Install WSL command step: wsl --list --online => Access is denied.

[pekuz]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3930]

WSL Version

Invalid command line option: --version

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

No response

Distro Version

No response

Other Software

Docker Desktop 4.25.0

Repro Steps

I have followed https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/ and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install.

In the first Install WSL command step I had to resort to the note

The above command only works if WSL is not installed at all. If you run wsl --install and see the WSL help text, please try
running wsl --list --online to see a list of available distros ...

from run as administrator PS getting:

wsl --list --online
Access is denied. 

from regular PS getting (i.e. deviating from the install steps):

wsl --list --online
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'.

NAME                                   FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu                                 Ubuntu
...

I eventually want to use Docker Desktop as a regular user but I'm puzzled why https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install requests the administrator mode and in that mode it fails with: Access is denied..

BTW I speculatively continued https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/ but Docker Desktop does not start, no errors, everything success but it does not start. So back at WSL as this early problem cannot be apparently ignored.

#10475 has similar symptom but does not look like the duplicate.

Expected Behavior

wsl --list --online
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl --install -d <Distro>'.

NAME                                   FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu                                 Ubuntu
...

Actual Behavior

wsl --list --online
Access is denied. 

Diagnostic Logs

No response

[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:

• Receive "Access is Denied" error message when attempting to run WSL (#10475), similarity score: 0.78
• wsl.exe fails with "Access is denied" (#4920), similarity score: 0.75
• Access is denied after doing wsl --update (#8055), similarity score: 0.73

Closed similar issues:

• WSL Access is denied (#7426), similarity score: 0.82
• [WSL --list --online] command is missing Ubuntu 22.04 (#9259), similarity score: 0.73

Note: You can give me feedback by thumbs upping or thumbs downing this comment.

[pekuz]

#4920 is similar but no conclusion there despite it's open for years

[pekuz]

#7426 is abandoned

[ghost]

Are you intentionally using WSL1 instead of WSL2?

[pekuz]

Docker Desktop for Windows recommends WSL 2. The install steps I have followed should install WSL 2. (I have followed https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/ and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install.) I got stuck at the Install WSL command section of wsl/install.

When reporting this Access is denied issue , I had to fill the WSL version field and I got:

wsl --version
Invalid command line option: --version

I matched against troubleshooting https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/troubleshooting but to no avail.

As newcomer being stuck I could not answer the Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2? field so nothing is ticked there.

Anyway my intent is WSL 2.

[OneBlue]

/logs

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

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

To collect WSL logs, download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

The scipt will output the path of the log file once done.

Once completed please upload the output files to this Github issue.

Click here for more info on logging

If you choose to email these logs instead of attaching to the bug, please send them to [email protected] with the number of the github issue in the subject, and in the message a link to your comment in the github issue.

Thank you!

[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!