Move WSL2 location

guide.md

Guide

Move WSL2 OS installation location to another location.

Check available distros:

wsl --list

Stop the running distro

wsl -t {Distro}

Export

wsl --export {Distro} "D:/{Distro}.tar" 

Unregister

wsl --unregister {Distro}

Make a new location

mkdir D:/WSL

Import to the new location

wsl --import {Distro} "D:/WSL/{Distro}" "D:/{Distro}.tar"

Set it as default

wsl --set-default {Distro}

Confirmation

$ Get-ChildItem "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss" -Recurse

    Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss

Name                           Property
----                           --------
{b43db7ed-9ac2-435b-8b9b-4b4f3 State            : 1
d044f53}                       DistributionName : {Distro}
                               Version          : 2
                               BasePath         : \\?\D:\WSL\{Distro}
                               Flags            : 15
                               DefaultUid       : 1000

Extras

• Get location of WSL from explorer: \\wsl.localhost\{Distro}
• Access Windows drive: ls /mnt/

Resources

• superuser
• Arch WSL
• Windots
• Best practices