microsoft / microsoft/WSL

WSL2 not starting despite Hyper-V and virtualization being enabled

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failure-to-launch
Dominant language
C++
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Description

Background: I used to run WSL1 & WSL2 perfectly fine, I had to disable Hyper-V along with WSL a little bit ago. Ever since I disabled them in the past I haven't been able to enable everything properly again. Hyper-V features on enabled and services running, Virtualization is enabled in BIOS but yet... I cannot start WSL.

No hardware changes or anything else significant between the last time it worked and now.

Please fill out the below information:

  • Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19025.1051]

  • What you're doing and what's happening:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wsl
Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.
For information please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2-install
  • What's wrong / what should be happening instead:
    It should just go into my WSL2 VM, it is instead just spitting out: Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.

wsl -l -v output:

C:\Users\Walshy\wsl-report>wsl -l -v
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Stopped         2
  Debian    Stopped         1
Images of features, services and virtualization in task manager

Features:
Image of Windows features

Services:
Image of services

Task Manager showing Virtualization enabled:
Task Manager showing Virtualization enabled

  • Strace of the failing command, if applicable:
C:\Users\Walshy\wsl-report>strace wsl -d Ubuntu
--- Process 12808 created
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll at 00007ffa89ab0000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll at 00007ffa88b80000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\KernelBase.dll at 00007ffa87610000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll at 00007ffa878e0000
--- Process 12808 thread 14612 created
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\SHCore.dll at 00007ffa88cc0000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll at 00007ffa88d80000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\combase.dll at 00007ffa87b30000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\rpcrt4.dll at 00007ffa88330000
--- Process 12808 thread 13688 created
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\ws2_32.dll at 00007ffa89840000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\kernel.appcore.dll at 00007ffa85b40000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\bcryptprimitives.dll at 00007ffa87380000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\sechost.dll at 00007ffa899d0000
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\clbcatq.dll at 00007ffa89550000
--- Process 12808 thread 4416 created
--- Process 12808 thread 4616 created
--- Process 12808 thread 17776 created
--- Process 12808 loaded C:\Windows\System32\lxss\LxssManagerProxyStub.dll at 00007ffa7a100000
--- Process 12808, exception e06d7363 at 00007ffa87645a29
--- Process 12808 unloaded DLL at 00007ffa7a100000
--- Process 12808, exception e06d7363 at 00007ffa87645a29
Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.
For information please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2-install
--- Process 12808 thread 14612 exited with status 0xffffffff
--- Process 12808 thread 13688 exited with status 0xffffffff
--- Process 12808 thread 4416 exited with status 0xffffffff
--- Process 12808 thread 4616 exited with status 0xffffffff
--- Process 12808 thread 17776 exited with status 0xffffffff
--- Process 12808 exited with status 0xffffffff
  • I have attached the logman details (Started before running wsl and stopped after it failed):
    wsl-report.zip

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

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

Research direction

Start by reviewing the reported wsl and wsl -l -v behavior, then inspect the attached wsl-report.zip and the provided strace output. The issue names no source file or test, so completion would require identifying the WSL startup failure and verifying that the affected WSL2 distribution starts without the misleading virtualization error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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