"Parameter is incorrect" when installing to external HDD

[ghost]

lxrunoffline i -s -d D:\Programs\Ubuntu -n Ubuntu -f "C:\Users\Kitty\Downloads\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu18.04onWindows_1804.2018.817.0_x64__79rhkp1fndgsc\install.tar.gz"

so, I tried to do that. but when I try to launch the installed distro, I just get The parmeter is incorrect. That's it.

[Dvbnhbq]

I moved the distribution of Ubuntu 18.04 installed from Microsoft Store from system drive to an external HDD (actually this was an SD card), and it starts no more. If I try to run a command with the lxrunoffline r option, I get The parameter is incorrect.

---

OK, I've found a work around.

• Open Disk Management, Actions, Create VHD. Create a virtual hard drive and a new partition, format it as NTFS, assign a volume letter (L in my case). Create a directory to place the distribution (lets say L:\Data\WSL\Ubuntu1804).
• Install:
  LxRunOffline.exe i -s -n "Ubuntu1804" -d L:\Data\WSL\Ubuntu1804 -f D:\johndoe\Downloads\ubuntu-bionic-core-cloudimg-amd64-root.tar.gz
• Launch:
  LxRunOffline.exe r -n "Ubuntu1804" -w

Works for me. The problem was in my original distribution location, which was MMC SD card. It looks like WSL doesn't like SD cards.

P.S. The result is a working distribution located on VHD file stored on an SD card.
I knew this method from the issue with MS Visual Studio project, which didn't work if placed on a non-system partition.

[DDoSolitary]

MS has said that SD cards aren't supported: microsoft/WSL#3519. @steamp0rt could you please check if you're using an SD card, and if not, please try the VHD method so that we can see if the error is related to your HDD. Thanks.

[ghost]

@DDoSolitary it's not an SD card, it's a storage space of several HDDs.

[ghost]

Also, when using the VHD method, Access is denied.

Even tried doing icacls W:\ /grant "kitty:(OI)(CI)(F)"

[DDoSolitary]

I don't think setting permission makes any sense, it's already properly configured by the program: e88de7d (the fix for #42)

[DDoSolitary]

@steamp0rt Unfortunately I can't create a storage space to debug the program on my dev server which only has one HDD available. I'll try to test this using a virtual machine when I have access to my PC. As for the access denied error, I think it's because you installed to the root directory of the drive, which is known to cause issues. Please try to install to a subdirectory like W:\wsl. BTW, you're also likely to encounter errors when trying to uninstall a distro installed to a root directory. In that case, you can unregister using the "ur" command and then delete the files manually.

[DDoSolitary]

Distros on storage spaces work well in my test VM. Please try the VHD method to see if the problem is with your environment. Capturing logs might be useful for diagnosing and I would like to help if you email them to me.

// Closing due to no response

[ghost]

Coming back to say running on storage spaces still doesn't work, with the latest release of LxRunOffline, with WSL2.

Logfiles zipped and attached.
etl_logfiles.zip

[DDoSolitary]

Hello, according to your log, it seems that the disk drive is a mounted VeraCrypt volume. I suspect it is the root cause of the problem. I will try to reproduce it on my computer when I find some time.

[ghost]

also it turns out there's a way to just move the hard drive file to another disk

[DDoSolitary]

Yes, directly moving the files will work for WSL2

[DDoSolitary]

I've successfully reproduced this error using a VeraCrypt volume. Unfortunately, this is not something that I can fix. WSL requires a stable GUID (IOCTL_MOUNTDEV_QUERY_STABLE_GUID) on the drive that the distro is installed on, but VeraCrypt's filesystem driver doesn't support this ioctl. Probably you can ask Microsoft to remove this limitation or VeraCrypt to support the ioctl required.