WSL.exe Crashes in Administrator PowerShell with Offline Windows PC

Question

WSL.exe Crashes in Administrator PowerShell with Offline Windows PC

Omer 0

Hello,

I'm encountering an issue with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on my offline Windows 10 PC (Version 21H2, OS Build 19044.1288).

When I run wsl from PowerShell (non-admin) it works fine, but when I run it from PowerShell as Administrator, it crashes immediately without any output.

Important Context:

This PC is completely offline (no internet access).
All installations were done offline, including:
- enable Virtual Machine and WSL feature option
- wsl_update_x64.msi
- Manually imported Ubuntu distro
- Docker Desktop and all supporting components

Side Effect:

I believe this WSL issue is also the reason I cannot get Docker Desktop to work — it likely depends on a functioning WSL backend, which is not responding properly.

Additional Details:

After every attempt to run wsl from Administrator PowerShell, a new crash report is generated in:
```
  C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue
```
Each crash creates a folder like:
```
  AppCrash_wsl.exe_XXXXXXXX
```
(XXXXXXXX appears to be a hash or unique ID)
I currently have 30–50 such folders, each matching the timestamp when I attempted to run wsl as admin.
This happens with any WSL command I try (e.g., wsl, wsl --list, wsl --help, etc.).
The reports are hard for me to understand, but I can attach them if it would help.

If there are any additional logs, crash reports, or diagnostic files that could help clarify the issue, I would be happy to provide them — just let me know what to collect and how. Since this PC is offline, please include steps that work without internet access.

1 answer

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Answer 1

Hello, I’m Henry, and I’d like to share my insights on this issue.

I believe the best solution is to re-register and repair WSL components to resolve the problem.

First we will Force-Disable WSL and Virtual Machine Platform. Run the following two commands as Administrator, one after the other:

Disables the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature
- dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /norestart
Disables the Virtual Machine Platform feature`
- dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /norestart

Reboot Your Computer to** apply the changes.
Re-enable WSL and Virtual Machine Platform**

After rebooting, open PowerShell as Administrator again. Run the following two commands to re-enable the features:
Re-enables the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature
- dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
Re-enables the Virtual Machine Platform feature
- dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Reboot Your Computer Again to finalize the installation of these features.
After the second reboot, locate the wsl_update_x64.msi file you used for the initial installation. Run the wsl_update_x64.msi installer again. It will present you with a "Repair" option. Choose to Repair the existing installation. This will fix any corrupted kernel files or registration issues.
After the repair is complete, run a simple WSL command PowerShell as Administrator.: wsl --status

Hope this points you in the right direction for troubleshooting.

Omer 0 Reputation points

2025-07-01T11:23:47.4433333+00:00

Hi Henry,

Thank you very much for your detailed suggestion.

I actually tried the exact steps you described a few times in the past without success, but after your comment, I decided to carefully follow them again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Here’s what I did:

Disabled both WSL and Virtual Machine Platform using the dism commands.

Rebooted the PC.

Re-enabled both features with the appropriate dism commands.

Rebooted again.

Ran wsl_update_x64.msi — although you mentioned it should give a Repair option, in my case it didn't show any prompt or options. It just ran very quickly (in less than a second) and showed the message: "Completed the Windows Subsystem for Linux Update Setup Wizard. ... Click Finish to exit." So I'm not sure if it actually repaired anything or simply re-ran a basic install.

Opened PowerShell as Administrator and ran wsl --status.

At first, it actually worked — the wsl --status command showed output in Administrator PowerShell for the first time.

However, a few minutes later, when I returned to the PC to install a new distro, the issue came back. Running any wsl command from Administrator PowerShell crashes again with no output. Regular PowerShell (non-admin) still works fine.

I repeated the whole process again to double-check, but unfortunately, nothing changed — WSL keeps crashing when launched as Administrator.

If there’s anything else I can try or any specific logs I should collect from the crash folders (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_wsl.exe_XXXXXXXX), I’m happy to provide them. The PC is completely offline, so I’d appreciate steps that can be done without internet.

Thanks again for the help!es,

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WSL.exe Crashes in Administrator PowerShell with Offline Windows PC

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