//wsl$/Ubuntu file or resource was not found

[blacklightpy]

Environment

Windows build number: 20185
Your Distribution version: Ubuntu 20.04
Whether the issue is on WSL 2 and/or WSL 1: WSL 1

Steps to reproduce

Start a WSL instance
Close the terminal and do something else for a while
a ) Try to access a WSL file from the explorer sidebar or //wsl$/Ubuntu
OR
b) Start a new WSL instance in Windows terminal

Expected behavior

a) Since WSL was booted up once and I hadn't typed wsl --shutdown, the instance should be online and I should be able to access my files
OR
b) WSL should start a terminal instance without starting the distro again because it was started once and not shut down.

Actual behavior

a) Trying to access //wsl/Ubuntu (Linux section in Explorer sidebar) or //wsl$/Ubuntu tells me file or resource was not found
OR
b) WSL starts the distro again, starting at /mnt/c/Users/Blacklight instead of ~ respecting startingDirectory attribute I set in terminal (I have made an issue about it at microsoft/terminal#7272).

This is the exact opposite of microsoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel/#111, which suggests to add this feature as an option in WSL but this is what I have as default in my system and I don't have an option to turn it off :(

[sr229]

IIRC this is intended behavior as to prevent unnecessary usage for portable devices.

[blacklightpy]

Oh, that makes sense because my device is a laptop. In that case is there any way to turn it off?

[therealkenc]

//wsl$/Ubuntu tells me file or resource was not found

WSL does shut itself down by-design to conserve resources, but that doesn't (ie: shouldn't) prevent WSL from being fired back up on-demand when you access \\wsl$\Ubuntu. Your described behavior does not reproduce here. There is some variable causing your "file or resource was not found" error, but no off-cuff guesses what.

Please collect networking logs and post to feeback hub.

[blacklightpy]

Here's the link of the Feedback Hub report: https://aka.ms/AA9at0w

While I was collecting the reports, I noticed that the delay for the //wsl$/Ubuntu path being inactive after closing WSL varies each time. In this instance it wasn't working immediately after I closed the tab, but I tried it once afterwards and it was active for a while more.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any activity for the past year. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file this as a new issue or feature request.

Thank you!