Failed to attach disk 'D:\WSL2Distros\ext4.vhdx' to WSL2: Access is denied. Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/MountDisk/HCS/E_ACCESSDENIED

[kgeo]

After a wsl --manage Ubuntu --move D:\WSL2Distros\ when trying to start Ubuntu under Windows Terminal I get:

Failed to attach disk 'D:\WSL2Distros\ext4.vhdx' to WSL2: Access is denied.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/MountDisk/HCS/E_ACCESSDENIED

I tried to assign all permissions to my standard user. I also tried to change owner from my user to Administrator, and finally back again. Nothing helped.

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[kgeo]

Here are the logs:

WslLogs-2025-11-23_19-24-49.zip

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Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.6.1.0
Detected user visible error: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/MountDisk/HCS/E_ACCESSDENIED

[OneBlue]

@kgeo: Interesting, could you share the permissions on that file ? (D:\WSL2Distros\ext4.vhdx)

[kgeo]

PS D:\WSL2Distros> Get-Acl .\ext4.vhdx
    Directory: D:\WSL2Distros
Path      Owner         Access
----      -----         ------
ext4.vhdx BIGBOY\Kostas NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users Allow  FullControl...

[kgeo]

Kostas is my account.

Then I thought, let's try to move it back. And you know what: it worked! Same permissions!

PS D:\WSL2Distros> Get-Acl C:\Users\Kostas\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState\ext4.vhdx
    Directory: C:\Users\Kostas\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState
Path      Owner         Access
----      -----         ------
ext4.vhdx BIGBOY\Kostas NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users Allow  FullControl...

It gets curiouser and curiouser...

[kgeo]

There is however this:

I assume you can see that dead Account. No idea what it could be. My Windows (10) installation is at least 7 or 8 years old. I only converted it to 11 a month or so ago.

[OneBlue]

Interesting. That's probably the root cause of the issue you're seeing.

Does WSL start successfully if you manually give "Full Control" to your Windows account ?

[DominicMaas]

I've got the same issue, move WSL distro to another drive, access is denied.

Gave full control to my user account, still nothing. I did notice that I have an attribute of E on the vhdx, unable to turn off file encryption (parameter is incorrect)

EDIT: Heh, I can't even move it back now

wsl --manage "Ubuntu" --move "C:\Users\Domin\AppData\Local\Packages\CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu_79rhkp1fndgsc\LocalState"
Access is denied.
Error code: Wsl/Service/MoveDistro/E_ACCESSDENIED

EDIT2:

Fixed on my end by moving Ubuntu to my T drive, then running the above move command (which gets redirected to T via a symlink I think), now works.

[kgeo]

I set all accounts to full access at the d: drive. And they are still there after the move back.

[OneBlue]

That's surprising. Could you capture logs WSL failing to start after updating the file access ?

[kgeo]

The logs above are after I gave full access. And because I didn't know which user wsl was trying to use I gave full access to Kostas Administrator, AND the respective groups Administrators and Users.

On Wed, Nov 26, 2025, 22:31 Blue @.***> wrote:

OneBlue left a comment (microsoft/WSL#13775) https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/13775#issuecomment-3583118474

That's surprising. Could you capture logs WSL failing to start after updating the file access ?

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/13775#issuecomment-3583118474, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AANR3POG2AD7UJVKXS3GCXD36YE3NAVCNFSM6AAAAACM6SXJN2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTKOBTGEYTQNBXGQ . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

[OneBlue]

Hmm OK then I can think of two other things that would cause this:

1. Does your user account also have full access to the parent folder ?

2. Is the parent folder a symlink, hardlink, or mountpoint ? The VHD driver tends not to like those.

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