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Failure converting WSL1 distro to WSL2 #4626

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Failure converting WSL1 distro to WSL2#4626
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distro-mgmtproblems related to import, export, conversion

Description

@abelal
Awais Belal (abelal)
opened on Oct 29, 2019

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19008.1000]

Following WSL2 installation guide I get the following error while trying to convert WSL1 distro to WSL2.

the operation could not be started because a required feature is not installed.

Both VirtualMachinePlatform and Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux windows features are already enabled. I configured WSL2 as the default version and now even installing new distributions fail with the same error. And the GUI displays error "0x80370114", which I believe is the same as above. Detailed logs of the issue are attached.
wsl2-log.zip

Activity

  1. Awais Belal (abelal)
    changed the title [-]Failure converting WSL1[/-] [+]Failure converting WSL1 distro to WSL2[/+] on Oct 29, 2019

  2. benhillis commented on Oct 29, 2019

    @benhillis
    Ben Hillis (benhillis)
    on Oct 29, 2019
    Member

    Awais Belal (@abelal) - Is virtualization enabled in your bios?

  3. abelal commented on Oct 30, 2019

    @abelal
    Awais Belal (abelal)
    on Oct 30, 2019
    Author

    Ben Hillis (@benhillis), yup.

  4. benhillis commented on Oct 30, 2019

    @benhillis
    Ben Hillis (benhillis)
    on Oct 30, 2019
    Member

    Awais Belal (@abelal) - Does msinfo32 show virtualization is enabled?

  5. ev-dev commented on Oct 31, 2019

    @ev-dev
    Evan Reed (ev-dev)
    on Oct 31, 2019

    I believe there are many related and possibly duplicate open issues for installing/upgrading to v2 (including one I just closed #4573).

    There doesn't seem to be access to more detailed errors/logs for the wsl2 installation/upgrade process and so problems which may have a shared set of root causes, can all show the same misleading message:

    operation could not be started because a required feature is not installed

    The catch-all response is quite unhelpful for addressing compatibility/install issues. Does anyone else think it would be worth while for me to open an "improved error messaging for wsl2 install" feature request ?

  6. abelal commented on Oct 31, 2019

    @abelal
    Awais Belal (abelal)
    on Oct 31, 2019
    Author

    Awais Belal (@abelal) - Does msinfo32 show virtualization is enabled?

    I'm not sure which exact setting you want me to look at under msinfo32 but this is what I get through the task manager.
    TskMgr

  7. gajama commented on Nov 13, 2019

    @gajama
    Gav Massingham (gajama)
    on Nov 13, 2019

    Hi,

    I had the same problem.

    It occurred to me to see whether I could create a normal Hyper-V VM.

    I had to disable and re-enable Hyper-V to get the Virtual Machine Management Service to run.

    Once that was running I tried to use the Hyper-V Quick Create facility, as detailed here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/quick-create-virtual-machine

    But that failed to start correctly with a 'Not found' error. This led me to a Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/HyperV/comments/9thubc/create_virtual_machine_returns_not_found_error/

    With the following instructions:

    1, Open "Window Security"

    2, Open "App & Browser control"

    3, Click "Exploit protection settings" at the bottom

    4, Switch to "Program settings" tab

    5, Locate "C:\WINDOWS\System32\vmcompute.exe" in the list and expand it

    6, Click "Edit"

    7, Scroll down to "Code flow guard (CFG)" and uncheck "Override system settings"

    8, Start vmcompute from powershell "net start vmcompute"

    After doing the above Hyper-V Quick Create launched correctly.

    I then went back and the command

    wsl --set-version Debian 2

    completed successfully.

  8. mtraudt commented on Nov 22, 2019

    @mtraudt
    mtraudt
    on Nov 22, 2019

    Gav Massingham (@gajama) Thank you so much! I tried the instructions you mentioned and they worked perfectly.

  9. gajama commented on Nov 22, 2019

    @gajama
    Gav Massingham (gajama)
    on Nov 22, 2019

    mtraudt glad they worked for you too

  10. gajama commented on Nov 27, 2019

    @gajama
    Gav Massingham (gajama)
    on Nov 27, 2019

    After a recent Insider Slow Ring update the Code Flow Guard setting had reverted and WSL was refusing to start. I changed the setting again and then had to restart, after which it's working again.
    I'm on 10.0.19025 Build 19025 - but I don't know if it's the most recent update that caused this.

  11. ssnyder commented on Dec 4, 2019

    @ssnyder
    Sharon Snyder (ssnyder)
    on Dec 4, 2019

    Version 10.0.19033.1 - I am getting this error when I try to convert or try to run a wsl2 distro

    wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2
    Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes...
    For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
    Error: 0xffffffff
    and on a new distro (just installed through MS Store)

    Installing, this may take a few minutes...
    WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0xffffffff
    Error: 0xffffffff (null)

    I've stopped DockerDesktop, checked for port 53 and it seems that dnscrypt-proxy.exe is using it.

    Any ideas?

  12. gajama commented on Dec 4, 2019

    @gajama
    Gav Massingham (gajama)
    on Dec 4, 2019

    I don't use docker or dnscrypt-proxy so I doubt anything in this issue is relevant. Reading around it seems that anything that binds to port 53 stops the WSL conversion process at least, so turn off anything using port 53 and see if that works.

  13. ssnyder commented on Dec 4, 2019

    @ssnyder
    Sharon Snyder (ssnyder)
    on Dec 4, 2019

    Unfortunately I can't turn off dnscrypt-proxy.....or at least I haven't figured out how to do this. I stop the process, but it just restarts itself. I'm not sure which service is actually started it, but it appears that the logical one (DNS Client) is started via a trigger(?) so I can't stop/start/pause it in the services control panel app. Any ideas?

  14. alexk111 commented on Dec 13, 2019

    @alexk111
    Alex Kaul (alexk111)
    on Dec 13, 2019

    Had the 0xffffffff error on wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2. Had a service that used port 53. Confirm that after stopping the service the version update went ok.

  15. JudeLiu commented on Mar 3, 2020

    @JudeLiu
    Liu Junnan (JudeLiu)
    on Mar 3, 2020

    Great! gajama's solution works for me

  16. 2 remaining items

  17. adpeyre commented on Jun 19, 2020

    @adpeyre
    Adrien Peyre (adpeyre)
    on Jun 19, 2020

    I confirm, it works. Thanks! ;)

  18. Sollace commented on Aug 14, 2020

    @Sollace
    ­Sollace (Sollace)
    on Aug 14, 2020

    Can confirm, Gav Massingham (@gajama) 's solution works!

    What's more, it appears to have also fixed Windows Sandbox.

  19. fonnesbeck commented on Sep 3, 2020

    @fonnesbeck
    Chris Fonnesbeck (fonnesbeck)
    on Sep 3, 2020

    Why does the Control Flow Guard keep resetting? It seems like every time I restart my machine, the setting reverts and I have to dig through the security settings again. How can I make this change permanent?

  20. xiaods commented on Sep 11, 2020

    @xiaods
    Deshi Xiao (xiaods)
    on Sep 11, 2020

    even use the Gav Massingham (@gajama) steps. i also come across issue blow:

    The conversion is underway, which may take a few minutes...
For information on the key differences with WSL 2, visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
There are no more endpoints available in the Endpoint Mapper.

    win10pro ver 19041.508

    no idea

  21. taseikyo commented on Nov 13, 2020

    @taseikyo
    taseikyo
    on Nov 13, 2020

    even use the Gav Massingham (@gajama) steps. i also come across issue blow:

    The conversion is underway, which may take a few minutes...
For information on the key differences with WSL 2, visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
There are no more endpoints available in the Endpoint Mapper.

    win10pro ver 19041.508

    no idea

    same issue 😕
    OS version: 1909
    OS build: 18363.1198

  22. adrastogi
    added
    distro-mgmtproblems related to import, export, conversion
    on May 6, 2021

  23. LOuroboros commented on May 18, 2021

    @LOuroboros
    LOuroboros
    on May 18, 2021

    even use the Gav Massingham (@gajama) steps. i also come across issue blow:

    The conversion is underway, which may take a few minutes...
For information on the key differences with WSL 2, visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
There are no more endpoints available in the Endpoint Mapper.

    win10pro ver 19041.508

    no idea

    Same deal here. Win10 x64 v19041.388.
    I've been trying multiple things, most recently the instructions stated here, but sadly, nothing has worked.
    Been craving to try WSL2 ever since I first heard of it back in September, when I brought up the problem in another existing issue post due to it supposedly having Linux like speeds as far as I heard, but it doesn't seem like someone who knows about WSL's inner workings will step in to lend us a hand anytime soon.

    EDIT: I never edited this comment, but as I explained here, miraculously, the problem was solved when I reinstalled Windows 10 back in August 2021. It was the Version 2004 specifically. I'm currently on Windows 10 Version 21H2 and WSL2 is also working fine on it.

  24. ahminus commented on Feb 24, 2022

    @ahminus
    Tim McClarren (ahminus)
    on Feb 24, 2022

    I never would have figured this out without stumbling on Gav Massingham (@gajama)'s answer.

    Those steps worked for me perfectly.

    Thanks very much!

  25. olegKusov commented on Apr 22, 2023

    @olegKusov
    Oleg Kusov (olegKusov)
    on Apr 22, 2023

    Having same issue.
    Windows 11 22621.1555
    core i3 1215u
    virtualization enabled

  26. Halima-AddAndCo commented on Jul 22, 2023

    @Halima-AddAndCo
    Halima (Halima-AddAndCo)
    on Jul 22, 2023

    le dossier n existe pas qu es ce qu il y a d ecri dans le ficher

  27. zulfanovita commented on Apr 7, 2024

    @zulfanovita
    zulfa novita (zulfanovita)
    on Apr 7, 2024

    i want ask, what if there is no C:\WINDOWS\System32\vmcompute.exe. Should i add program to customize ?

  28. oayoade commented on Sep 26, 2024

    @oayoade
    oayoade
    on Sep 26, 2024

    Having same issue. Windows 11 22621.1555 core i3 1215u virtualization enabled

    same, did you find a fix?

  29. tute123456 commented on Nov 22, 2024

    @tute123456
    Tute (tute123456)
    on Nov 22, 2024

    thx Gav Massingham (@gajama)

  30. microsoft-github-policy-service
    closed this as completedon Nov 27, 2025

  31. microsoft-github-policy-service commented on Nov 27, 2025

    @microsoft-github-policy-service
    microsoft-github-policy-serviceBot
    on Nov 27, 2025 – with Microsoft GitHub Policy Service
    Contributor

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

    Thank you!

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