Portable WSL

[YSYHZ]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe

The current WSL import/export workflow forces users to install distributions onto local disks. This creates two key limitations:

1. Lack of true portability - Developers cannot maintain self-contained WSL environments on removable drives
2. Host system contamination - Temporary usage on foreign computers leaves persistent installations and user data traces

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Describe the solution you'd like

Implement a portable execution mode where:

1. wsl --import accepts external storage paths (e.g. \\?\Volume{UUID}\wsl_distro)
2. Distributions run directly from removable media without disk writes
3. Automatic cleanup upon ejection (no registry/Appx残留)

Technical implementation could involve:

• Extended VHDX mounting from removable drives
• Transient profile/tempfile redirection to external storage
• New wsl --mount-removable <path> command

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Describe alternatives you've considered

1. Manual export/import workflows
   • Still requires local disk staging (time-consuming)
   • Leaves temporary files in %USERPROFILE%\AppData
2. Portable Virtual Machines
   • Heavy performance overhead (full VM vs lightweight WSL2)
   • Complex USB boot configurations required

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Additional context

• Verified on: Windows 11 22H2 (WSL 1.2.5) - Standard import always writes to local disk
• Prior research: No existing workarounds using wsl.conf or registry edits
• Community demand: Similar requests observed on Reddit and SuperUser since 2020

Conceptual workflow:

[USB Drive]  
├── distro.vhdx  
└── wsl-portable.json  # Metadata  

> wsl --mount-removable E:\wsl\ --distro PortableEnv  

[github-actions]

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If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
Otherwise please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

How to collect WSL logs

Download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

The script will output the path of the log file once done.

If this is a networking issue, please use collect-networking-logs.ps1, following the instructions here

Once completed please upload the output files to this Github issue.

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[YSYHZ]

/feature

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Found '/feature', adding tag 'feature'