WSL2 on Windows Build 26100 fails to load custom kernel from .wslconfig for AMD RDNA 3.5 GPU

[926nathant]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.6584]

WSL Version

WSL version: 2.6.1.0 Kernel version: 6.6.87.2-1 WSLg version: 1.0.66 MSRDC version: 1.2.6353 Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511 DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release Windows version: 10.0.26100.6584

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.6.87.2-1

Distro Version

Ubuntu 22.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

hardware (AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 395, Radeon 8060S).
/dev/dri is missing and the .wslg folder is not created.
I have tried a custom-compiled kernel and multiple pre-built kernels.

[.wslconfig]
[wsl2]
guiApplications=true
kernel=C:\WSL\kernel
kernelCommandLine = amd_iommu=off iommu=pt

[experimental]
autoMemoryReclaim=gradual

Expected Behavior

would expect to be able to load a custom kernel so that I can use GPU vram for offload

Actual Behavior

no gpu support in wsl

Diagnostic Logs

No response

[github-actions]

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[926nathant]

WslLogs-2025-10-01_18-43-59.zip

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

.wslconfig found
	Custom kernel command line found: 'amd_iommu=off iommu=pt'
	Custom kernel found: 'C:\WSL\kernel'
Detected appx version: 2.6.1.0

[OneBlue]

Thank you for reporting this @926nathant. Do you also see the same behavior with the default WSL kernel ? If so, could you please share logs of a boot with the default kernel ?

[926nathant]

Unknown about normal kernel. I'm building so I can add in RNA GPU recognition which, of course, doesn't work. I'll try and get the logs tonight.

[zcobol]

@926nathant add double backslashes to your .wslconfig instead of kernel=C:\WSL\kernel make it kernel=C:\\WSL\\kernel

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any author activity for the past 7 days. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file it as a new issue.

Thank you!