yet another WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070057

[twest820]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3570]

WSL Version

2.0.9.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

n/a: distro install failure

Distro Version

Ubuntu default

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

wsl --install

or

wsl --install -d Ubuntu

Expected Behavior

wsl --install succeeds.

Actual Behavior

WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070057

Diagnostic Logs

Setup is the following:

• Windows 10 22H2 machine with WSL, Virtual Machine Platform, and two domain users who have local admin
• one user has no problem installing distros
• if the other user tries to install a distro WSL tries to start Hyper-V, which fails
• Windows' Hyper-V features and Windows Hypervisor Platform are not installed
• neither user has a %USERPROFILE%.wslconfig
• affected user has no distro keys under HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss
• wsl's messages for the affected user are conflicting, saying both that they have Ubuntu installed and that there is no distro installed, wsl --list --verbose typically shows no distros
• after Ubuntu install fails the affected user has Ubuntu package files under AppData\Local\Packages and Ubuntu shows as installed app
• wsl --install fails the same way regardless of whether the previous failed Ubuntu installs are left in place, uninstalled through Apps & features, or the package is deleted through File Manager

It seems clear wsl is holding some bad state that's point the affected user to Hyper-V rather than Virtual Machine Platform. Concerns are

• where is this state and how can it be reset for the affected user
• what needs to change in WSL not generate this broken bit of state in the future

If Hyper-V is installed and virtualization enabled in the BIOS the affected user can complete an Ubuntu installed. This is, however, not a long term viable workaround. The affected user can successfully install Ubuntu on other machines with WSL2 (even if not admin) so it doesn't look like WSL is keeping state in their roaming profile.

None of the other 0x80070057 issues appear to have reached this level investigation. We have .etl logs but most of the messages are empty and the populated ones just indicate Hyper-V failed to start, which is hardly surprising since it's not installed. So there's nothing informative about why WSL is trying to start Hyper-V instead of VMP.

[github-actions]

Hi I'm an AI powered bot that finds similar issues based off the issue title.

Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it. Thank you!

Open similar issues:

• WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070057 (#10288), similarity score: 0.97
• WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070003 (#6363), similarity score: 0.97

Closed similar issues:

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• WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070057 (#9776), similarity score: 0.97
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• WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070057 (#5660), similarity score: 0.97

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[rcarde]

Probably related latest Windows Updates. See #10754 and #10755.

Try going into Windows Features and re-enable "Virtual Machine Platform".

[twest820]

Try going into Windows Features and re-enable "Virtual Machine Platform".

VMP's always been enabled.

[OneBlue]

/logs

[twest820]

Could you please provide more logs to help us better diagnose your issue?

Already in OP; @OneBlue's bot trigger is erroneous.

[OneBlue]

/logs

[twest820]

Still in OP; @OneBlue's repeat of the previous bot trigger remains not needed.

[OneBlue]

@twest820 I'm not seeing any logs in the OP.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any author activity for the past 7 days. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file it as a new issue.

Thank you!