Uninstall Wsl //free\\ 〈RECENT〉

wsl --shutdown

Are you uninstalling because of a , or are you planning to reinstall a fresh version of WSL?

: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Packages\ Look for folders starting with CanonicalGroupLimited. or other distributor names (e.g., Ubuntu , Debian ). Delete them entirely.

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform uninstall wsl

| Issue | Solution | |--------|----------| | "WSL is still listed in Windows features after uninstall" | Run dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /norestart then reboot. | | Disk space not freed | Run as admin, select "Previous Windows installations" and "Temporary files". Also check C:\ProgramData\Docker if you used Docker with WSL. | | Virtual Machine Platform won't uninstall | This feature may be required by other apps like Hyper-V, Android emulators, or VMware. Uninstall those first, then retry. | | "WSL is still running after shutdown" | Open Task Manager and end any vmmem or wslservice.exe processes manually. |

If you plan to reinstall WSL later and want a truly fresh start, clean the registry. ( regedit > File > Export).

wsl --list --verbose

wsl --unregister <DistributionName>

List your installed distributions:

Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.WSL* | Remove-AppxPackage wsl --shutdown Are you uninstalling because of a

Even after uninstalling, some data remains on your disk. Delete these folders if they still exist:

Click the three dots (or the app name) and select .

FAQ's about Windows Subsystem for Linux - WSL - Microsoft Learn Delete them entirely