Network Error when using OpenVPN

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#13,197 opened on Jun 28, 2025 6 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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network

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Description

### Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.4351]

### WSL Version

2.5.9.0

### Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

- [x] WSL 2
- [ ] WSL 1

### Kernel Version

6.6.87.2-1

### Distro Version

Ubuntu 24.04

### Other Software

OpenVPN 2.6.13-l001 amd64
ver 2.6.1301

### Repro Steps

1. Boot and log in to Windows, which have OpenVPN installed
2. Launch wsl by running `wsl.exe`
3. Execute in wsl `ping google.com` then it says `Network unreachable`
4. Execute `ifconfig`:
```
lo: flags=73 mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 624 bytes 74370 (74.3 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 624 bytes 74370 (74.3 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

loopback0: flags=4163 mtu 1500
ether 00:15:5d:57:9f:5a txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 319 bytes 23514 (23.5 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 294 bytes 22088 (22.0 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
```

if I execute `wsl.exe --shutdown` and retry, it works well,

Or I just turn on OpenVPN:
Everything works well
```
eth3: flags=4163 mtu 1500
inet 10.8.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 10.8.0.255
inet6 fddd:1194:1194:1194::2 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x0
inet6 fe80::e2b3:f8ff:5684:9127 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20
ether 00:15:5d:5a:6f:f5 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 33 bytes 1926 (1.9 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 87 bytes 7726 (7.7 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
```

### Expected Behavior

the network works well and I needn't reboot wsl, and I needn't turn on OpenVPN either

### Actual Behavior

```
(base) he@Home-Computer:~$ ping google.com
ping: connect: Network is unreachable

(base) he@Home-Computer:~$ ifconfig
lo: flags=73 mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 624 bytes 74370 (74.3 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 624 bytes 74370 (74.3 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

### Diagnostic Logs

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with WSL 2.5.9.0, kernel 6.6.87.2-1, Ubuntu 24.04, and OpenVPN 2.6.13, then compare the network interfaces and connectivity before and after `wsl.exe --shutdown` or enabling OpenVPN. Done means WSL starts with working network access without requiring either workaround.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack: linux, ubuntu
Domain: networking, operating-systems
Issue type: Bug
Difficulty: 4/5
Estimated time: 3-5 days
Activity status: Quiet
Clarity: Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness: 45/100