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Can not install WSL on Windows 11

Anonymous
2023-03-22T22:11:09+00:00

I'm trying to install WSL 2 on a Windows 11 OS machine. First I tried following this and simply using wsl --install command in PowerShell. The installation finished and it said I need to reboot for the changes to take effect. I restarted the system and it started to apply the changes, in a similar fashion as when Windows updates. But once it reached about 97%, it failed with just a short message saying something like "Could not complete feature" and "Undoing changes".

I then tried to use the Turn on Windows features on/off settings. There I checked Virtual Machine Platform, Hyper-V and Windows Subsystem for Linux features. But when the PC restarted, the outcome was the same after reaching 97%, failure and reverting changes...

I tried selecting just one feature at a time instead of all three at once, it doesn't help, it still fails. I don't even know what the exact error is, because there are no details at all and I don't know where I can find them. Help please, as I can not find any info about such an error.

I already verified that I have virtualisation enabled on my machine as pointed out in the image:

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-24T22:47:48+00:00

    Thanks for the image. Please open Powershell as administrator and perform the following command:

    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all

    Next reboot the computer to complete the procedure. To verify if the feature was installed, use the following command:

    dism /online /get-featureinfo /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform

    If the feature is installed, please use the following command to enable wsl:

    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all

    Reboot the computer again and check the feature status using this command:

    dism /online /get-featureinfo /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

    Please let me know if you need anything else.

    6 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-26T00:22:06+00:00

    Thanks. Let's reset Windows update components. Please open CMD as administrator then paste the following commands: 

    net stop wuauserv  
net stop cryptSvc  
net stop bits  
net stop msiserver  
ren C:\\Windows\\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old  
ren C:\\Windows\\System32\\catroot2 Catroot2.old

    Then paste also this: 

    net start wuauserv  
net start cryptSvc  
net start bits  
net start msiserver

    Reboot the computer and try again to install wsl.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-24T19:14:52+00:00

    Thanks for your reply. Let's verify if this CPU can support nested page tables. Please download and extract Coreinfo utility on disk C root. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternal.... Open CMD as administrator then use the following command to go to C root path:

    CD \

    Then run coreinfo.exe -v

    Take an screenshot and share it here, please.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-22T23:21:02+00:00

    Hi, Kristijan. I'll be happy to assist you today.

    Sorry to know you're experiencing this issue.

    In order to help you with this WSL installation issue, I will need additional information.

    Does this is a clean Windows 11 installation, or it is an upgrade from Windows 10?

    If yes, does WSL was previously installed on Windows 10?

    Does it is Windows update working?

    I'll be waiting for your replies.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-24T23:23:25+00:00

    The first command already failed, in the same way as the original attempt to use wsl --install. During the reboot, it said failed and it reverted everything. I noticed the same errors in the Event Viewer:

    Update VirtualMachinePlatform of package Microsoft-Windows-HyperV-OptionalFeature-VirtualMachinePlatform-Client-Disabled failed to be turned on. Status: 0x800f0922.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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