Failed to attach disk 'C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd' to WSL2: The system cannot find the file specified.

[onmywaytoheaven]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.3155]

WSL Version

2.1.5.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

No response

Distro Version

Ubuntu 20.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

Try to run WSL

Expected Behavior

WSL runs

Actual Behavior

Failed to attach disk 'C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd' to WSL2: The system cannot find the file specified.

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:

• Failed to attach disk 'LocalState\ext4.vhdx' to WSL2: The system cannot find the file specified. (#10032), similarity score: 0.80

Closed similar issues:

• WSL2. Can no longer find 'C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd' (#11069), similarity score: 0.89
• WSL missing system.vhd (#11162), similarity score: 0.81
• WSL2 is failing to attach the wsl virtual disk and giving error code 4294967295 (#10390), similarity score: 0.79
• VHD mount issue with "WSL (2156) ERROR: UtilMount" (#11183), similarity score: 0.75

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

[onmywaytoheaven]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

[JenniferHem]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

Can you please tell me how you roll back? Same issue here and I have been struggling the full day to solve this.

[onmywaytoheaven]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

Can you please tell me how you roll back? Same issue here and I have been struggling the full day to solve this.

You can download 2.1.4.0 here, run the installer and it will do the job for you.

[benhillis]

There is no change in behavior between these two versions so I suspect there is some kind of latent issue with upgrade. Looks identical to #11069.

@OneBlue - can you take a look?

[VolodymyrKaznacheiev]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

Can you please tell me how you roll back? Same issue here and I have been struggling the full day to solve this.

You can download 2.1.4.0 here, run the installer and it will do the job for you.

That hepled! Almost deleted my wsl. Thanks

[JenniferHem]

Thanks a lot @benhillis as I have no admin rights I really hope our IT Support is quick. @VladimirKaznacheiev I feel you, good that I do not have Admin rights :D

[aclerc-blachere]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

Can you please tell me how you roll back? Same issue here and I have been struggling the full day to solve this.

You can download 2.1.4.0 here, run the installer and it will do the job for you.

this is perfect.

tried everything from rolling back windows update to local security policy and regedit.
Thank you !

[Romakip]

Solved by rolling back to 2.1.4.0

Good afternoon, unfortunately the reinstallation did not help me, do you know what else I can try?

Docker itself updates to the latest version of wsl, don’t know how to disable it?

[joelhellman]

No expert here. My docker desktop or WSL2 wouldn't start yesterday after working just hours before.
I got the same error message. I only had some 4-5 files in C:\Program Files\WSL, and system.vhd was not there.

As part of troubleshooting I did uninstall docker-desktop first. But I guess that was not needed.
I did install the 2.1.4 installer linked in this post. After that, I had lots of files in C:\Program Files\WSL, including system.vhd.
Then I re-installed docker-desktop. After that, I had WSL 2 working again.

# output after installing 2.1.4 install file and re-installing docker-desktop 
PS C:\ wsl --version
WSL version: 2.1.4.0
Kernel version: 5.15.146.1-2
WSLg version: 1.0.60
MSRDC version: 1.2.5105
Windows version: 10.0.19045.4046

Maybe using 2.1.5 installer would has worked just as well, I didn't test.
Might not have needed to re-install docker-desktop.

No idea what caused what seems like removing existing system.vhd and supporting files (if that happened). When WSL2 was not working anymore and I looked in C:\Program Files\WSL, I didn't have many files there, I just had like 4-5 files in that directory, plus some folders with log files and a few small size files.

I didn't install anything myself lately. I do have docker-desktop, but it doesn't auto-update for me. My IT dept said no rollouts was made recently.

So still no idea what caused this for me. I guess I'm happy it works now after this scare, and this post helped.

[OneBlue]

Thank you @joelhellman. Out of curiosity, do you have a .wslconfig ? If so can you share its contents ?

[joelhellman]

@OneBlue sure, here is my full unedited .wslconfig (it has been unchanged for about a year)

# Settings apply across all Linux distros running on WSL 2
[wsl2]
# guiApplications=false

# Limits VM memory
memory=12GB

[ostecke]

Very happy with the suggestion of installing 2.1.4 since that instantly brought my WSL back to life, many many thanks.

Very unhappy with this critical bug in a patch version being around for more than two months without being addressed. Most people using WSL will be developers or students that rely on WSL working properly. These situations make me want to buy a Macbook.

[mx-bernhard]

Neither installing 2.1.4 nor 2.1.5 fixed the problem for me (was using the msix installer). I just copied the files from its old location C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\WSL to the new location C:\Program Files\WSL with elevated rights, and it was working again. I made sure, that this procedure did not overwrite existing files (some of them were already there).

[curbengh]

Faced similar issue after upgrading from 2.2.1 to 2.2.4.msi. It looks like it's picking up some default vhd path. I checked wsl.exe --list which still shows my default distro as (Default). I then tried wsl.exe --distribution mydistro which didn't work.

I then installed 2.2.3, did a wsl.exe --shutdown and somehow it worked.

[Xuroth]

Downgraded per #11288 (comment) above, and I was able regain access to my work-sensitive data in my WSL instance. Immediately backed up the sensitive data and will create encrypted backups of it (off system and off site).

[artyomboyko]

@onmywaytoheaven Is there any way to force Windows to reinstall the WSL package to restore (reinstall) the C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd file?

Thank you. I ran into that problem today. Your solution is very helpful. Have a great day!

[adriantorrie]

@onmywaytoheaven Is there any way to force Windows to reinstall the WSL package to restore (reinstall) the C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd file?

Thank you. I ran into that problem today. Your solution is very helpful. Have a great day!

I had the same issue due to windows updating yesterday. Downgrading to the previous working version works for me as others have suggested, it seems to install the system.vhd file appropriately.

• For me, I had to downgrade from 2.3.26.0 -> 2.3.24.0
• 2.3.26.0 was released November 10th, 2024 (5 days ago from this post)
• I skipped downgrading to 2.3.25.0 as it is tagged as a pre-release
• So I chose 2.3.24.0 as it was released September 27th, 2024 (3 weeks ago from this post)

Steps to fix:

1. Find your current version (which isn't working)
2. Download the most recent working version msi installer file
3. Run the msi
4. Check your WSL2 distro is working again

1. Find your current version (which isn't working)

• Here I can see my broken version is 2.3.26.0

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.3.26.0
Kernel version: 5.15.167.4-1
WSLg version: 1.0.65
MSRDC version: 1.2.5620
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.22631.4460

2. Download the most recent working version msi installer file

• Download from https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases
• Check the dates of the release and choose one that was released prior to your version being broken
• Note: Do not download any versions marked pre-release

3. Run the msi

• Run the msi file (double click to execute)

4. Check your WSL2 distro is working again

• Open the terminal
• Note: My updated working version is now 2.3.24.0

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.3.24.0
Kernel version: 5.15.153.1-2
WSLg version: 1.0.65
MSRDC version: 1.2.5620
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.22631.4460

[zbwj66]

@onmywaytoheaven Is there any way to force Windows to reinstall the WSL package to restore (reinstall) the C:\Program Files\WSL\system.vhd file?
Thank you. I ran into that problem today. Your solution is very helpful. Have a great day!

I had the same issue due to windows updating yesterday. Downgrading to the previous working version works for me as others have suggested, it seems to install the system.vhd file appropriately.

• For me, I had to downgrade from 2.3.26.0 -> 2.3.24.0
• 2.3.26.0 was released November 10th, 2024 (5 days ago from this post)
• I skipped downgrading to 2.3.25.0 as it is tagged as a pre-release
• So I chose 2.3.24.0 as it was released September 27th, 2024 (3 weeks ago from this post)

Steps to fix:

1. Find your current version (which isn't working)
2. Download the most recent working version msi installer file
3. Run the msi
4. Check your WSL2 distro is working again

1. Find your current version (which isn't working)

• Here I can see my broken version is 2.3.26.0

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.3.26.0
Kernel version: 5.15.167.4-1
WSLg version: 1.0.65
MSRDC version: 1.2.5620
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.22631.4460

2. Download the most recent working version msi installer file

• Download from https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases
• Check the dates of the release and choose one that was released prior to your version being broken
• Note: Do not download any versions marked pre-release

3. Run the msi

• Run the msi file (double click to execute)

4. Check your WSL2 distro is working again

• Open the terminal
• Note: My updated working version is now 2.3.24.0

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.3.24.0
Kernel version: 5.15.153.1-2
WSLg version: 1.0.65
MSRDC version: 1.2.5620
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.22631.4460

The problem I encountered is exactly the same as what you described. Thank you so much for the tutorial on fixing it. It's really great!