WSLC Not Found

WSLC Not Found

WSLC was not found.

Checked:
  wslc.exe
  wslc
  /mnt/c/Windows/System32/wslc.exe

Install or update the WSL container tooling, then run:

  wip doctor

Every wip command except wip version fails with this when the wslc binary can't be resolved.

The lookup order

With wslc.command: auto (the default), wip tries, in order:

1. wslc.exe — searched across PATH
2. wslc — searched across PATH
3. /mnt/c/Windows/System32/wslc.exe — checked directly

The first one that is executable wins. A name containing a path separator is checked with File.executable? directly; a bare name is looked up in every PATH entry.

With any other value, that exact value must be executable — there is no fallback:

wslc:
  command: /mnt/c/Program Files/WSL/wslc.exe

WSLC was not found.

Checked:
  /mnt/c/Program Files/WSL/wslc.exe

Diagnosing

Is it there at all?

which wslc.exe wslc
ls -l /mnt/c/Windows/System32/wslc.exe
wslc.exe version

Is Windows interop enabled? Without it, WSL can't execute .exe files at all — which looks identical to "not installed":

wip doctor

[FAIL] Windows executable interoperability is disabled

Fix in /etc/wsl.conf, then wsl --shutdown from Windows:

[interop]
enabled = true
appendWindowsPath = true

Is System32 on your PATH? appendWindowsPath = false in /etc/wsl.conf removes Windows paths from PATH, so wslc.exe won't be found by name. That's exactly what the third candidate covers — but only for the default install location.

Fixes

Install or update the tooling

Install Microsoft's WSL container tooling on the Windows side, then confirm from Windows itself before returning to WSL:

wslc version

Point at it explicitly

If it lives somewhere non-standard:

wslc:
  command: /mnt/c/Tools/wslc/wslc.exe

Verify:

ls -l /mnt/c/Tools/wslc/wslc.exe    # must be executable
wip doctor

On native Windows

wip runs there too. wslc.exe needs to be on PATH, or named absolutely with a Windows path:

wslc:
  command: C:\Program Files\WSL\wslc.exe

"Found" but "version failed"

[OK]   Found wslc.exe
[FAIL] WSLC version failed

Different problem: the binary exists and is executable but doesn't respond to version. Usually a partial or broken install, or a stale shim on PATH shadowing the real binary. Check what you're actually resolving:

which -a wslc.exe wslc

Verify the fix

$ wip doctor
[OK] Found wslc.exe
[OK] WSLC is available

Related

• Config File Discovery — the wslc: block
• wip doctor
• wip version