Resolving Error: 0x80370114 The operation could not be started because a required feature is not installed.

13657895 15 Reputation points
2023-03-07T14:50:46.19+00:00

(Windows 10 2022H2)

I am really stuck on this error, is there anything else I can try? Is there anything I can try? I seem to be unable to update WSL.

Running in Powershell:

wsl --update

returns

WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370114

Error: 0x80370114 The operation could not be started because a required feature is not installed.

I have tried multiple variations of ensuring virtualization is turned on, and enabling various related features, following the steps in the below answers.

Running:

wsl --set-default-version 2

returns 'The operation completed successfully.'

However from wsl -v:

WSL version: 1.1.3.0

Update 9/3: Following some of the early steps here (https://softwaretested.com/windows/wslregisterdistribution-failed-with-error-0x80370114/) I can see that it states to:

  1. Find the Hyper-V Host Compute service by going to this path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\vmcompute.exe.

vmcompute.exe isn't running or found on my machine (even though many Hyper-V services are). This probably is part of the issue?

Referencing:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/all/wsl-2-installing-linux-failed-error-code/bae391d1-4215-4d93-b0c4-3d96404a7c74

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66091744/docker-failed-to-start/68768646#68768646

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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  1. Alex Wilkinson 0 Reputation points
    2023-10-10T09:32:42.7666667+00:00

    My version of this was that Windows Subsystem for Linux was not ticked. I ticked this, and on restart the wsl distribution started automatically.

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  2. Thad Guidry 0 Reputation points
    2024-11-01T11:00:01.9666667+00:00

    WSL 2 requires two Windows Features to be enabled:

    1. "Virtual Machine Platform" (a subset of Hyper-V)
    2. "Windows Subsystem for Linux"

    Both features can be enabled through Control Panel or Search by searching for "Windows Features" and clicking "Turn Windows Features on or off".

    The newest version of WSL, which is WSL 2, uses a subset of Hyper-V architecture to enable its virtualization. This subset is provided as an optional component named "Virtual Machine Platform," available on all Desktop SKUs.

    See Microsoft's WSL 2 FAQ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq#wsl-2

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