wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for '...'. See journalctl for more details #40593

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1. github-actions commented on May 19, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on May 19, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

   Contributor

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   Diagnostic information

   .wslconfig found
   Detected appx version: 2.7.3.0
   
2. chemwolf6922 commented on May 19, 2026

   

   Feng Wang (chemwolf6922)

   on May 19, 2026

   Contributor

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   Hi parapada73 , Could you please share the journalctl log with journalctl > log? Thanks.
3. chemwolf6922 commented on May 19, 2026

   

   Feng Wang (chemwolf6922)

   on May 19, 2026

   Contributor

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   This seems to be an old issue of wsl2 and I'm able to repro it.
   It's because all wsl distros are under the same root cgorup namespace. Which could cause collisions between systemd instances. The issue can be reproed with these steps:

   wsl --shutdown
   wsl -d A
   wsl -d B # Run in another shell, at the same time as launching distro A.

   This will result in systemd errors like this

   systemd[1055]: [email protected]: Failed to attach to cgroup /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]: Device or resource busy
   

   We'll need to have some internal discussions before potentially writing a fix for this.

   👍React with 👍3Reacted by professionaltart, Daniel Wagner and John M-W
4. Ben Hillis (benhillis)

   added

   systemd

   wsl2Issue/feature applies to WSL 2Issue/feature applies to WSL 2

   on May 29, 2026
5. Hengqian Ling (linghengqian)

   marked this as blocking on Jun 3, 2026

   • Support running nativeTest under GraalVM Native Image on Windows 11 apache/shardingsphere#35052
6. danielwagn3r commented on Jun 3, 2026

   

   Daniel Wagner (danielwagn3r)

   on Jun 3, 2026

   Last edited by danielwagn3r

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   Having the same issue, with Ubuntu and a podman-machine distro active in WSL2.

   Additional diagnostic detail — /run/user appears mounted twice as tmpfs on the failing distro:

   $ mount | grep user
   none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,mode=755)
   none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,relatime)
   snapfuse on /snap/terraform/888 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/go/11127 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/snapd/26865 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/core22/2411 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/opentofu/236 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/terraform/896 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/go/11185 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/core24/1643 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   snapfuse on /snap/opentofu/240 type fuse.snapfuse (ro,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other)
   tmpfs on /run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=1607328k,nr_inodes=401832,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1000)
   tmpfs on /mnt/wslg/run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=1607328k,nr_inodes=401832,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1000)
7. jcanfield commented on Jun 28, 2026

   

   Joshua Canfield (jcanfield)

   on Jun 28, 2026

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   Received wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for error after latest WSL2 update. Might be similar to issue #13826.

   Environment

   • Windows Version: Win11, 25H2, Build 26200.8737 (10.0.26200.8737)
   • WSL Version: v2.7.10.0
   • WSL 1 or 2: WSL 2
   • Kernel Version: Linux version 7.1.2-WSL2-RT-STABLE (root@388edc2a2b8b) (gcc (GCC) 16.1.1 20260625, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.46.1)
   • Other Software: pyenv, scoop-installed wsl2-rolling-kernel-stable-rt-addon, custom kernel via .wslconfig, WSLg v1.0.73.2, MSRDC v1.2.6676

   Description

   After updating to WSL 2.7.10.0, launching any WSL distribution fails with:
   The user session fails to start, but the system session works. I initially thought this appears to be a regression introduced in WSL 2.7 related to systemd user session handling, but looks like this issue has happened before the latest WSL2 udpate.

   Repro Steps

   1. Ensure WSL 2.7.10.0 is installed (wsl --version shows 2.7.10.0)
   2. Have a distribution with systemd enabled (systemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf)
   3. Run wsl --shutdown
   4. Launch WSL: wsl or wsl -d <distro> or wsl -u username
   5. Observe the error message

   Expected Behavior

   WSL2 should start successfully and drop into a shell with the systemd user session active.

   Actual Behavior

   WSL2 prints the error and drops to a shell, but systemctl --user status shows the user session failed.

   Workarounds Tried

   • sudo systemctl restart [email protected] - temporarily fixes until next wsl --shutdown

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by tzengshinfu
8. Parker Wahle (regulad)

   added a commit that references this issue on Aug 11, 2026

   NT: add WSL install/update scripts, split scoop, renumber to 3 digits

   ...

   ec89353
9. six-edge-ops commented on Sep 6, 2026

   

   Alex Barker (six-edge-ops)

   on Sep 6, 2026

   Last edited by six-edge-ops

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   Same issue here running two Ubuntu versions. Its a real shame as I wanted to run a parallel distro for switching between work and private environments, but now docker does not work because of this systemd issue 🤦

   The error wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'alex'. See journalctl for more details. appears on the newer (non-default Ubuntu 26.04):

     NAME              STATE           VERSION
   * Ubuntu-24.04      Running         2
     Ubuntu-26.04      Running         2
     docker-desktop    Running         2
   

   wsl -v

   WSL version: 2.7.13.0
   Kernel version: 6.18.33.2-2
   WSLg version: 1.0.73.2
   MSRDC version: 1.2.7214
   Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
   DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
   Windows version: 10.0.26200.8390
   

   systemctl status in Ubuntu 26.04

   ❯ systemctl status [email protected]
   × [email protected] - User Manager for UID 1000
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; static)
       Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]
                └─10-login-barrier.conf, timeout.conf
        Active: failed (Result: resources)
    Invocation: ad38b45a39154a0e89300a7da223389d
          Docs: man:[email protected](5)
         Tasks: 2
        Memory: 5.1M (peak: 11.9M)
           CPU: 0
        CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]
   
   Sep 06 11:42:43 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed to spawn executor: Device or resource busy
   Sep 06 11:42:43 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed to spawn 'start' task: Device or resource busy
   Sep 06 11:42:43 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed with result 'resources'.
   Sep 06 11:42:43 pc-01 systemd[1]: Failed to start [email protected] - User Manager for UID 1000.
   Sep 06 11:42:50 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed to spawn executor: Device or resource busy
   Sep 06 11:42:50 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed to spawn 'start' task: Device or resource busy
   Sep 06 11:42:50 pc-01 systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed with result 'resources'.
   Sep 06 11:42:50 pc-01 systemd[1]: Failed to start [email protected] - User Manager for UID 1000.
10. Eugén Cowie (eugencowie)

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 9, 2026

    Add inspiron-16 WSL host (#273)

    ...

    04e4a80