Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Table of Contents

In some cases, you get the following error when trying to open an WSL instance in Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

You got it because you’ve installed both versions of an instance. You can check it from Microsoft Store and Powershell with wsl -l -v command.

Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

As you can see, we’ve installed the same Ubuntu instance from command line.

Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

To fix it, we need to remove the instance installed from command line first with the following command:

wsl --unregister ubuntu
Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Once the instance was removed, open the Ubuntu instance from the Microsoft Store. The error should be gone, and you can continue to setup the instance.

Error Code WSL Service CreateInstance MountVhd HCS/ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *