WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070002 Error: 0x80070002 The system cannot find the file specified.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(214.4, 50%, 30%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EKK%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
kartik kunjekar
15
Reputation points
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl.exe --install -d Ubuntu-20.04
Installing: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has been installed.
Launching Ubuntu 20.04 LTS...
Installing, this may take a few minutes...
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070002
Error: 0x80070002 The system cannot find the file specified.
I tried out everything
wsl --shutdown
turning on/off the virtual environment ,windows subsystem for linux , and all
this all started with docker showing some error. I had ubuntu on my pc and was able to use it but following some solutions to start docker these things happened
Windows for business | Windows Server | User experience | PowerShell
Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
{count} votes
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(284.8, 67%, 37%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EAE%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Avi Elenko 0 Reputation points2025-12-10T16:30:15.81+00:00 Same issue, post Windows 11 update. When opening Ubuntu
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070002
Error: 0x80070002 The system cannot find the file specified.
All was working well for over a year... dead in the water now.
Sign in to comment
Sign in to answer