WSL network access broken

pokeefe0001 · Sep 16, 2022

Somehow my WSL DNS server function has died. It works a couple days ago, but now name resolution fails in Ubuntu. /etc/resolv.conf points to 172.17.192.1, and the Windows IPCONFIG shows that address as Ethernet adapter vEthernet (WSL). I assume there should be a caching name server (or some sort of resolver function) at that address, but if so it's not working. I can manually change /etc/resolv.conf to point to some actual DNS server (like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8) and everything works, but if gets reset to 172.17.192.1 if I shut down and restart WSL.

I know there are workarounds but I'd rather just have it working again. Do I need to uninstall Ubuntu and/or WSL and start over?

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2022

Is ther ea Virtual Switch connection in Hyper-V?

pokeefe0001 · Sep 16, 2022

johnlgalt said:
Is ther ea Virtual Switch connection in Hyper-V?

I don't know enough about virtualization to give a reasonable answer.
In Hyper-V there is virtual switch labeled WSL with Connection type Internal. I have no idea if it actually connects with Ubuntu.

"Netsh interface show interface" does not show any interface named "vEthernet (WSL)". According to a web page I've found that interface should exist.

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2022

try

IPConfig /all (can run the same in either PS or cmd).

I have 3 physical Ethernet ports and Wifi and BT, and I have 5 (yes five) vEthernet devices also showing in addition to the regular ports. However, in Hyper-V I only see my virtual switch, even though I have both WSL and WSL for Android installed.

pokeefe0001 · Sep 16, 2022

Yes, the WSL interface does show in IPCONFIG:

Code:

Ethernet adapter vEthernet (WSL):

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-5D-41-7E-B6
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8120:a640:19a:1afe%87(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.17.224.1(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.240.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 1459623261
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-26-F1-9F-BB-98-FA-9B-47-08-2B
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

But should it not also show in "Netsh interface show interface"?

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2022

Not working here either.

Get-NetAdapter -Name "*"

Also works, though.

pokeefe0001 · Sep 16, 2022

OK. It's there:

So that's not the source of my problem. Any idea why WSL can't access a name server? It must be something I hosed over when messing around with VirtualBox and/or Android emulators, but I can't think of how.

Should I just uninstall WSL and start over? (I've read that uninstalling it is not straightforward, but I haven't looked at the details.)

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2022

TBH - do you still have VBox installed? If so, do you still need it?

I have no issues thus far with WSL, WSL for Android and Hyper-V VMs all coexisting.

And Android emulators, like NoxPlayer and BlueStacks, do require you to change a Windows Feature - I think it is the Windows Hypervisor Platform, but it may be just plain old Hyper-V, unless that has changed also.

pokeefe0001 · Sep 16, 2022

If I can get Google Play into WSA then I don't need VirtualBox. My current problem with WSL arose during my attempt to build a modified WSA so I'm sort of stuck at the moment. What I may do is take an image backup of my current system (with VirtualBox working), restore back up when WLS was working (able to communicate with the web), build the modified WLA and see if I can get it to work. If so, I'll through away the backup of my current config.

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2022

I'll have some more time tomorrow and will try to build a fixed WLA as well, see if I can get it working.

I'm working on building new VMs, and have already had an issue. Starting over again for the fourth time on 1 VM, and second time for 3 more.

pokeefe0001 · Sep 18, 2022

I restored my laptop back to Sept 12 and WSL was once again able to connect to the web. I then noticed I still had VirtualBox installed; I hadn't picked an old enough backup. Obviously VirtualBox was not the reason for the WSL network problem.

johnlgalt · Sep 21, 2022

Check is VBox actually loads a VM, or if it requires that you to make a change in your settings to load.

It's not VBox itself that is the issue, but one of the parameters in Windows Features that it asks you to alter that I'm wondering is the cause of the issue.

WSL network access broken

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