Snapdragon X2 Elite - wsl: Nested virtualization is not supported on this machine.

[RobCannon]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.28000.1719]

WSL Version

2.6.3.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.6.87.2-1

Distro Version

Ubuntu-24.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

wsl --install Ubuntu-24.04

This also happens with other distributions.

I don't see any BIOS settings for virtualization on this laptop. This is a brand-new Lenovo Yoga 7i with a Snapdragon Elite X2. I am hoping that WSL is just not detecting virtualization properly.

Expected Behavior

The distribution should be installed

Actual Behavior

Installing: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
wsl: Nested virtualization is not supported on this machine.
Not implemented
Error code: Wsl/InstallDistro/Service/RegisterDistro/CreateVm/HCS/0x80004001

Diagnostic Logs

WslLogs-2026-04-17_13-40-26.zip

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.6.3.0
Detected user visible error: Wsl/InstallDistro/Service/RegisterDistro/CreateVm/HCS/0x80004001

[RobCannon]

Some more info:
I am able to run virtual servers via HyperV.
Lenovo customer service was of no help.

[RobCannon]

I was able to figure this out last night. The wrong architecture (x64) version of WSL was installed via Intune. Getting the right version installed fixed everything. I have yard work to do this morning, but I will post details later today for anyone else that runs into this and then I will close the issue.

[RobCannon]

As I said above, the issue was that our Intune package installed the x64 version of WSL on my ARM64 laptop. The "Nested Virtualiztion" was a clue that I missed. It was because WSL was running in the Intel emulation layer for ARM laptops, which must not support virtualization.

Anyway, you can validate the architecture of your WSL installation with this command (from an elevated terminal).

Get-AppxPackage -Name MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux -AllUsers |
  Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture, InstallLocation |
  Format-List

You should get something similar to this:

Name            : MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux
Version         : 2.6.3.0
Architecture    : Arm64
InstallLocation : C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux_2.6.3.0_arm64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

If Architecure is x64 (and you are running on an ARM processor), then you have the wrong version. Uninstall WSL, probably reboot, the run wsl --install from a termainal.

BTW, "I" figured this out by extracting the diagnostic logs captured for this bug report to a folder, opened that with VS Code and then turned CoPilot loose on it. It figured out the issue pretty quickly.