Exporting the distribution failed. Error code: Wsl/Service/WSL_E_EXPORT_FAILED

[borfus]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3086]

WSL Version

1.2.5.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.15.90.1

Distro Version

Ubuntu 20.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

1. Open PowerShell as Admin
2. Run wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2 or wsl --export Ubuntu C:\Users\user\Desktop\export.tar

Expected Behavior

Upgrade from WSL 1 to WSL 2 for distribution Ubuntu

Actual Behavior

Received the following output:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes.
Exporting the distribution failed.
Error code: Wsl/Service/WSL_E_EXPORT_FAILED

Diagnostic Logs

Below are log files for running wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2 and wsl --export Ubuntu C:\Users\user\Desktop\export.tar (in that order)
WslLogs-2023-07-04_15-41-46_Set_Version_2.zip
WslLogs-2023-07-04_15-38-56_Export.zip

[borfus]

The closest information I could find on this error message was from a previous issue #9382. The final solution for this specific person looks like it was a modification to their .wslconfig to remove memory limits that were previously set. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be my problem as I don't have a .wslconfig or wsl.conf (at least that I'm aware of).

I attempted to read the log files and solve the issue myself, but I'm a complete novice when it comes to the Windows Performance Analyzer and I wasn't able to make any progress on that end.

[RocLoong]

I had the same issue as above:

1. I ran wsl --set-version Ubuntu-20.04 2 which produced this error Error code: Wsl/Service/WSL_E_EXPORT_FAILED.
2. I then tried created C:/users/<user-name>/.wslconfig, and repeated step 1.

[wsl2]
memory=4GB # Limits VM memory in WSL 2 to 4 GB
processors=2 # Makes the WSL 2 VM use two virtual processors

Still no luck.

3. I then tried wsl --export Ubuntu-20.04 ubuntu.tar with the intention of exporting it and then re-importing with the version set to 2, but it once again produced the same error Error code: Wsl/Service/WSL_E_EXPORT_FAILED.
4. I then restarted my PC, and repeated step 1 once again. Then it worked.

wsl --set-version Ubuntu-20.04 2
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes.
The operation completed successfully.

I leave this here in the hope that time I lost, is time gained for another. https://xkcd.com/979/

I restarted my PC, but it doesn't solve problem