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Re-install WSL on Windows 10

The following is a direct copy of the original gist in case it's offline.

Background​

I've been using wsl (version 2) with genie mod for years without issue, but one day, Windows 10 finally catch up on wsl Windows 11 features and gives us a way to use systemD natively.

I wanted to use the new "right way" to enable systemD on Windows Subsystem for Linux (without genie), and I also had a (probably related) infinite Windows RemoteApp error popping in.

Fixing it​

A - Uninstall wsl and related stuff​

  1. In powershell (as admin)
# list all installed distros
wsl -l -v

# destroy distros
wsl --unregister Ubuntu
wsl --unregister Debian # and so on
  1. In Settings > Apps > Apps & Features
  • search for Ubuntu (then Debian, etc), and if something is found, click on uninstall
  • search for Linux, and if something is found, click on uninstall on all results
  1. In Start Menu > Turn Windows Features on or off
  • Untick Virtual Machine Platform checkbox
  • Untick Windows Subsystem for Linux checkbox
  1. Reboot
  • might have reboot between step 2) and 3) as well.

B - Re-install and configure wsl to use systemD​

The process of installing wsl have become super straightforward.

  1. Installing wsl - In powershell (as admin)
# install wsl
wsl --install

Then reboot and wait for the Ubundu installation to complete and ask for username (it might takes some time).

  1. Optional: Changing distribution - In powershell (as admin)
# list available distributions
wsl --list --online

# install favorite distro
wsl --install -d Debian

# set Debian as default
wsl --set-default Debian

NB: wsl --set-default-version 2 is not needed anymore.

  1. Enabling systemD support - Inside wsl
  • Launch your distribution
  • Edit /etc/wsl.conf (or create the file if it doesn't exist)
[boot]
systemd=true

# Optional: remove windows from PATH (autocompletion)
[interop]
appendWindowsPath = false
  1. Clean rebooting - In powershell (as admin)
# clean shutdown
wsl --shutdown

Great success! 🎉 You have now enabled systemD in wsl natively. You can test it with sudo systemctl status time-sync.target (inside your Linux distribution).

In the step B.1, the following steps may be required:

In Start Menu > Turn Windows Features on or off

Tick Virtual Machine Platform checkbox
Tick Windows Subsystem for Linux checkbox

1: Clean uninstall then reinstall of WSL on Windows 10, with systemD support, Zotero