arp not working in WSL - /proc/net/arp: No such file or directory

[nccurry]

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Please fill out the below information:

• Your Windows build number: (Type ver at a Windows Command Prompt)
  Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18362.329]

• What you're doing and what's happening: (Copy&paste the full set of specific command-line steps necessary to reproduce the behavior, and their output. Include screen shots if that helps demonstrate the problem.)

$ sudo apt install net-tools
$ sudo arp -a                                                                                                           
/proc/net/arp: No such file or directory

• What's wrong / what should be happening instead:

arp command should work

• Strace of the failing command, if applicable: (If some_command is failing, then run strace -o some_command.strace -f some_command some_args, and link the contents of some_command.strace in a gist here).

527   execve("/usr/sbin/arp", ["arp", "-a"], 0x7fffd906c540 /* 15 vars */) = 0
527   brk(NULL)                         = 0x7fffe0d63000
527   access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
527   fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=19644, ...}) = 0
527   mmap(NULL, 19644, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7fedc2afe000
527   close(3)                          = 0
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
527   read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\260A\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
527   fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1824496, ...}) = 0
527   mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7fedc2ac0000
527   mmap(NULL, 1837056, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7fedc28f0000
527   mprotect(0x7fedc2912000, 1658880, PROT_NONE) = 0
527   mmap(0x7fedc2912000, 1343488, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x22000) = 0x7fedc2912000
527   mmap(0x7fedc2a5a000, 311296, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x16a000) = 0x7fedc2a5a000
527   mmap(0x7fedc2aa7000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1b6000) = 0x7fedc2aa7000
527   mmap(0x7fedc2aad000, 14336, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7fedc2aad000
527   close(3)                          = 0
527   arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7fedc2ac1540) = 0
527   mprotect(0x7fedc2aa7000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
527   mprotect(0x7fedc2b12000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
527   mprotect(0x7fedc2af7000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
527   munmap(0x7fedc2afe000, 19644)     = 0
527   brk(NULL)                         = 0x7fffe0d63000
527   brk(0x7fffe0d84000)               = 0x7fffe0d84000
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
527   fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=3031632, ...}) = 0
527   mmap(NULL, 3031632, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7fedc260b000
527   close(3)                          = 0
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
527   fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2995, ...}) = 0
527   read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 512) = 512
527   read(3, "See the\n# GNU General Public Lic"..., 512) = 512
527   read(3, "nd for the time being for\n# back"..., 512) = 512
527   read(3, "hese lines were removed\n# becaus"..., 512) = 512
527   read(3, "8859-1\ngalego\t\tgl_ES.ISO-8859-1\n"..., 512) = 512
527   read(3, "O.ISO-8859-1 nb_NO.ISO-8859-1\nno"..., 512) = 435
527   read(3, "", 512)                  = 0
527   close(3)                          = 0
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)   527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)    527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)      527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)       527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/net-tools.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/proc/net/arp", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   dup(2)                            = 4
527   fcntl(4, F_GETFL)                 = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)        527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
527   fstat(4, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0660, st_rdev=makedev(0x4, 0x1), ...}) = 0
527   ioctl(4, TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
527   write(4, "/proc/net/arp: No such file or d"..., 41) = 41
527   close(4)                          = 0
527   exit_group(-1)                    = ?
527   +++ exited with 255 +++

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[nccurry]

Problem discussed here as well.

[therealkenc]

#2279

[vonmoraes]

try using arp.exe -a on WSL.

[casterln]

Thank you @vonmoraes

[jsotopian-chwy]

Hi, I am having this issue on Linux 4.4.0-19041-Microsoft #1237-Microsoft Sat Sep 11 14:32:00 PST 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

arp -a
/proc/net/arp: No such file or directory