wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'l3gi0n'. See journalctl for more details.

[Ahri-man]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.6584]

WSL Version

2.6.1.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

Linux version 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (root@439a258ad544) (gcc (GCC) 11.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.37) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jun 5 18:30:46 UTC 2025

Distro Version

Arch Linux

Other Software

``

Repro Steps

running "wsl" in windows terminal sometimes randomly gives the following error:

wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'l3gi0n'. See journalctl for more details.

Expected Behavior

Everything works but I randomly get this error right after i type 'wsl' in windows' terminal.

Actual Behavior

I randomly get this error right after i type 'wsl' in windows' terminal:

wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'l3gi0n'. See journalctl for more details.

Diagnostic Logs

[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ journalctl _SYSTEMD_UNIT=user@$(id -u l3gi0n).service
-- Boot fba24d125ac549528199f473c3129ded --
Oct 05 15:21:37 Euler (sd-exec-strv)[221]: '/run/systemd/user-generators/wsl-user-generator' is marked world-writable, which is a security risk as it is executed with privileges. Please remove world writability permission bits. Proceeding anyway.

[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ ls -l /run/systemd/user-generators/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 Oct  5 15:22 wsl-user-generator -> /init

[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ systemctl --user --failed
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ systemctl --user status
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ cat /etc/wsl.conf
[boot]
systemd=true

[user]
default=l3gi0n

[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ ls -ld /run/user/$(id -u)
drwx------ 2 l3gi0n l3gi0n 40 Oct  5 15:22 /run/user/1000
[l3gi0n@Euler ~]$ systemctl status user@1000.service
× user@1000.service - User Manager for UID 1000
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/user@.service; static)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/user@.service.d
             └─10-login-barrier.conf
     Active: failed (Result: resources)
 Invocation: a8e1a3bf7bb04c508a425d64d410e21c
       Docs: man:user@.service(5)
   Mem peak: 8.3M
        CPU: 479ms

[github-actions]

Logs are required for review from WSL team

If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
Otherwise, please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

How to collect WSL logs

Download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

The script will output the path of the log file once done.

If this is a networking issue, please use collect-networking-logs.ps1, following the instructions in Collect WSL logs for networking issues

Once completed please upload the output files to this GitHub issue.

See Collect WSL logs (recommended method).

If you choose to email these logs instead of attaching them to the bug, please send them to wsl-gh-logs@microsoft.com with the GitHub issue number in the subject, and include a link to your GitHub issue comment in the message body, and reply with '/emailed-logs'.

[OscBacon]

+1 also getting the error with the ubutnu distro

[Schmytzi]

Also getting the same error with AlmaLinux OS 9

[zcobol]

@Ahri-man did you install Arch Linux provided by WSL or other source? Using wsl --install archlinux and adding new user with useradd -m l3gi0n the issue didn't repro:

               └─195 "(sd-pam)"

[l3gi0n@texas ~]$ systemctl --user status
● texas
    State: running
    Units: 154 loaded (incl. loaded aliases)
     Jobs: 0 queued
   Failed: 0 units
    Since: Tue 2025-10-07 10:36:02 PDT; 12s ago
  systemd: 258-4-arch
   CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service
           └─init.scope
             ├─193 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
             └─195 "(sd-pam)"
[l3gi0n@texas ~]$ uname -a
Linux texas 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jun  5 18:30:46 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[l3gi0n@texas ~]$ ls -l /init
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2735264 Aug  6 12:54 /init

WSL version used for testing:

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: 10.0.26100.658

If you used a 3rd party WSL Arch Linux image try installing the official instead.