Rubin Shrestha
Rubin Shrestha
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WSL2 fails to start with CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND after a reboot, but the install looks healthy

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After rebooting, no WSL distro will start. Every wsl invocation fails immediately:

The system cannot find the file specified.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

WSL was working fine. When I restarted, it wouldn’t work with the wierd file not found error.

Environment

  • Windows 11 23H2 (build 22631)

  • WSL 2.7.11.0, kernel 6.18.33.2-2

  • Distros stored in the default location

What I have already checked

I’ve tried:

  • %USERPROFILE%.wslconfig contains no file paths at all (no kernel=, no swapFile=), so it isn’t pointing at something that has gone missing.

  • VirtualMachinePlatform is Enabled:

  Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform | ft FeatureName, State

  • vmcompute and hns are both Running.

  • The distro ext4.vhdx files are all present, and their registrations under HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionLxss are intact.

  • The WSL package reports itself as healthy:

  Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *WindowsSubsystemForLinux* | fl Name, Version, Status
  # Version : 2.7.11.0
  # Status  : Ok

Repair attempts that failed

winget fails near the end of the install:

Installer failed with exit code: 0x80070002 : The system cannot find the file specified.

The AppX deployment log showed that the winget manifest is a version behind what is installed, so it is treated as a downgrade:

Windows cannot install package MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForLinux
because it has version 2.7.10.0. A higher version 2.7.11.0 of this package is
already installed.

Installing the matching .msixbundle from the WSL releases page directly fails too:

Add-AppxPackage: Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFB, The provided package
is already installed, and reinstallation of the package was blocked.
... the provided package has the same identity as an already-installed package but
the contents are different.

What file is WSL actually failing to find, and how do I get it back without unregistering my distros?

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