WSL crashes with "Catastrohic Failure" when installing from a headless context

[Paradoxis]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.2965]

WSL Version

2.3.24.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

N/A

Distro Version

N/A

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

Use Sysinternals' PsExec64 to elevate to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

.\PsExec64.exe -accepteula -s -i \\127.0.0.1 cmd.exe

Run WSL

wsl.exe --install

Expected Behavior

WSL runs normally and exits, preferably it installs something

Actual Behavior

WSL crashes with a "a t a s t r o p h i c f a i l u r e" message

Diagnostic Logs

No response

[github-actions]

Logs are required for review from WSL team

If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
Otherwise please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

How 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 script will output the path of the log file once done.

If this is a networking issue, please use collect-networking-logs.ps1, following the instructions here

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 and reply with '/emailed-logs'.

View similar issues

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!

Open similar issues:

• Unable to run WSL: Catastrophic Failure (#11319), similarity score: 0.78
• While trying to install WSL 2 the install fails with 'Catastrophic Failure' message! (#11809), similarity score: 0.74

Closed similar issues:

• Catastrophic failure installing WSL (#11259), similarity score: 0.78
• Catastophic failure when I try to install WSL2 (#9420), similarity score: 0.77
• Error on WSL 2 Update. (#11403), similarity score: 0.73

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

[Paradoxis]

WslLogs-2024-10-26_11-18-12.zip

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.3.24.0

[benhillis]

For installing from session zero could you please download the .msi from our GitHub releases and install that way?

[Paradoxis]

@benhillis installing through MSI seems to work, but when using WSL itself through session 0 I still get strange formatting errors, as well as an access denied error, although running it over SSH seems to work fine.

Through PsExec:

Through SSH:

Issue appears to be solved for now, although it would be nice if the formatting and access denied as SYSTEM issue could be resolved.

[Elibar19]

Hi there, try this solution. Go to Win+R --> regedit --> HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/International/Geo and edit the value of Nation with the code of your country where you live --> https://learn.microsoft.com/es-es/windows/win32/intl/table-of-geographical-locations

[OneBlue]

/dupe #11280

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists in this repository. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread.

Thanks for your report!