Rootless podman fails due to issues with systemd user instance in WSL 2.5.x #13053
Description
Windows Version
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.5335]
WSL Version
2.5.7.0
Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?
- WSL 2
- WSL 1
Kernel Version
Linux version 6.6.87.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 (root@af282157c79e) (gcc (GCC) 11.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.37) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Apr 21 17:08:54 UTC 2025
Distro Version
Ubuntu 22.04
Other Software
podman 5.4.0
docker-compose 2.33.1
Repro Steps
This distro is configured with Podman to run rootless. It also has docker-compose installed and the podman socket service started using user systemd (so it runs rootless). This configuration enables compose with podman.
- Add
systemd=trueto/etc/wsl.conf - Run
wsl --shutdown - Run
loginctl enable-linger <my username> - Run
systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket<-- fails
$ systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket
Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory
In addition podman commands have various issues that aren't normally there:
$ podman ps
WARN[0000] The cgroupv2 manager is set to systemd but there is no systemd user session available
WARN[0000] For using systemd, you may need to log in using a user session
WARN[0000] Alternatively, you can enable lingering with: loginctl enable-linger 1000 (possibly as root)
WARN[0000] Falling back to --cgroup-manager=cgroupfs
WARN[0000] "/" is not a shared mount, this could cause issues or missing mounts with rootless containers
WARN[0000] The cgroupv2 manager is set to systemd but there is no systemd user session available
WARN[0000] For using systemd, you may need to log in using a user session
WARN[0000] Alternatively, you can enable lingering with: loginctl enable-linger 1000 (possibly as root)
WARN[0000] Falling back to --cgroup-manager=cgroupfs
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
WARN[0000] Failed to add pause process to systemd sandbox cgroup: dial unix /run/user/1000/bus: connect: no such file or directory
Expected Behavior
This has been working without issue. The setup of podman did not fail and running podman ps or podman compose commands work without issue.
If WSL 2.4.13 is installed, everything works as expected again.
Actual Behavior
Podman commands fail. You can't use the systemctl --user command without error.
$ podman ps
WARN[0000] The cgroupv2 manager is set to systemd but there is no systemd user session available
WARN[0000] For using systemd, you may need to log in using a user session
WARN[0000] Alternatively, you can enable lingering with: loginctl enable-linger 1000 (possibly as root)
WARN[0000] Falling back to --cgroup-manager=cgroupfs
WARN[0000] "/" is not a shared mount, this could cause issues or missing mounts with rootless containers
WARN[0000] The cgroupv2 manager is set to systemd but there is no systemd user session available
WARN[0000] For using systemd, you may need to log in using a user session
WARN[0000] Alternatively, you can enable lingering with: loginctl enable-linger 1000 (possibly as root)
WARN[0000] Falling back to --cgroup-manager=cgroupfs
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
WARN[0000] Failed to add pause process to systemd sandbox cgroup: dial unix /run/user/1000/bus: connect: no such file or directory
Diagnostic Logs
emailed.