WSL settings and issue fixes

wsl-settings-and-issues.md

WSL Settings and Issue Fixes

Enable systemd

1. Get the latest version WSL from the Windows Store

2. Ensure /etc/wsl.conf has

   [boot]
   systemd=true
   

3. Restart WSL by wsl.exe --shutdown

Refer to

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#systemd-support

Set custom host name for a distro

1. Edit /etc/wsl.conf like

   [network]
   hostname=your-host-name
   generateHosts=false
   

   Replace your-host-name with your host name.

2. Edit /etc/hosts, replacing every occurrence of the old host name with your new host name.

3. Restart WSL by wsl.exe --shutdown

Refer to:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#network-settings

Change the default login user for a distro

Use a distro command like

ubuntu2204.exe config --default-user your-user-name

Fix the time issue after Windows sleep

The issue is that when a WSL distro is open and Windows starts sleep, then the date time on the distro may be incorrect after the sleep. The fix is to to enable the systemd-timesyncd service on the distro.

1. Ensure systemd is enabled as said by Enable systemd

2. Install systemd-timesyncd if not, by

   sudo apt install systemd-timesyncd

3. Edit its config by

   sudo systemctl edit systemd-timesyncd

   Ensure the config has

   [Unit]
   ConditionVirtualization=
   

4. Start or restart it by

   sudo systemctl start systemd-timesyncd

   or

   sudo systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd

Refer to

• https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/5324
• https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/8204