Error code: Wsl/InstallDistro/E_UNEXPECTED - Catastrophic failure - Windows Subsystem for Linux

Question

I am facing an issue with installation of Ubuntu 20.04 in my wsl. I have earlier installed WSL without any issues on my PC and was running fine with ROS1 and ROS2. But when i tried to uninstall a python verison, it show how corrupted the ubuntu. so i unregistered the older version. And now trying to install new one. But i doubt that the old files are still in my system as I can see the older version of ubuntu in my program and I am not an admin of the PC. But i have admin rights.

What I did was as follows:

wsl --update --web-download

I used --web-download as without arguments was not working.

Then i tried to run the following command:

wsl.exe --install Ubuntu-20.04

and got the error as : >>

Installing: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has been installed.
Catastrophic failure
Error code: Wsl/InstallDistro/E_UNEXPECTED

What may be reason and how can I install Ubuntu 20.04 ?

I havre already turn on:

windows subsystem for linux
virtual environment

Answer 1

A possible cause for this error is Hyper-V not setup correctly, for me the following actions solved the problem:

1. Go to Control Panel-> Programs and Features -> Turn windows features on or off
2. Uninstall Hyper-V & Windows-Subsystem for Linux
3. Verify Hardware Compatibility by running systeminfo as outlined in the following link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/reference/hyper-v-requirements
4. Reboot machine, press F2/DEL, setup virtualization in BIOS. Usually it is under "Advanced\CPU Configuration\SVM Mode" or similar
5. Run systeminfo and it must show "Hyper-V Requirements: A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed." at the end
6. Install Hyper-V & Windows-Subsystem for Linux
7. Run wsl --install ubuntu and the error should not appear anymore