HOW-TO: Upgrading from WSL to WSL 2 in Windows

WARNING: WSL upgrades will NOT work on encrypted or compressed drives. WSL installs however WILL work. The requested operation could not be completed due to a virtual disk system limitation. Virtual hard disk files must be uncompressed and unencrypted and must not be sparse.

References

• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Installation Guide for Windows 10
• Updating the WSL 2 Linux kernel

Example

Windows PowerShell
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PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl -l -v
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Stopped         1
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.329

Image Version: 10.0.19041.329

Enabling feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --set-default-version 2
WSL 2 requires an update to its kernel component. For information please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --set-default-version 2
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2
Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes...
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit https://aka.ms/wsl2
The requested operation could not be completed due to a virtual disk system limitation.  Virtual hard disk files must be uncompressed and unencrypted and must not be sparse.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> wsl -l -v
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Stopped         1