Score:3

Ubuntu

Bash error and WSL not working

Aryan Philip

3/12/24, 11:16 AM

I got these error while trying to get WSL to work.

<3>WSL (9) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:574: execvpe /bin/bash failed 2
<3>WSL (9) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:583: Create process not expected to return

I had tried to edit my Windows terminal because it broke, and I probably deleted some files since reinstalling wasn't fixing the issue.

Is there any fix for this?

Additional details:

wsl -l -v:

  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Stopped         2

wsl --version:

WSL version: 1.1.3.0
Kernel version: 5.15.90.1
WSLg version: 1.0.49
MSRDC version: 1.2.3770
Direct3D version: 1.608.2-61064218
DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows version: 10.0.19045.2604

wsl ~ -u root -e /usr/bin/sh results in a # symbol and a blinking _.

3259

1 + 7

bash

windows-10

windows-subsystem-for-linux

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 11:52 AM

Thanks for editing it in - I've cleaned up the formatting. Also, was Ubuntu working before this and stopped? Or is this a new install that isn't working? Thanks!

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 12:03 PM

Try `wsl ~ -u root -e /usr/bin/sh`. I'm expecting you will see an error, but if not, then there's hope ...

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 12:04 PM

Do you have important files in Ubuntu that you will need to try to recover if a reinstall is needed?

Aryan Philip

3/12/24, 12:11 PM

No important files. Also the command above outputted this: a "#" symbol and a blinking '_'.

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 12:35 PM

Okay, that's good - It means the Dash shell still exists, at least. What about `wsl ~ -u root -e /usr/bin/bash`?

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 12:40 PM

And also `wsl ~ -e /usr/bin/bash`?

Aryan Philip

3/12/24, 1:47 PM

Both the above commands still throw the same error as posted in my question

Score:4

Ubuntu

NotTheDr01ds

3/12/24, 12:54 PM

<3>WSL (9) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:574: execvpe /bin/bash failed 2 <3>WSL (9) ERROR: CreateProcessEntryCommon:583: Create process not expected to return

That's an indication that the Bash shell is no longer accessible. The WSL2 init process (among other things):

Determines the default user id
Looks up the user's shell in /etc/passwd (typically /bin/bash)
Attempts to start the shell

Not being able to find /bin/bash is a pretty serious issue. From the comments (edited into the main question), we did determine that you can still launch /usr/bin/sh, which means that at least that shell is available.

It's possible that you simply deleted the symlink from /bin/ to /usr/bin, and we could easily recreate it if that were the case. But, it's also possible that you deleted more than that, and we just don't know at this point.

Given that you mentioned that there are no important files, the easiest recovery will be to simply "reset" Ubuntu back to the initial rootfs state. This is a destructive operation, so it's only recommended because you say there's nothing to recover:

From PowerShell:

# WARNING: Destructive operation
wsl --unregister Ubuntu

# Then re-install Ubuntu
ubuntu.exe

After a few seconds, it should ask for your username and password, just as it did when you initially installed.

Note for other reasons who may need to attempt recovery:

Before running the command above, back up the filesystem via PowerShell with:

wsl --export Ubuntu <path_to>/my_ubuntu_backup.tar

Examine the tarball to ensure that your files are included. Then after running the --unregister above, you can restore any necessary files to your home directory from that tarball.

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