abix-/wsl

WSL2 runs Ubuntu 24.04 on this Windows 10 Home N machine. k3s and BuildKit run inside it as systemd services.

Environment

• Distro: Ubuntu-24.04 (WSL2)
• Networking: NAT mode (Windows 10 does not support mirrored networking)
• Resource limits: C:\Users\Abix\.wslconfig (8GB RAM, 4 cores, 4GB swap)
• Passwordless sudo: configured for user abix
• systemd: enabled (/etc/wsl.conf has [boot] systemd=true)
• Services: k3s, buildkit (both auto-start via systemd)

Running commands inside WSL2

Passwordless sudo is configured. Run commands directly:

wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04 -- bash -c "sudo k3s kubectl get pods -A 2>&1"

IMPORTANT: Wrap commands in bash -c "..." to avoid Windows Git bash mangling paths (e.g. /run/ becomes C:/Program Files/Git/run/).

Commands that need a real TTY (interactive prompts, pagers) still require the user to paste in their WSL terminal. Use clip.exe to send to clipboard.

Common operations

Check WSL2 status

wsl -l -v

Start WSL2

wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04

Shutdown WSL2

wsl --shutdown

Stops ALL WSL2 distros, k3s, and buildkit. Everything auto-starts on next launch.

Check resource usage

wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04 -- bash -c "free -h && echo '---' && df -h / 2>&1"

Fix kubeconfig after WSL restart

WSL2 NAT IP changes on every restart:

# get new IP
wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04 -- bash -c "hostname -I | awk '{print \$1}'"

Then update C:\Users\Abix\.kube\config server field with the new IP.

Update .wslconfig resource limits

Edit C:\Users\Abix\.wslconfig. Requires wsl --shutdown and relaunch.

Installed tools (inside WSL2)

• k3s (kubernetes) -- sudo k3s kubectl ...
• nerdctl 2.0.4 -- sudo nerdctl --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock ...
• BuildKit -- systemd service, uses k3s containerd with namespace k8s.io
• kubectl (Windows): C:\Users\Abix\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\Kubernetes.kubectl_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe\kubectl.exe

Troubleshooting

• k3s not starting: wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04 -- bash -c "sudo journalctl -u k3s --no-pager -n 30 2>&1"
• kubectl timeout from Windows: WSL2 IP changed. Fix kubeconfig (see above).
• Out of memory: bump memory in .wslconfig and restart WSL.
• systemd not running: verify /etc/wsl.conf has [boot] systemd=true. Restart WSL.
• Path mangling: always use bash -c "..." wrapper for WSL commands from Git bash.