
    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    replace 8.8.8.8 with your preferred functional nameserver.
11. exit or in Windows cmd wsl --terminate [YourDistroName]
12. wsl --shutdown just to be sure that you've definitely killed everything.
13. Boot your distro.
14. Confirm that your resolv.conf changes are still in effect, or just ping a domain name and cry tears of joy after struggling to get this working for far too fucking long.

[adisaljusi]

Then this is not your issue

Incredibly unhelpful.

It is the issue for many people, it is the same in issue trackers/forums/etc across the internet.

The WSL instance cannot resolve domain names. Editing resolv.conf to point to a functioning nameserver "works" for the duration of the session, but as soon as the distro is rebooted resolv.conf is regenerated using WSL's original template. Because etc/resolv.conf is actually a symlink to run/resolvconf/resolv.conf

Steps that have worked for me:

1. Boot your distro.
2. cd ~/../../etc
3. Create wsl.conf, however you see fit. sudo vim wsl.conf, sudo touch wsl.conf and edit it later, whatever.
4. Add these lines to wsl.conf:
   [network]
generateResolvConf=false
5. exit or in Windows cmd wsl --terminate [YourDistroName]
6. Boot your distro.

At this point, thanks to wsl.conf, run/resolvconf should no longer exist and will never be created again.

1. cd ~/../../etc
2. sudo rm resolv.conf - this deletes the existing symlink file.
3. Create a new resolv.conf, however you see fit. sudo vim resolv.conf, sudo touch resolv.conf and edit it later, whatever.
4. Add this line to resolv.conf:
   nameserver 8.8.8.8
   replace 8.8.8.8 with your preferred functional nameserver.
5. exit or in Windows cmd wsl --terminate [YourDistroName]
6. wsl --shutdown just to be sure that you've definitely killed everything.
7. Boot your distro.
8. Confirm that your resolv.conf changes are still in effect, or just ping a domain name and cry tears of joy after struggling to get this working for far too fucking long.

This worked for me. Thank you so much! I still don't know why nobody is tackling this issue. insane...