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On Saturday, I started receiving strange errors when attempting to start Docker Desktop (v3.6.0 / Docker Engine v19.03.14, build e820475). The error messages indicated issues interacting with WSL 2.

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After doing some extra digging, I noticed that when I run valid wsl.exe commands (e.g. wsl --set-default-version or wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2, there is no indication of success or failure; I simply get the usage message as if I had typed wsl --help, which I didn't:

command screenshot

Many of the commands that I know should be valid yield this response. I have tried the following with no success:

  • Disabling (and later re-enabling) Windows Subsystem For Linux under the Windows Features section, and then rebooting and re-enabling.

  • Disabling Containers and Hyper V, rebooting, and re-enabling.

  • Uninstalling and re-installing the Ubuntu distro

It seems like nothing that I do changes the result. I've come across others who have had similiar issues; however, the solutions often require running commands such as wsl --set-default-version 2 which does not work in my scenario. Anyone have any advice?

Brandon Avant
  • 361

1 Answers1

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For now, I've gone with the solution of backing out the Windows security update for now. This at least gets me back to the point where I was previously (i.e. I'm actually able to use WSL 2). Long term, I'm hoping that there will be a permanent solution introduced.

If you run into this problem, consider looking at your Windows Update History and back out the most recent updates for now.

Brandon Avant
  • 361