HOW-TO: Backup or Move WSL2 Distro

Moving a WSL2 distro using lxrunoffline

Running multiple distros and instances under WSL2 with Windows Terminal

References

• https://www.jskap.com/notes/how-to-move-wsl2-disto/
• https://www.jskap.com/blog/install-move-wsl-distro-from-c-drive-to-another-drive/
• https://www.howtogeek.com/426562/how-to-export-and-import-your-linux-systems-on-windows-10/

Related

• Windows Terminal - settings.json
• HOW-TO: Rename WSL Distro Name

Backup and Restore WSL2 Distros

## Listing all WSL2 Distros using Windows Powershell running as Administrator
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --list -v
  NAME                   STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu                 Running         2
  Fedora                 Running         2
  CentOS                 Running         2
  docker-desktop         Running         2
  docker-desktop-data    Running         2

## Shutdown all WSL2 Distros using Windows Powershell running as Administrator
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --shutdown

## Listing all WSL2 Distros using Windows Powershell running as Administrator
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --list -v
  NAME                   STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu                 Stopped         2
  Fedora                 Stopped         2
  CentOS                 Stopped         2
  docker-desktop         Stopped         2
  docker-desktop-data    Stopped         2

## Export using Windows Powershell running as Administrator
## EXAMPLE: wsl --export distro_name file_name.tar
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --export Ubuntu C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\Ubuntu.tar
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --export Fedora C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\Fedora.tar
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --export CentOS C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\CentOS.tar

## Remove old WSL instances
wsl --unregister Ubuntu
wsl --unregister Fedora
wsl --unregister CentOS

## Import using Windows Powershell running as Administrator
## EXAMPLE: wsl --import distro_name install_location file_name.tar
wsl --import Ubuntu C:\Shared\WSL2\Ubuntu C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\Ubuntu.tar
wsl --import Fedora C:\Shared\WSL2\Fedora C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\Fedora.tar
wsl --import CentOS C:\Shared\WSL2\CentOS C:\Shared\WSL2\Backups\CentOS.tar

## Listing backups under /Shared/WSL2/Backups
Shared/WSL2/Backups on ☁️  (us-east-1) on ☁️ [redacted]
❯ ls -lah
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root     4 KiB  Sun Aug 15 06:22:16 2021    ./
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root     4 KiB  Mon Jun 28 07:06:34 2021    ../
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root   553 B    Thu Aug 12 16:04:20 2021    backup-wsl2-distros.ps1
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root     2 GiB  Thu Aug 12 15:53:59 2021    CentOS.tar
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root   557 B    Mon Oct 19 15:10:28 2020    fedora.png
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root     4 GiB  Thu Aug 12 15:53:00 2021    Fedora.tar
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root   787 B    Mon Oct 19 15:09:44 2020    redhat.png
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root   838 B    Thu Aug 12 16:04:09 2021    restore-wsl2-distros.ps1
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root    20 KiB  Sun Jun 27 22:01:44 2021    settings.json
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root   560 B    Mon Oct 19 15:11:24 2020    ubuntu.png
  rwxrwxrwx  1  root  root    12 GiB  Thu Aug 12 15:51:57 2021    Ubuntu.tar

Move WSL to Another Location

Installing LxRunOffline [DEPRECATED with `wsl` replacing `lxrunoffline` functions]

• Install LxRunOffline via Choco (Package Manager for Windows)

## From within your Windows PowerShell running as Administrator
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> choco install lxrunoffline

Chocolatey v0.10.15
Installing the following packages:
lxrunoffline
By installing you accept licenses for the packages.
Progress: Downloading lxrunoffline 3.5.0... 100%

lxrunoffline v3.5.0 [Approved]
lxrunoffline package files install completed. Performing other installation steps.
The package lxrunoffline wants to run 'chocolateyInstall.ps1'.
Note: If you don't run this script, the installation will fail.
Note: To confirm automatically next time, use '-y' or consider:
choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation
Do you want to run the script?([Y]es/[A]ll - yes to all/[N]o/[P]rint): A

Progress: 100% - Running                                                                                               Microsoft.Dism.Commands.ImageObject
Downloading lxrunoffline
  from 'https://github.com/DDoSolitary/LxRunOffline/releases/download/v3.5.0/LxRunOffline-v3.5.0-msvc.zip'
Progress: 100% - Completed download of C:\Users\kenfo\AppData\Local\Temp\lxrunoffline\3.5.0\LxRunOffline-v3.5.0-msvc.zip (2.54 MB).
Download of LxRunOffline-v3.5.0-msvc.zip (2.54 MB) completed.
Hashes match.
Extracting C:\Users\kenfo\AppData\Local\Temp\lxrunoffline\3.5.0\LxRunOffline-v3.5.0-msvc.zip to C:\tools\lxrunoffline...
C:\tools\lxrunoffline
PATH environment variable does not have C:\tools\lxrunoffline in it. Adding...
Environment Vars (like PATH) have changed. Close/reopen your shell to
 see the changes (or in powershell/cmd.exe just type `refreshenv`).
 The install of lxrunoffline was successful.
  Software installed to 'C:\tools\lxrunoffline'

Chocolatey installed 1/1 packages.
 See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).

Listing WSL2 Distros using LxRunOffline [DEPRECATED with `wsl` replacing `lxrunoffline` functions]

• lxrunoffline list - List all the installed distros on your system.

## From within your Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.572]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\kenfo>lxrunoffline list
Ubuntu-20.04

C:\Users\kenfo>

Moving Distro Locations using LxRunOffline [DEPRECATED with `wsl` replacing `lxrunoffline` functions]

## From within Windows PowerShell as Administrator
wsl --shutdown

## From within the Windows Command Prommpt (cmd.exe)
lxrunoffline move -n Ubuntu-20.04 -d M:\Shared\WSL2\ubuntu .

Moving Distro Locations using wsl

• Example for moving from internal/default to M:\Shared\WSL\Ubuntu

## From within Windows PowerShell as Administrator

## Prep shared drive (used for backup, restore, and storage)
cd M:\Shared\
mkdir -p WSL2\Ubuntu
cd M:\Shared\WSL2\Ubuntu

## Export and Unregister (if desired) from WSL
wsl --export Ubuntu ubuntu.tar
wsl --unregister Ubuntu

## Import Distro Name to Target from Backup
wsl --import Ubuntu Ubuntu ubuntu.tar

• Move your distro to another drive. My distro name here is Ubuntu. I am moving it to M: drive and \Shared\WSL2 folder inside it. (This will take some time to complete, lxrunoffline doesn't provide feedback during the move.)
• You can use the same move command to move your distro from default location to a different location inside C Drive.